Satire and Society, Assignment 12 an ideal of womanhood-that women are self-sacrificing, pure, noble, and passive" Damrosch, Dettmar, and Wicke the editors of The Longman Anthology of British Literature argue that Shaw designates the excitement, vigor, and advancement behind women who have exploded out the confines of domestic duty and into the work force of Britain by sidelining them with the newest ideas'. However, Shaw is suppressing women; the main character in Pygmalion is Eliza Doolittle is a poor, young woman and Professor Higgins is influenced by a bet to turn into a fine young woman by teaching her to speak correctly. Although Higgins is giving her the chance to learn how to speak like a lady, it is not through grammar one moves through social classes but by connections and hard work to gain money. By giving Eliza the gift of grammar, Higgins says she could get a job in a flower shop and pursue her dreams from there. However, Higgins is forcing her to pretend to become a typical Victorian lady; one who courts and then marries a gentlemen like Freddy and stays at home conforming to the Victorian ideals of womanhood.  Pygmalion introduces Eliza as a poor flower girl, hurrying for shelter against the rain. While under a music hall awning for shelter, she interacts with a number of people, including Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering. Higgins is able to pin point where every one under the awning was born by the dialect they speak in. He is appalled by the sound of Eliza's speech and says,  You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English  that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir,  in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an  ambassador's garden party. I could even get her a place as  lady's maid of shop assistant, which requires better English.  (2224)  Shaw intends to bring Eliza up the social ladder and break the ideal Victorian woman by Higgins coaching her in speech and etiquette. Pronunciation is the object that will enforce admiration or cause disapproval; that will produce esteem or end friendship; that will lock the door or make them fly open. Eliza is transformed into a proper lady and accepted into high society because of her outward appearance and articulate speech not for who she really is on the inside, a poor flower girl.  Appearance is just as important as speech to groom Eliza into a well brought up woman. Mrs. Pearce tells her, "Well, don't you want to be clean and sweet and decent like a lady? You know you can't be a nice girl inside if you're a dirty slut outside. I want to change you from a frowzy slut to a clean respectable girl fit to sit with the gentlemen in the study".Mrs. Pearce implies that appearances and first impressions are what high society is all about, if you do not have what it takes the first time around, you will never get a second chance to redeem yourself. Once Eliza is clean, she wants to take a taxi to show off in fro.

1. Satire and Society, Assignment 12
an ideal of womanhood-that women are self-sacrificing, pure,
noble, and passive" Damrosch, Dettmar, and Wicke the editors
of The Longman Anthology of British Literature argue that
Shaw designates the excitement, vigor, and advancement behind
women who have exploded out the confines of domestic duty
and into the work force of Britain by sidelining them with the
newest ideas'. However, Shaw is suppressing women; the main
character in Pygmalion is Eliza Doolittle is a poor, young
woman and Professor Higgins is influenced by a bet to turn into
a fine young woman by teaching her to speak correctly.
Although Higgins is giving her the chance to learn how to speak
like a lady, it is not through grammar one moves through social
classes but by connections and hard work to gain money. By
giving Eliza the gift of grammar, Higgins says she could get a
job in a flower shop and pursue her dreams from there.
However, Higgins is forcing her to pretend to become a typical
Victorian lady; one who courts and then marries a gentlemen
like Freddy and stays at home conforming to the Victorian
ideals of womanhood.
Pygmalion introduces Eliza as a poor flower girl, hurrying for
shelter against the rain. While under a music hall awning for
shelter, she interacts with a number of people, including
Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering. Higgins is able
to pin point where every one under the awning was born by the
dialect they speak in. He is appalled by the sound of Eliza's
speech and says,
You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English

2. that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir,
in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an
ambassador's garden party. I could even get her a place as
lady's maid of shop assistant, which requires better English.
(2224)
Shaw intends to bring Eliza up the social ladder and break the
ideal Victorian woman by Higgins coaching her in speech and
etiquette. Pronunciation is the object that will enforce
admiration or cause disapproval; that will produce esteem or
end friendship; that will lock the door or make them fly open.
Eliza is transformed into a proper lady and accepted into high
society because of her outward appearance and articulate speech
not for who she really is on the inside, a poor flower girl.
Appearance is just as important as speech to groom Eliza into a
well brought up woman. Mrs. Pearce tells her, "Well, don't you
want to be clean and sweet and decent like a lady? You know
you can't be a nice girl inside if you're a dirty slut outside. I
want to change you from a frowzy slut to a clean respectable
girl fit to sit with the gentlemen in the study".Mrs. Pearce
implies that appearances and first impressions are what high
society is all about, if you do not have what it takes the first
time around, you will never get a second chance to redeem
yourself. Once Eliza is clean, she wants to take a taxi to show
off in front of her street friends. But Higgins argues this saying,
"Besides, you shouldn't cut you old friend now that you have
risen in the world. That's what we call snobbery" (2242). Eliza
has not risen in the world as Higgins said; she has only put on
clean clothes and taken a bath. Also, Higgins is implying that
Eliza may not be a lady for very long. Once she is presented at

3. the garden party and passed off for a lady to outsiders, she is
cast away and Higgins wants to think nothing of her. Bernard
Shaw and his character Higgins know that Eliza can never truly
be a lady; she is stuck in a limbo of social classes. Either Eliza
gets a job in a flower shop speaking like a lady or she marries
into high society with Freddy and conforms to the Victorian
ideals of women.
The true test of Eliza's learning to behave and speak like a lady
is at the Embassy in London. She is dressed "in opera cloak,
evening dress, diamonds, fan, flower and all accessories" The
Hostess of the party demands her linguist Nepommuck to find
out who Eliza truly is. They come to the conclusion that she is
Hungarian, not English because she speaks English too perfectly
and only foreigners speak English well. They also come to the
conclusion she is of royal Hungarian blood. Nepommuck asks
how the Hostess is sure Eliza is of royal blood and the Hostess
replies, "Instinct, maestro, instinct. Only the Magyar races can
produce that air of the divine right those resolute eyes. She is a
princess".Higgins succeeds in passing Eliza off as royalty and
wins the bet. Eliza is considered royalty by the true royalty in
Pygmalion because of her outward appearance and presentation
of herself. The Hostess and Nepommuck would be appalled to
find that Eliza is truly a poor flower girl who learned how to
speak and act properly all in order to gain a better job.
The next day at Mrs. Higgins' house, Eliza and Higgins quarrel
when they are left alone. Higgins states he treats a flower girl
like a duchess and a duchess like a flower girl. He continues,
The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good
manners of any other particular sort of manners, but having
the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as

4. if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class
carriages, and one soul is as good as another"
Higgins claims that while he may treat her badly, he is at least
fair in that he has never treated anyone else differently.
Pickering on the other hand, always treated her like a duchess,
even when she was a flower girl. Through his treatment he has
taught her not phonetics and speech, but self-respect.
The self-respect Eliza is talking about involves standing up to
her bully, Higgins, while conforming to the ideals of a married
woman with Freddy. Freddy has not done anything wrong to
Eliza and is enamored with her. Eliza has never experienced
anything like this and wants it to continue. Although she says
the two of them will support themselves by taking Higgins'
phonetic methods to his chief rival "the hairy-faced
Hungarian"); once Eliza becomes pregnant she has not choice
but to conform to motherhood, child rearing, and housewife.
Eliza seems to have stood up for herself against Higgins and
support Shaw's theory of Victorian women breaking the ideals
of the housewife and child-rearer but once she is married to
Freddy, or to anyone else, and starts a family she will have to
go behind the scenes and keep the house and tend to her
children. Pulling Eliza from the gutter and making her into a
duchess revolves around a friendly bet between Higgins and
Pickering. Eliza is passed off as a duchess but as the play draws
to a close the bet is uncovered and Higgins and her squabble.
The play ends ambiguously, we are told she is going to marry
Freddy but their marriage is left up to the reader. However, it is
with the understanding of Victorian ideals the reader can
hypothesize what is going to happen once they are married;
which is taking on the original roles of men and women in the

5. Victorian era.