Pygmalion is much more than a play about a person who can guess the birth place of the characters through their dialects. The play reflects the socioeconomic strata's that were present in England and some the the attitudes it bred. George Bernard Shaw explored the power divide and social hierarchy through characters in the play. From Liza, the lowly flower girl, Mrs. Pearce-the middle class and Pickering-the upper class, all reveal the attitudes and perceptions that have been bestowed upon them through their social caste. The play opens with Freddy (upper class) trying to find a taxi for his sister and mother. He is unsuccessful in his first attempt, gets berated and goes back out to look for another taxi. On his way out, he knocks over Liza, a flower girl, who, by description is part of the lowest social caste. This is portrayed through her use of language; "Ow, eez, ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y'dooty bawmz a mather should..." (p.1009). The flowers girls response to Fredy's mother is in a broken dialect, possibly even slang. Later in act one, th note taker remarks on her language again; " A Woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere-..." (p.1013). Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper of Mr. Higgins also makes a claim to the flower girls language and poverty; "Oh something dreadful, sir, really. I dont know how you can take an interest in it: (p.1016). Liza, arrives at Mr. Higgins in Act 2 to ask for his business to become a student in learning to speak better; "I want to be a lady in a flower shop stead of sellin at the corner...But they wont take me unless I can talk more genteel..." (p.1017).
The play ends on a happy note, Liza gets treated well to a certain degree and in the sequel gets more out of life than being a lowly flower girl. The ending or sequel to the play shows that one can raise themselves up by determination. It also shows that those who are lower in socio-economic standards don't want to stay there. I think of the poor and impoverished and wonder if people know their stories. My own mother and father were ridiculed for their West Indian accents when they came to Canada. Both my mother and father were college graduates but could not find jobs within their field because they were told they were "too hard to understand". They did not transform themselves, however, they made sure as children we would never be part of the language stigma and our cultural language of patois was never to be spoken outside of the home. Culturally, we hid who we were. We were not allowed to take pride in our parents culture. Patois, even in Jamaica, is considered a low form of speech and language and determines what social caste one belongs. I felt Liza's pain and indifference. However, she beat the odds. She probably lost parts of herself culturally after abandoning the speech she once knew. George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion has other themes that are worthy of examining, however, the language aspect reveals the difference in attitudes and social standing in England (at that time). Even coming to America, as a Canadian, I was often told that I sounded "white" or asked "why are you trying to be white?", because I had good diction. I didn't use slang and pronounced all of my words. I thought the southern dialect was interesting, but never attributed it to a color or race. It was the language of the south. I could choose to speak it or not. It is not indicative to everyone. However, I got the most pressure from my own race, about my use of the english language. After taking Dr. Lacy's History of English class, I was more intrigued at the fact of where the English language came from and how long it took to evolve! I learned that language is cultural, and if it is not used, spoken or practiced it can die.
The play ends on a happy note, Liza gets treated well to a certain degree and in the sequel gets more out of life than being a lowly flower girl. The ending or sequel to the play shows that one can raise themselves up by determination. It also shows that those who are lower in socio-economic standards don't want to stay there. I think of the poor and impoverished and wonder if people know their stories. My own mother and father were ridiculed for their West Indian accents when they came to Canada. Both my mother and father were college graduates but could not find jobs within their field because they were told they were "too hard to understand". They did not transform themselves, however, they made sure as children we would never be part of the language stigma and our cultural language of patois was never to be spoken outside of the home. Culturally, we hid who we were. We were not allowed to take pride in our parents culture. Patois, even in Jamaica, is considered a low form of speech and language and determines what social caste one belongs. I felt Liza's pain and indifference. However, she beat the odds. She probably lost parts of herself culturally after abandoning the speech she once knew. George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion has other themes that are worthy of examining, however, the language aspect reveals the difference in attitudes and social standing in England (at that time). Even coming to America, as a Canadian, I was often told that I sounded "white" or asked "why are you trying to be white?", because I had good diction. I didn't use slang and pronounced all of my words. I thought the southern dialect was interesting, but never attributed it to a color or race. It was the language of the south. I could choose to speak it or not. It is not indicative to everyone. However, I got the most pressure from my own race, about my use of the english language. After taking Dr. Lacy's History of English class, I was more intrigued at the fact of where the English language came from and how long it took to evolve! I learned that language is cultural, and if it is not used, spoken or practiced it can die.
Denise,
ReplyDeleteYou do a terrific job in this post of bringing your own experiences and observations to Shaw's play. As a result your post is much more astute and engaged than some of your less successful ones. Nice work! Here you effectively balance your comments on the play and on your own experience, so that part informs and deepens the meaning of the other. Keep up the good work!