Sample written task 2 Question 2 (Pygmalion)

Outline

Prescribed question: "If the text had been written in a different time or place, for a different audience how and why might it be different?"

Title of the text for analysis: Pygmalion

Part of the course to which the task refers: Part 3 - Literature: text and context

My critical response will:

• Explore the importance of setting in Pygmalion. Explain why modern day London is still a relevant backdrop for this play.
• Comment on the position of women in 1912 and the importance of marriage both then and now. 
• Comment on the Shaw's characters and the story's plot. How would they be different today?
• Conclude by stating that Shaw's intentions of criticizing gender and class differences are still relevant today. 

Written task 2

The myth of Pygmalion has been told for centuries. The notion of a sculptor falling in love with his sculpture and wanting it to come to life is timeless, as we see in the Italian children’s story, Pinocchio, William Shakespeare’s The Winter Tale or Hollywood productions, such as Pretty Woman. In 1912, George Bernard Shaw, wrote his version of the Greek myth, which became the 1964 musical My Fair Lady. Shaw’s play focused on greater social issues of his time, such as the rise of women’s rights and the growing differences between social classes. The internal context of his play, which is set in London in 1912, starring a chauvinist, wealthy bachelor and poor but ambitious flower girl, is meant to comment on the time and place in which Shaw lived and criticize the very audience that came to see his play. If Shaw were alive and writing playscripts today, many of the same issues would be relevant. This essay will examine how the setting, characters and plot of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion would be similar and different, if it were written today.

Understanding the setting of the play, Pygmalion, is important to understanding its themes. The first scene takes place in Covent Garden, where the ruling elite visit the opera house and the poor sell their vegetables at the market. Here is where Eliza Doolittle meets Professor Henry Higgins, and he suggests that he could turn her from a ‘squashed cabbaged leaf’ into a ‘princess’ by teaching her how to speak English properly. Today there are neighborhoods in London, such as Canary Riverside, where the affluent dine out and migrant workers busk for change. One could imagine how an immigrant from a former British colony such as Nigeria or Jamaica, with a strong accent might be forced to sell fake designer bags on the black market. In fact, in today’s world, where many companies have a hiring policy of positive discrimination, you could imagine how a beautiful, African girl could picked off the streets and hired as a sales assistant in a designer fashion store, if she promised to do something about her accent. After all, people still have prejudices against certain accents today, just as they had in 1912.  

If we are to set the story in modern day London, we must also understand the importance of Pygmalion’s plot and characters. In the play, Henry Higgins is a proud bachelor, who claims no need for female support in his life. He trains Eliza to speak the Queen’s English for his own selfish reason: he wants to win his bet with Colonel Pickering. For Eliza, however, there is more at stake than Higgins’ bet. She wants to advance her position in society and own her own flower shop. After she wins Higgins’ bet, she realizes that he does not respect her for who she is: ambitious, clever and strong. Because he is too proud to express his gratitude and feelings for her, she leaves him for Freddy, a rather shallow but love-stricken gentleman. For a woman in 1912 there were not many choices or career paths. If a gentleman asked you to marry him, as Shaw explains in the epilogue, you did not have much choice. Eliza marries Freddy so that she can enjoy economic security, drive in taxis and eat chocolates, but this comes at a cost:  She must give up her dream of owning a flower shop. Shaw’s message is rather critical of marriage and class, as institutions that prevent people from fulfilling their potential.

Although the position of women has changed enormously in the past 100 years, many women today still marry for financial reasons. Chances are slim that our modern day Eliza Doolittle from Africa would settle for a poor migrant worker after becoming accustomed to the luxuries of the fashion world. In fact if we are to continue in Shaw’s spirit and write another rags-to-riches story, our modern day Eliza would have to pay for her financial success. Like Eliza, she would feel very disillusioned when discovering that she was only part of another man’s bet or a company’s ‘equal opportunity’ policy. She would quickly discover the stress of meeting sales targets, the weariness of working overtime and the ingratitude of working for a large corporation. Unfortunately, the chances of a young African woman owning her own shop in London are still quite slim to this day.

All in all, George Bernard Shaw hit on some timeless themes in his rendition of the Pygmalion story, which could easily be translated into modern day London, where people still discriminate on the basis of gender, accent and race. In the play, Eliza says ‘the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated.’ As far as treating people with respect, Shaw’s message is still relevant today.