Pygmalion 975is impeccable, because of the “genteel poverty” of
his family, Freddy Eynsford Hill’s schooling was
very limited: He was “educated at cheap, preten-
tious and thoroughly inefficient schools” where
he learned little that would allow him to prosper,
little that would help him in his changing social
circumstances. His sister, Clara, on the other hand,
suffers a worse fate, as the shallow requirements of
her social class “prevented her from getting edu-
cated.” Her family could have afforded to school
her with the “greengrocer’s daughter,” but because
this would have been socially unacceptable, Clara
received no education at all.
Education as a means to an end and educa-
tion as an end in itself are normally presented as
contradictory positions, but in Pygmalion, this is
not necessarily the case. Gentlemen like Higgins
and Pickering are lucky enough to be able to seek
knowledge for its own sake, but this does not nec-
essarily make them better people. However, when
they transfer their very specific knowledge of pho-
netics to Eliza, it helps contribute to the breakdown
of artificial social boundaries. Eliza herself initially
thinks that changing her accent will make her
educated, but she soon learns that being truly edu-
cated is a matter of more than just accent. As Shaw
explains in the sequel, she decides not to “meddle”
with becoming a phonetics teacher herself and
instead pursues her own goal of opening a flower
shop. She works toward this goal with perseverance
and further study, by embarking on a real education,
and by learning that “business, like phonetics, has to
be learned.”
Katherine Ashley
Gender in Pygmalion
By pitting men (Henry Higgins, Colonel Pickering,
and Alfred Doolittle) against women (Mrs. Higgins,
Mrs. Pearce, and Eliza Doolittle), Pygmalion sets up
a battle of the sexes that challenges Victorian gen-
der conventions. But the battle lines are not clearly
drawn: Not only does the play demonstrate that
gender inequality is inseparable from class issues,
it also challenges accepted wisdom about marriage,
sex, and prostitution.
Initially, Higgins dominates Eliza. She asks him
to form her according to his image, and her will is
subjugated to his vision. To Higgins, Eliza is not a
person but a student, and students are not people
but objects. He treats all of his female students the
same way. “They might as well be blocks of wood,”
he says, “I might as well be a block of wood.” As
the play progresses, however, Eliza poses problems
for Higgins. She is not an object, or a Galatea-like
statue who relies on her creator for life: She is a per-
son in her own right. She learns to speak properly,
but she voices her own opinions, defends her own
interests, and rebels against Higgins. When, in act 5,
Eliza turns to Higgins’s mother for help, Mrs. Hig-
gins questions her son’s methods: “What right have
you to go to the police and give the girl’s name as if
she were a thief, or a lost umbrella, or something?”
Because Mrs. Higgins has “intelligence, personal
grace [and] dignity of character,” she is able to chal-
lenge her son’s authority, criticize his practices, and
serve as a model of the ideal—and independent—
modern woman.
By demonstrating that gender roles are linked
to middle-class Victorian values, Pygmalion defies
traditional views of male-female relationships. For
example, Eliza’s father, Alfred Doolittle, lives with
her stepmother even though they are unmarried,
and Colonel Pickering “rather draw[s] the line at
encouraging that sort of immorality.” Pickering
also insists to Higgins that “no advantage is to
be taken of [Eliza’s] position.” At the same time,
however, it is shown that morals, as conceived by
Pickering, are related to class and wealth. Doolittle
is prepared to sell his daughter: “What’s a five-
pound note to you? And what’s Eliza to me?” He
recognizes that this amounts to prostitution, for he
states that if he thought Higgins’s intention were
dishonorable, he would “ask fifty.” Doolittle “can’t
afford” the morals to which Pickering subscribes,
and in this way, class differences are shown to rein-
force gender inequality.
Men may barter over her body, but Eliza’s good
character cannot be bought. As she states in act 2:
“I dont want no gold and no diamonds. I’m a good
girl, I am.” By act 4, her ideas have matured enough
for her to equate the prospect of a loveless, middle-
class marriage with prostitution. When Higgins
suggests that a suitable man might be found to
marry her, she replies, “We were above that at the