Evaluation of the text- "Pygmalion"

Essay by Jacky0105 June 2006

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1.1 Personal critique

Pygmalion" describes the story of a common flower girl, who is taught a correct pronunciation and within a short time she acquires an upper-class accent which even the specialists take for genuine, so that she is fully accepted in upper-class circles. It is not only a story about the personal development of Eliza but Shaw shows phonetics as holding the key to social advancement and not only for Eliza but for everybody.

He does not teach us this fact with in an offensive manner but with a story full of wit and humor. The reader himself has to think about the actual social situation (e.g. the status of women, the access to education etc.) and about the own falling and about the failing of society.

Shaw packs all this into an entertaining story in which the climax works up gradually till the end since it is left open.

Every reader has to love this book, because it contains for almost every taste (history, romance, science etc) a certain feature.

1.2 Ultimate judgment

Personally, I liked Shaw's style and the fact that it mainly contained dialogues, because it makes it easy to follow and simplifies the feeling of being a part of the play.

When you read attentively, you can capture the content and the indirect given critic as well.

Furthermore there is a lot of historical value in this play because Shaw's nucleus, around which the story is build, is a critic of society in the 19th century but which is still relevant for today.

Pygmalion is the description of a class-ridden society and how the class barriers can be overcome in this society.

In my opinion he has achieved his purpose of demonstrating that a common worker can rise up into the upper class by...