“MRS. HIGGINS. You certainly are a pretty pair of babies, playing with your live doll."
The single line demonstrates the direct correlation the play has with the myth, Pygmalion. Higgins sculpts Eliza, re-shaping her speech and her dress to pass her as something she is not. Eliza is a pawn in Higgins and Pickering’s game; she is the subject of their bet. What Mrs. Higgins sees that the men do not is the humanity of Eliza. She sees the young girl who, when Higgins and Pickering have completed their experiment, will be left with nothing except a better pronunciation of vowels. The selfish pride that Higgins has is similar to the pride Pygmalion feels as an artist. While Pygmalion (creepily) played with a non-living doll, Higgins adjusts a real woman—a woman who he does not see as a woman but a project. Mrs. Higgins sees the problematic situation keenly. She watches the Pygmalion myth before her, and how this story cannot conclude with the same joy because the woman is real, not a sculpture of fantasy.
Higgins treats his project as a game. It started out simply as a bet that he did not really take seriously. Because he really had nothing to lose in doing this, he decided to have fun and take on this project. As her change progresses, Higgins becomes more blind and loses his humanity. His experiment would work flawlessly on dolls who have no free will or feelings. But the fact that Eliza is a person complicates his whole project and calls ethics into question.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your observation but what is it saying about the greater messages of the play? Does the intelligence of Mrs. Higgins show that Shaw is feminist? Or does Liza's quick submission show masculine dominance? I think that there are definitely some conclusion you can draw from the observation, although not necessarily the ones I mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThis argument could also be looked at in comparison to the fight that Higgins and Liza later have - the fact that his emotions come into play complicates his insensitivity. But, throughout the fight he remains consistent in his references to her as a play thing and a pet project.
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