Under the
tutelage of Henry Higgins, Eliza Doolittle's accent, dress, and manners change so that she
transforms from a working-class Cockney woman into an upper-class English lady. By showing how
easily Eliza becomes upper-class by adopting only a few superficial changes, Shaw skewers an
ideology that maintains that the upper classes are "innately" superior to the the
lower. Even a little education, the play shows, can make a lady out of a flower
seller.
But Eliza's transformation goes deeper, and Shaw shows this to be
both positive and negative. On the positive side, her acceptance into higher society builds her
sense of confidence and self-worth. She rebels and asserts herself against Henry Higgins' verbal
abuse, such as his calling her a "squashed cabbage," as well as his careless
assumption that she will always function to suit his convenience--and go away as soon as she
becomes inconvenient. Henry treats her as a thing: Eliza insists, at the end, on being treated
as a human. On the negative side, however, the play points out that by transforming Eliza into a
lady, Higgins has left her unfit for any role in society but marriage. Shaw critiques a culture
in which a woman's ascent up the class ladder leaves her increasingly useless and dependent. As
a working girl selling flowers, Eliza might have been very poor, but at least she could earn her
own keep. As a lady, she must marry and rely on a man to support her, for holding a job in that
class would be unacceptable for a woman.
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