Pygmalion Essays -- Essays Papers

PygmalionAn interpretation of Class Relations in PygmalionIn Bernard Shaws Pygmalion, there is a distinct variance in kind dealing and the mood that early 20th century Britains were perceived as cosmos different by their speech, money, wealth, style, manners, and appearance. Being a madam or a gentleman was an acquired status desirable among most of Londons society. However, in Pygmalion, Shaw tells a story near the transition of a unsettled teenaged woman with the aspiration to become a respected lady.Eliza Doolittle is an 18 or 19 year- mature young women, making a living from selling old flowers on the streets. When she comes across a rude Professor, named Henry Higgins, he sardonically offers her to learn how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florists shop..at the end of six months you shall go to Buckingham palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed. This is what he proposes to Eliza when she comes to ask for English lessons from the Professor. He then makes a bet with an opposite man, Colonel Pickering, who says he will stipend for her new clothes and English lessons, if Higgins cigarette make a lady out of her in six months. The deal is made, and Eliza is immediately washed up and put into new, clean clothes. The pass begins like this, which sets the plot for the rest of the story.An simulation of modern day class relations with speech can be described by linguistic anthropologists, and in an article called Suite for ebon and Phonics by John R. Rickford. In this article, he discusses the African-American speech Ebonics, and the negatively charged impact it has across America. Being called lazy English, bastardized English, and poor grammar, it seems to be the same thing that was going on in England during the time Pygmalion was written. Im sure that if we were to ask Henry Higgins if that is what he thought about the way Eliza spoke he would whole-heartedly agree. However, the poor English that Eliza spoke was neer considered as beco ming a legal language in England. The play begins off on a rainy night on the streets, with a lady and her daughter waiting for a cab. In this first act, Eliza asks them to acquire a flower from her, with the response from the daughter, Do nothing of the sort, begin. The idea When the mother gives her some change, the daughter again exclaims, Make her give you the change. These things are further a penny a bunch ... ...he rats. Aristocrats ran society, and they had no need for the homeless and poor. In relating this subject to anthropology, there are a lot of points that can be made between the comparison of class relations and other issues similar to it. The study of Ebonics is a very good comparison to Pygmalion, and the way that someone speaks can effect how other people view them. however though some think it is not an issue today, it can salvage be compared to early 20th century England and the way upper class reckoned down upon others. In the same way, many people do lo ok down upon people speaking the too familiar sound of Ebonics. work CitedMcIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Applying Anthropology. Aaron Podelefsky and Peter J. Brown. calcium Mayfield. 217-220.Nagengast, Carole. Women, Minorities, and Indigenous Peoples Universalism and ethnic Relativity. Applying Anthropology. Aaron Podelefsky and Peter J. Brown. California Mayfield. 340-352.Rickford, John R.. Suite for Ebony and Phonics. Applying Anthropology. Aaron Podelefsky and Peter J. Brown. California Mayfield. 176-180.Shaw, Bernard. Pygmalion. England Penguin, 1913.