Who is Eliza Real Teacher?

A major theme in the play Pygmalion is growing up. Through being taught phonetics and manners from Higgins, Eliza is essentially changing from a little girl that was born in the gutters and growing into a proper young woman that knows how to speak without the dialect of a poor person. It is true that Higgins is very educated in speech and will be able to teach Eliza how to speak properly, but one must ask them-self if Higgins will be able to teach Eliza manners. Throughout the play one trait about Higgins that stood out to me the most was his rudeness. Higgins says whatever is on his mind and does not take into account the feelings of the people around him.

To me, Eliza's real teacher was Pickering. He was the one that really taught her good manner. The fact that Pickering realizes that Eliza is a woman with feelings, and calls her Miss Doolittle instead simply Eliza, shows that he truly was trying to teach her manners, and that ultimately makes her grow up. By the end of the play in many ways Eliza outsmarted Higgins. In the article A Feminist Perspective to Pygmalion Wang states, "Eliza... has some knowledge which Higgins does not possess and will never possess, the knowledge of how to be kind and civil to people" (Wang 43). By being taught phonetics from Higgins and kindness from Pickering Eliza eventually becomes more intelligent than both of her teachers. Eliza truly learns to grow up because was both socially and phonetically educated.