After reading Act Five of Pygmalion, I began to ask myself - have the tables turned? - Does Professor Higgins become dependent on Eliza rather than she being dependent on him? Does Professor Higgins portray a fatherly love toward Eliza? At the end of Act Five Higgins says, “I’ll adopt you as my daughter and settle money on you if you like. Or would you rather marry Pickering?” (Shaw 1010). Through Higgins’ statement, I feel that Shaw was trying to show the audience that Higgins had a loving, caring side to him that we have not seen at all throughout the play. In addition, I feel that Higgins wants Eliza apart of his life and wants to be that parental figure that she never had. I also believe that this leads to the question that if Higgins has accomplished his so called “self goal” of transforming Eliza into a duchess, why would he persuade her to stay? Does he really care for her well-being? Or does he want to hold on to his human trophy to remind him of his self accomplishment of turning a lower class beggar into an elegant duchess?
Earlier in the play, in Act Two, we see that Eliza showed up at Higgins’ door, asking him and Pickering to help her become a duchess. Before she showed up at Higgins’ front door, she was an independent woman, making a living on her own as a flower girl. Since she was of lower class, she did not live the best life, but she seemed happy with what she had. By asking Higgins’ for help to become a duchess, her independence became absent.
Her independence was the only thing she had and it was taken away. I question if she gave up her independence willingly or if Higgins took away her independence. One may take the route and mention that Eliza willingly showed up at Higgins house and set herself up or one may take the opposite route and say that she had no where to stay nor any money, causing her to depend on someone rather than herself.
At the end of the play, we see that Eliza leaves Higgins. Eliza tells Higgins that she is going to Freddy because he loves her. Then Higgins begins to insult Freddy and her intelligence. Eliza begins to explain that Higgins is a bully, and that she should not be treated like dirt. Higgins gives his last words to Eliza by saying, “Eliza, order a ham and Stilton cheese, will you?...You can choose the color” (Shaw 1012). After seeing this occur, I ask myself, does Eliza show that she is independent by telling off Higgins and going to Freddy? Or does Eliza show that she is even more dependent on a person by running off with Freddy? And as for Higgins, does he feel dependent on Eliza?
I think that because Eliza’s sudden confidence in Act V surprises Higgins, he becomes reliant. He was pleased with Eliza’s transformation, yet he underestimated how much intelligence she truly possessed. When Eliza stated, “I am a child in your country. I have forgotten my own language, and can speak nothing but yours,” she willingly gave Higgins all power over her. Eliza allowed him to control how she spoke, what she wore and who she associated herself with; therefore, Higgins did not expect Eliza to surpass him. If Higgins was successful, intelligent and confident enough to impart those qualities onto Eliza, how could the poor flower girl overcome him? Higgins could not accept that Eliza was not an intelligent woman solely because of him. Instead, his lessons emphasized her pre-existing intelligence. Higgins was reluctant to part from Eliza after recognizing that she was not only smart enough to learn grammar and phonetics, but also to assist him.
ReplyDeleteTo answer whether or not the tables have turned, I think they have. Upon learning to present herself well, Eliza no longer needed Higgins. She became accustomed to bettering herself and being independent, while Higgins became accustomed to relying on Eliza. In Act V when Eliza states, “Number eights are too small for you and you have three new ties you have forgotten. Colonel Pickering prefers double Gloucester to Stilton; and you don’t notice the difference,” the contrast between Eliza’s independence and Higgins’s dependence is revealed.