Love Comparison Between Pygmalion and Major Barbara
George Bernard Shaw is rightfully considered as one of the most important playwrights of his generation and, as pointed out by the Columbia Encyclopedia, "has revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas"( The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001-04) . One such theme is represented by the conflict which emerges from the confrontation between the antagonistic perspectives on love and the object of the characters' adulation. "Pygmalion" and "Major Barbara" are relevant for pointing out the different approaches of the matter. On the one hand, love is portrayed as the adulation of the creator for his masterpiece, as in the case of Pygmalion's Professor Higgins and Major Barbara's main character with the same name; on the other hand, the unsophisticated and mundane love of a simple human being for the embodiment of a superior and unaccustomed with world characterizes the perception of love of both Lisa and Cusins, respectively. In the first instance, on a general note, both plays deal with the love of the artist for his masterpiece and his failure in trying to remain bound to an abstract and idealistic world, in considering himself invulnerable in front of the vicissitudes
Form these different perspectives on love, the two sides express their affection through concurring means. On the other hand, both Lisa and Cusins experience real affection and their proof of love is obvious and directly expressed through words. Lisa voices her feelings openly, "what I did was not for the dresses and the taxis: I did it because we were pleasant together and I come--came--to care for you" (Shaw, 1916, act V).; much in the same manner, Cusins is willing to sell his soul for the acts that comprise reality, "I have sold it for a professorship. I have sold it for an income" (Shaw, 2000, act III), implicitly his love for Barbara is the concrete proof of his actions. Opposing these attitudes, Higgins does not reveal his love through words or thoughts, but through actions, through his endeavor to create the perfect masterpiece. There are only a few moments when his real feelings are revealed, not as words of caring, but as rejections of a love that would draw him out of the perfection dominated universe "If you can't stand the coldness of my sort of life, and the strain of it, go back to the gutter...it's a fine life, the life of the gutter...Not like Science and Literature and Classical Music and Philosophy and Art. You find me cold, unfeeling, selfish, don't you? Very well: be off with you to the sort of people you like...If you can't appreciate what you've got, you'd better get what you can app
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Approximate Word count = 953
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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