pygmalion's higgins
Bernard Shaw shows and describes Professor Higgins throughout Pygmalion as a very rude man. While one may expect a very well-educated man, such as Higgins, to be a gentleman, he is far from being a gentleman. Higgins believes that the way you treat someone is not important, as long as you treat everyone equally. "The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another"(Shaw. Act V Pygmalion). Higgins presents this theory to Eliza, in hope of justifying his rude treatment of her. This theory would be fine if Higgins himself lived by it. Henry Higgins, however, lives by a variety of variations of this philosophy. It is easily seen how Higgins follows this theory. He is consistently rude towards Eliza, Mrs. Pearce, and his mother. His manner is the same to each of them, in accordance to his philosophy. However the Higgins we see at the parties and in good times with Pickering is very well-mannered and a true gentleman. This apparent discrepancy
between Higgins' actions and his words, may not exist, depending on the interpretation of this theory. If the second meaning of Higgins' theory, that he treats everyone equally at a particular time, is taken as his philosophy, there is one major flaw. Higgins never respects Eliza, no matter who is around. In Act V of Pygmalion, Eliza confronts him about his manner towards her. "He [Pickering] treats a flower girl as duchess" (Act V, 1140). Higgins, replying to Eliza, "And I treat a duchess as a flower girl" (Act V, 1140). In an attempt to justify this Higgins replies "The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better" (Act V, 1140). Eliza does not answer this question but the reader knows that Higgins has treated others better than Eliza. At the parties, for example, Higgins is a gentleman to the hosts and other guest, but still treats Eliza as his "experiment." Higgins could never see the "new" Eliza. Higgins only saw the dirty flower girl that had become his "experiment", as Eliza states "He [Pickering] might want them for the next girl you pick up to experiment on" (Act IV, 1127). There are two possi
Some common words found in the essay are:
Professor Higgins, Higgins Eliza, Pygmalion Eliza, Eliza Pearce, Henry Higgins, Pygmalion Higgins, Act IV, Eliza Higgins, Higgins Higgins', Eliza Pickering, treat equally, manner towards, flower girl, act 1140, higgins' parlor, variations philosophy, henry higgins, higgins parties, higgins eliza, higgins gentleman,
Approximate Word count = 786
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
