Pygmalion is a problem play

George Bernard Shaw’s one of the most notable plays is Pygmalion. In this play, the Irish playwright attempts to criticize the contemporary aristocratic society and shows that even Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl, elevates herself by taking lessons from Henry Higgins, a well-educated person. She is helpless to the class system as she faces several problems created by the class-driven society.

In many ways, Pygmalion can be said to be a problem play as various problems arise at various stages of the play. At first, tutoring a wild, Cockney girl like Eliza was a big problem for Higgins who himself is a phonetician and takes up the challenge of Colonel Pickering that he would make a fine lady out of Eliza and pass her off as a duchess among the aristocrats. He would have to face a lot of challenges to teach her proper pronunciation as well as manners of higher class society.

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During Eliza’s learning process, Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper of Mr. Higgins, also faces problems due to her stubbornness. It is the duty of Mrs. Pearce to look after Eliza, except her lessons which Mr. Higgins himself takes care of. As Eliza is not acquainted with the lifestyle of ladies with elevated manners, it often becomes a big shock for Eliza to cooperate with Mrs. Pearce.

After initial lessons of Eliza, Mr. Higgins along with Colonel Pickering attempts to see how she is responding to the lessons. So, that was another small, but significant challenge to get Eliza into a real-life social setting where she would associate with some guests at the house of Mr. Higgins’ mother. That problem is ultimately resolved with Eliza passing that test, even though that incident clearly indicates that she requires more lessons to become a fine lady in a proper sense.

The final and most significant problem shown in the play comes towards the end after Eliza successfully proves herself as an aristocratic lady at an ambassador’s party. Upon arriving home from the party, she discovers that Mr. Higgins and Pickering both enjoy their victory together without even recognizing Eliza’s presence in the same room, let alone giving her credit.

So, Eliza suddenly feels that she has become a fine lady, but she has lost her identity. She is no more a flower-selling girl with Cockney dialect, but she does not even feel herself included in the higher class society. This awakening of Eliza with respect to her identity is the beginning of the problem. She attempts to get hold of someone so that she can find a secured place in the higher class society. In fact, there are many elements for the readers to guess that Eliza loves Mr. Higgins who, on the other hand, treats her nothing more than a student.

Eliza has a suitor in Freddy, though, she does not love him. But, in a way, Freddy is the only realistic shelter for her to get an elevated identity without having to go back to her erstwhile identity of a flower girl from gutter. So, there is a psychological in-fighting within herself which ultimately leads to a heated conversation with Mr. Higgins. Though the play ends with Mr. Higgins and Eliza going their way without giving the readers any trace of resolution to the problem, the play signifies how a girl with good manners and fashion fights for her identity just because she does not belong to an aristocratic family by birth.