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English Essay Pygmalion Grade 9 The Transformation of Eliza

Transformation is a thorough change a person’s form of life or their appearance. In the play ‘‘Pygmalion’’ by Bernard Shaw he shows this by the transformation of Eliza. After professor Higgins corrects Eliza’s speech Eliza gains independence; in her marriage; she can now marry a middle class man, her choice of job; she does not need to be a flower girl anymore she can open her own flower shop and she gains confidence as she works her way up to the upper class. After the transformation Eliza is not in the upper class but she is in the middle class thus making her marriage life more attractable to men in the middle class that she would had never attracted before when she was in lower class such as Freddy. Before Eliza was a flower girl she couldn’t attract upper class men. The men would abuse her when she was a flower girl. Now since Eliza moved upped a class because of her speech Freddy is starting to fall in love with her: “ Oh,no,no darling: how can you imagine such a thing? You are the loveliest, dearest’’(Shaw, 82). This quote proves that Eliza is attracting middle class men such as Freddy who thinks Eliza is the most loveliest girl. With Eliza moving up a class she will now dress more flatteringly and the men of the upper or middle class will start to take notice: “They stop talking to look at her, admiring her dress, her jewels”(71). This quote shows that Eliza is dressing more fancy in the middle class thus making the men staring at her and getting attracted to her. Next the transformation gives Eliza the ability to get a better job. With the transformation Eliza can now open her own florist shop instead of being a flower girl on the street trying to sell flowers. Higgins says this to Eliza: “You will live here for 6 months and you will be able to speak beautifully like a lady in a flower shop. If you do pass you will start your life in a shop”(34). Higgins is telling Eliza by the end of me teaching you how to speak and at the end if you pass you will start your new life in a shop. When you are applying for a job the way you present yourself is a very crucial factor. When Eliza was a flower girl she would never be able to get a job because the way she would have presented herself would be awful by her clothes and speech. Now the transformation has given Eliza the chance to present herself well for a job with her new speaking ability that some say is better then the duchess. I can prove it by: “An old lady just told me I speak exactly like Queen Victoria’’(72). In other words this tells us that Eliza speech is better then some people from the upper class because the Queen is above the upper class. As Eliza is moving up in her status in the society she will get to know more people in the middle or upper class and become friends with them. This gives Eliza the opportunity to get a better job through connections in the class. Furthermore the transformation gives Eliza the confidence in what she never had in the beginning. “Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-oo!”(27) is all Eliza can say in the beginning when Higgins is abusing and Eliza cannot say anything back besides those noises. Since Higgins perfected Eliza’s speech. Eliza can now speak back to Higgins and other people who abuse her: “You don’t care. I know you don’t care. You would [not] care if I was dead. I’m nothing to you-not so much as them slippers”(76). This shows how far Eliza has come. Before she would have never have stud up to Higgins but finally she expresses her feelings and stands up to Higgins by saying to him you do not care about me, you treat me as an object. Higgins gives Eliza the confidence to feel accepting and beautiful in the middle class. Higgin’s makes her accepting by with her new speech she can now talk to the middle or upper class without feeling discomfort. Beautiful by with her new apparel that she never had she feels in place with all the new items she has. From what has been said Eliza can now marry a man from the middle class such as Freddy who is in love with her, she can get a better job on the way she presents herself and with connections with her new status in the society and finally she gains the confidence to stand up for herself when she is being abused. The transformation helped Eliza to find her place in the society.

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