Eliza as a Strong, Assertive Woman in Pygmalion Essay -- George Bernar

 Eliza as a Strong, Assertive Woman in Pygmalion   Bernard Shaws comedy Pygmalion presents the journey of an impoverished flower girl into Londons friendship of the early 20th century.  Professor Higgins proposes a wager to his friend Colonel Pickering that he can take a common peddler and transform her into royalty. Eliza Doolittle is the pawn in the wager. But little does Higgins know the change will go far beyond his expectations Eliza transforms from a defensive insecure girl to a fully confident,strong, and separatist woman. When the audience first meets Eliza Doolittle she is a flower girl peddling at 11 PM in front of St. Pauls Church. The audiences first impression is one of sympathy because she is dressed in rags and pedestrians are unkind to her. Higgins calls Eliza you squashed cabbage leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate spite to the English language. (p. 21) The audiences sympathy is intensified when we see Eliz as wretched lodgings. These lodgings are much contrasted to those of Higgins in Wimploe S...