Metamorphosis and social distinction in Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion

Abstract EN

The paper mainly deals with the concept of ‘metamorphosis’ as a dramatic technique used by Bernard Shaw in his play Pygmalion.

The main target of this technique is to illustrate the difference and tension between the upper and lower class in the Victorian period.

A basic belief of the period was that a person is born into a class and that no one can move from one class to another.

As to the play, the barriers between classes are not natural and can be broken down. In Pygmalion, the premise and plot of the play are mainly built on the metamorphosis of a born and grown up in the lowest strata of society girl into a highly respectable Lady, in which the socio-political force plays a fundamental role.

Shaw is searching for the ‘perfect woman’ in portraying Eliza Doolittle.

Her dramatic behaviour is determined by specific social forces, which push her to change her social position.