The Misogynistic Henry Higgins - 1990 Words

The Misogynistic Henry Higgins The key to understanding George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion lies in understanding the power struggle between the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots† – specifically the active and intentional disenfranchisement of women at the turn of the 20th century. At the core of Pygmalion there is a focus on the societal inequities of the day, with Shaw presenting society’s treatment of women as property without rights and with little understanding of their surroundings or place in society. Throughout the 19th century, and into the early 20th century, when Shaw penned Pygmalion, British laws and society actively restrained women, both politically and economically. Unlike the United States, women in England were allowed to vote prior†¦show more content†¦Much of English society and government mirrored Higgins beliefs. In 1888, an appeals court judge, Lord Esther, ruled that â€Å"neither by Common Law nor by the Constitution of this country from the beginning of the Common Law until now can a woman be entitled to exercise any public function.† (Aked) This is notable because, just as with the Reform Act of 1832, the ruling was a detriment to women, as women were already â€Å"exercising public functions†, such as overseers, way-wardens, church-wardens and members of school boards. This ruling was the first of several rulings and legislations that removed rights and governmental access from women. These actions of the British Parliament led to the creation of several suffrage movement organizations in England, such as the Co-operative Society and The Labor Party, each with almost two and a half million members, as well as several smaller groups, such as The Women’s Liberal Association, The British Women’s Temperance Association, The Women’s Textile Union, The Women’s Labor League, The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, The Women’s Social and Political Union, and The Men’s League for Woman Suffrage, as well as many others. It is well known that Shaw was an avid proponent of womens freedom and suffrage, and it is quite possible that Shaw wrote Pygmalion with the idea of promoting women’s suffrage as, only three years earlier, he had already penned aShow MoreRelatedThe Progression Of The Role Of Women2180 Words   |  9 Pages‘womanly’ again. In Pygmalion, it is the desire to be more ladylike that dr ives Eliza Doolittle, a poor Cockney flower girl, to be liberated. After meeting Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, both phoneticians, she accepts their offer to help her improve her speech and manners so that she can heighten her career prospects. In the process, Higgins falls in love with the lady he has created, through his hours of hard work of correcting her pronunciations, but nevertheless treats her as an object withoutRead MoreWhat Does a Comparison of the Way the Characters and Their Relationship Are Presented in Act One, Scene One with the Way the Characters and Their Relationship Are Presented in Act Two, Scenes One to Three Reveal About3558 Words   |  15 Pagesfor his drink in the future would not exist. Frank is also represented as a prejudiced character when he is rude about the Open University lady describing her application to the course as â€Å"some silly woman’s attempts to get into the mind of Henry James...† From the way Frank treats Julia here it is very likely that Frank’s respect for women is diminished; he constantly refers to her as â€Å"darling† and says once he has hung up â€Å"Yes, that’s it, you just pop off and put your head in the oven†.