payment page
Clothing
In a society overtly concerned with appearances, clothes symbolize one’s class identity and social standing. In the opening of the play, the characters’ clothing represents how they are positioned in society. For example, Higgins is identified as a gentleman in Act 1 by the boots he wears. Eliza, on the other hand, is seen as a poor flower girl based on her shoddy clothing. Furthermore, clothing acts as a vehicle for Eliza’s transformation. Indeed, Higgins has Eliza’s clothes burned and replaced with new clothes, so that when her father first comes to Wimpole Street, he does not recognize her. Mr. Doolittle’s transformation into a gentleman is also marked by his clothing. When Mr. Doolittle goes to meet Higgins, he is announced as a dustman, but when he arrives at Mrs. Higgins’ home and is called a gentleman by the parlor maid, Pickering and Higgins do not believe it could be him, as his clothing is described as being, “brilliantly dressed in a new fashionable frock-coat, with white waistcoat and grey trousers.” Eliza’s clothing also allows her to pass as a lady when she visits Mrs. Higgins and meets the Eynsford Hills.
On the flip side, clothing signifies the limits that one’s outward appearance can have on transforming one’s internal identity. As Mrs. Higgins suggests, Eliza is "a triumph" of Higgins’ lessons and of her dressmaker’s creations; but the content of Eliza’s conversations gives her away. Mrs. Higgins asserts that though Eliza is presentable as a lady because of her new clothes, she still cannot pass as someone from a higher class. Yet, it should be noted that Mrs. Higgins was let on to the fact that Eliza was not born a lady by birth, so the knowledge of Higgins’ and Pickering’s ruse makes her more suspicious than the Eynsford Hills. Ultimately, Shaw’s emphasis on how different social classes view one’s clothing stresses the superficiality of outward appearances and complicates the extent to which one can transform themselves and the extent to which clothing plays a role in class status.
The Weather
One of the main concerns of Pygmalion revolves around class status and the divisions created based on one’s social standing. The weather, however, is a universal phenomenon that cuts across class lines. In the opening of the play, it is the rain that gathers disparate groups of different classes into the same space. Because the characters are all forced to shelter under the portico of St. Paul’s Church, we see characters from different class backgrounds forced to interact with one another. In this regard, the weather symbolizes a great equalizer. Later in the play, the weather is also used to show the vapidity of middle-class sensibilities. During Eliza’s first outing as a lady, she is relegated to only talk about a couple of “safe” topics, one being the weather. Due to the weather being a universal aspect of society, Eliza can supposedly engage in conversation with the Eynsford Hills without revealing her true class position. Yet the weather, though an innocuous topic, does not completely hide Eliza’s linguistic performance. Rightfully so, when she responds to Mrs. Higgins’ question regarding whether it will rain, she uses such detailed and precise language that it makes Freddy laugh, and forces Eliza to wonder what is so funny and if she has said something incorrectly. The weather here as a natural phenomenon symbolizes the chaotic and unpredictable nature of language. For example, as Eliza discusses her aunt’s death, she betrays her performance by using a turn of phrase that is unfamiliar to Mrs. Eynsford Hill. The weather thus juxtaposes the natural with the artificial—the actuality of Eliza’s sordid and shocking family history, with the artificiality of her speech. Like the weather cannot be mastered, Eliza at this point is still only a “live doll,” proving that there is more to master when it comes to being a lady than being able to adroitly telegraph what the weather will be.
The Flower Shop
Eliza’s dream of working in a flower shop rather than selling flowers on the street symbolizes her desire to move up in society. Eliza’s aspiration also acts as the impetus for the play. As she says, “I want to be a lady in a flower shop stead of selling at the corner of Tottenham Court Road. But they won’t take me unless I can talk more genteel.” Eliza’s hope to learn how to be a lady through Higgins’ language lessons opens the door for her transformation. Furthermore, the flower shop confers a class identity that would otherwise not be allotted to Eliza. As a flower girl on the street, she is sometimes mistaken for a sex worker, indicating that she is often misunderstood due to her low social standing. In this sense, the flower shop would allow a sense of security, safety, and economic independence that Eliza could not otherwise achieve.
