Cameron Tenn

Per 2
February 26, 2016
Mr. White
Rose Coloured Lenses
Things are not always as they appear, but how they appear defines how we
interact with them. No matter who you are, everyone will treat you as they perceive
you. Not everyone you meet will like you. Some will, and will become your good
friends, because of how they perceive you. Others who see you differently, may not
like you at all. But you are still you. The same person, but perceived differently. In
the book Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw we are given the example of someone
who has changed how people will act around them and they treat them simply by
changing how they were being viewed.
Pygmalion follows the transformation of Mrs. Eliza Doolittle from a poor street
vendor, to a woman of high society. This ambitious protagonist was tasked with the
goal of learning the ways of the wealthy so as to delude the evil perpetrators of
skewed society. Assisting her against the antagonistic societal expectations are
Professor Higgins and General Pickering, two linguists whose lack of social skills
bring out the humour in this comedic play. Their sarcasm and cacophony of insults
that they blurt out as if they were well known facts show exactly how much of a farce
this play is on traditional high society. Their standoffishness in relation to the less
privileged is a stereotype of the British upper classes. Higgins and Pickerings
transformation of Eliza into the stereotypical societal princess quickly takes a turn on
them when she begins to revert back to the strong willed woman she used to be.
Now a comedic act, Eliza shows the best of both sides of her worlds, the eloquence

of a lady and the strength of a pauper creating a brand new sort of lady, special in
her own right. Along the way, her father also makes a similar change based on a
sarcastic comment Higgins made, and Higgins mother begins to detest her son for
destroying the life of the young girl.
Professor Higgins has changed Eliza Doolittle from a common girl selling
flowers on the street to a lady of high society, simply by changing her dress, her
mannerisms and her vocabulary. Higgins has also changed when his own mother
had begun to perceive him as a selfish and greedy man who was destroying a young
womans life. Higgins throughout the play became more and more distasteful and
less and less cordial as his closest friends, Mrs Pierce and his own mother, began to
look down upon him. Simply by being treated differently he began to act differently,
much like how real people today behave. Plenty of teenagers today act like children
because they have been treated like children, an issue which happens more often
than is admitted. Yet, if someone is acting like a child, then other people are more
likely to treat them like they are children.
It is a vicious circle where someone is viewed one way, so they are treated as
such, making them behave more like the way theyve been viewed. In the play Mr.
Doolittle, Elizas father, was taken hold by this phenomenon. Mr. Doolittle would like
nothing more than to live life day by day, drinking the marrow of life one day at a
time. However, an ironic turn of events, caused by Dr. Higgins, turned Mr. Doolittles
Carpe Diem attitude into one where he must plan for the future. Mr. Higgins friends
began to treat Mr Doolittle as though he were middle class, at which point he began
to act middle class, and then became middle class, where people will treat him as
such. History has always demonstrated this, for people who act like kings become
monarchs, and men who act more noble once they are pronounced so.

Mr Higgins mentions a girl in a flower shop, a motif that follows the play right
through to the very end. Elizas main goal was to become like a girl in a flower
shop, the idealized version of what she did on the streets, selling flowers. When
Higgins and Pickering promised her that would become such, she began to learn
how to act as one. However, during the party where Eliza debuted people began to
treat her more like a lady, because that is how she was introduced. She then began
to act more like a lady, until of course later in the play where the farce turns into
satire. Rather than making fun of the aristocracy, Eliza becomes the mouth of the
common people and began to ridicule them. The metaphor of a girl in a flower shop
began to disappear as Eliza opened her own flower shop and acted how she liked,
strong willed, out spoken, and put together, the perfect mix of posh and poor.
It has been proven here that people will treat you as you appear to them, but
this doesnt have to be a bad thing. You can change how you appear to other people
too. Changing your dress, or your attitude can greatly affect your relationships with
others, and improve your relationships with people who you care about. The moral
you are as you are perceived was not meant to be a harsh statement, but a valuable
lesson. Learn how to put your best self forward so that people can treat you as you
should be treated.