Female Characters in the Two Books 'Pygmalion' Term Paper

female characters in the two books 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw and 'Sexing the Cherry' by Jeanette Winterson. The two authors have assigned different attributed to their female leading characters but if studied carefully we would notice that purpose of creating such figures is identical in both cases.

ELIZA AND DOG WOMAN

The two books Pygmalion and Sexing the Cherry are starkly different in their storyline and narrative techniques, yet the only connecting link is the dominance of female characters in both stories. For example in the Pygmalion, it is Eliza Dolittle who is the most important female character while Dog Woman plays the leading role in 'Sexing the Cherry'. We notice that these two women have been presented in a contrasting light, as one happens to be a self-conscious young woman who is beautiful and sophisticated while the other is an ugly-looking person and has been repeatedly described as a monstrous creature. This is because Dog Woman who happens to have no other name in the book is grotesque character with nothing lady-like about her. Her mannerisms, her language, her dialect and her tone are all rather crude and the woman is an epitome of unsophisticated characteristics. Her personality is different from that of Eliza but it is interesting to notice that these two shared something similar before Eliza was turned into a polished beautiful woman of high society. Eliza who was originally a flower girl was unsophisticated and spoke the way an ordinary uneducated illiterate girl would. She was extremely loud at times and her voice was not pleasant to hear. M. Higgins, who was a Professor of Phonetics' undertake the task of her transformation and ultimately changes Eliza's personality so much so that she ceases to resemble the girl she used to be. It is important to mention here that Eliza's transformation was not exactly a pleasant experience because she later realizes how she lost herself during this evolutionary period.On the other hand Dog Woman happens to be a confident person who takes pride in who she is and how she looks. It is interesting that Dog woman always dismisses people's opinion about her with a humorous analysis or a simple shrug. This shows that Winterson's leading female character was created as an example for rest of the woman. The author wants people to understand that woman are not to be considered worthy on the basis of their looks, but it is their confidence in themselves that matters the most.

While Dog woman is abominable creature, Eliza is an epitome of beauty and grace when transformed from a crude, loud flower girl. But in the beginning of the story, Eliza was described "not at all a romantic figure." This was because the woman defied all necessary elements of a romantic female character; she was not at al the kind of person who would fit the description of a beautiful leading lady of a play. But it is her transformation that is the most important part of the play. While she may appear to be the kind of person who has nothing fundamentally important about her and is being used as a statue for the most part, it is near the end that she realizes that she too was a real person, worthy of love and respect.

It is clear that the two authors share the same views on status of women as it should be. Bernard Shaw knew that the society was pre-occupied with the beauty and elegance of females and never really tried to pay any attention to their feelings and their inner world where thoughts and views resided making them as human as any male. Therefore he used a mythological fairy tale to….....