George Bernard Shaw’s with His Play “Pygmalion” and Euripides with His Play “Media”

Throughout the centuries, Greek drama performances have entertained audiences with their paradoxical plots and tragic hero demises. The performances range within a spectrum of the light comical side to the tragic dark side. Famous playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw’s with his play “Pygmalion” and Euripides with his play “Media” use opposite sides of the drama spectrum to portray their main characters. While, the main characters in these two plays see themselves as protagonist, their hero qualities are undercut by their depiction and actions.

In George Bernard Shaw’s comical play “Pygmalion”, Professor Henry Higgins is truly the authority of speech therapy and proper etiquette. He believes that his unusual teaching methods can transform anyone from even the lowest class of society into a refined and dignified individual. This was evident as he proves to transform Eliza Doolittle from an ordinary flower girl and passes her off at a party as a duchess within only a matter of months. Paradoxically, his superman linguistic powers are undercut by his appalling behavior and disregard for other people’s feelings. Although, Higgins is a sophisticated man, he is certainly no gentleman. He is a male chauvinist who states that women have no use and are equivalent to a block of wood. Higgins only motivation for teaching Eliza is to win a bet with his long time friend Colonel Pickering.

Eliza is an ambitious young lady who wants to have her own flower shop and a respectable lifestyle. In order to achieve this, she is willing to pay Professor Higgins for speech lessons with the hope of speaking better English. Higgins is reluctant because teaching Eliza would be quite a challenge but is finally persuaded because of a wager set by his friend Colonel Pickering. Eliza’s metamorphosis takes months of grueling language training and a considerable amount of verbal abuse from Higgins but in the end, she is becomes a new woman. However, it is only when she stands up for...