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November 24, 2005
What is in name Pygmalion...
Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during 43 BC and wrote on topic of love, abandoned woman, and mythological transformations. The story of Pygmalion in Ovid’s Metamorphosis inspired many writers and artists through out the centuries. George Bernard Shaw named one of his play “Pygmalion” after Ovid’s Metamorphosis.
In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Pygmalion is a sculptor who doesn’t have interest in women. However, he is rewarded by his “hatred” of women when he is granted his wish by the gods. He falls in love with the sculpture that he makes out of ivory, a figure of a woman. Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty realizes Pygmalion’s love for Galatea and transforms her into a real woman.
The romantic myth of Pygmalion and Galatea had affected minds of artists and their works such as George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. A similar idea of romance and love take place in the play when the character Henry Higgins, a rich and educated man tries to create that ideal woman out of an uneducated, wild, and vulgar woman Eliza. Ideally speaking both Ovid’s Pygmalion and Shaw’s Henry Higgins are keen sculptors and creators of the women they love.
Lastly, I think that both Shaw and Ovid illustrate the historical idea of supreme power of males over females. In other words, with the helps from Pygmalion and Higgins the females are able to find their true and “improved” faces/identities and even come to life as Galatea. Their works show the state of interdependentce of men and women and most stories have endings like this and this is the “happily ever after” finale. As if Elize and Higgins it is true because Eliza still takes care of the bachelors and has desire for Higgins even though she knows that it will never be that way.
Posted by lcisbold at November 24, 2005 05:15 PM