The play Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw, is about a phonetics expert who bets on being able to make a Cockney bridesmaid look like a duchess in a few months . . This girl, Eliza, manages to transform herself, but at the expense of a familiar life in the gutters, and risks being cast out into a world with nowhere to turn. This play explores many themes, makes extensive use of symbolism, interesting tonality, irony and the play itself is an allusion to ancient Greek mythology. The major theme of Pygmalion is class. In Britain, you are largely judged based on your social class. Your class is marked by your clothes, your mannerisms and your accent. By a phonetics expert like Higgins, a person can be placed in two streets of London because of their accent, and can therefore be placed in their social class and further judged according to it. Higgins takes on the challenge of taking a girl born into the lowest of social classes and moving her up the social classes by changing her accent, clothing, and mannerisms. Another theme of Pygmalion is imperfection and perfection. Before her transformation, Eliza is considered, by herself and by the world, to be imperfect. Her Cockney accent keeps her in the gutter, her manners appall those of the upper classes, and she barely manages to earn enough money to get by. Then her transformation perfects her, bringing her accent and mannerisms to that of an upper-class man. However, in her quest for perfection, she ends up with an imperfect life. She doesn't know what to do with her perfect self and feels like a victim of the world. This play explores a variety of serious themes, but the tone of Pygmalion is light. Higgins constantly makes careless insults that actually seem to be words... middle of paper ......ted. Higgins' character is rather ironic. He believes he cannot be changed. He thinks his habits of walking all over everyone around him and being outrageously brutal are too ingrained in him to change. However, the one that plays is about how he transforms Eliza. He believes he can change her so radically that she can pass for a duchess, but he doesn't believe even he can begin to behave like a decent person. Shaw's description of Eliza's transformation from a Cockney flower girl to a duchess is quite interesting. Higgins' irony and comic relief add a light tone to the serious themes presented in the play. At the same time, symbolism provides deeper meaning. Pygmalion is a charming work, which shows how gloriously it has been experienced over the years. Although the play ends without resolution, Eliza's transformation will certainly win the hearts of many people..