The Pygmalion Part 2

I just finished reading The Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw and even though Eliza didn’t end up with Higgins I did actually enjoy the ending of the book. I thought it was strange that Eliza ended up with character that we didn’t really get to know throughout the book, because we only ever met him twice. Which to me made it that more evident that Eliza settled for Freddy. And that becomes even more evident when at the end of thing the book when it says that sometimes she wishes she could take him to a deserted island where there are no social obligations where they could just be together. But in reality she had to choose “Will she look forward to a lifetime of fetching Higgins slippers or a lifetime of Freddy fetching hers”?

Another thing that I thought was interesting was that Shaw chose to end the book by saying that the relationship wouldn’t work because he’s too godlike to her to be agreeable. In saying that the book goes into a reason that they wouldn’t end up together and that’s that they both try to be the strongest, and best the other.  The beginning of hem not ever going to bet together start after Eliza passes as a duchess and Higgins and Pickering are on a high congratulating each other on their success.  Meanwhile Eliza sat on the couch and was being ignored by the men.  After Pickering heads off for bed Eliza and Higgins get into a heated argument. She yells at him for never treating her for anything more than a flower girl, but he tells her he treats duchesses like flower girls as well. And then they go into words about how she wouldn’t be with Higgins even if he asked her. Higgins said they could live together as two old bachelors and a maid.

Something that I found interesting in this argument is when they talk about how Eliza could find a husband now, any man brought up wasn’t good enough in Higgins eyes because he didn’t want his best work to go to a second rate guy. But I think that Eliza with any other guy than himself was just something he didn’t want. I believe that he thought that since they weren’t going to be together that she shouldn’t be with anyone. Mostly I think that Eliza didn’t end up together because they’re both to stubborn to admit they want to be together. I might be reading into The Pygmalion differently than Shaw intended, but that’s the way I see the relationship, and that’s how I see their relationship and the end of the Pygmalion.