|
|
Pretty Woman is an appropriation of the play by Bernard Shaw called Pygmalion, because it’s characters, plot and central theme can all be closely linked. Both Vivian Ward’s and Eliza Doolittle’s transformation into society’s ‘ideal women’ undertakes the same central journey, with pivotal moments in character development similar to each other. Both women come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and through the help of their male counterparts, in the text, achieve confidence and self worth. Through the women’s evolution of self, the narrative also enables the reader to see the society in which the characters are constructed, and how through the female’s transformation society’s attitudes towards the women are revealed. At their introduction into the texts, Edward Lewis and Henry Higgins both have no intention of ‘letting a woman into their life’ but the major difference in the two texts is the transformation of the men’s opinions. While Vivian’s influence on Edward reaps a positive effect on his character, Higgins steadfastly retains his obstinate and stubborn nature. Both Professor Higgins and Edward Lewis come from affluent and high-ranking social classes, where respect and power is earned through their education and high socio-economic status. In the first scene in Pygmalion, Professor Higgins is surrounded by all social classes as he observes their speech outside Convent Garden. As he begins to interact with the people in his surroundings, they are able to tell he is a gentleman, as the bystander notes ‘he’s a gentleman, look at his boots’. Not only does this statement confirm Higgins’ status in the social hierarchy but also portrays the message that in this realm, a person’s dress is used as an indicator of their position in society. Higgins himself, as Professor of Phonetics, is successful at his occupation, this being deduced as he says to Pickering when questioned about whether his employment earns him a living, ‘Oh yes, quite a fat one.’ He further elaborates by describing why his profession is so fruitful: ‘This is an age of upstarts. Men begin in Kentish Town with 280 pounds a year, and end in Park Lane with a hundred thousand. They want to drop Kentish Town; but they give themselves away every time they open their mouths’. Edward Lewis, moreover, is introduced in the text Pretty Woman, as a successful asset stripper who ‘buys companies and sells off the pieces’. Edward’s social status is displayed by his ability to reside in the exclusive Regent Beverly Wiltshire Hotel. Through its luxurious setting, the Hotel depicts the notion that its residents would be very wealthy. Edward has been highly educated which is disclosed when Vivian and Edward discuss their schooling years, Edward tells Vivian he ‘went all the way’, indicating he had extensive education, especially in comparison to Vivian. Edward must have had a privileged childhood as his ‘first car was a limousine’ and his money earns him respect and power with his peers, such as Phillip Stuckey who says ‘I have pledged my life to you’. As Edward notes the influence of wealth when taking Vivian shopping, ‘stores aren’t nice to people, they’re nice to credit cards’. Edward earns Vivian the reverence of the store managers by telling them that he was going ‘to spend an obscene amount of money, so we are going to need a lot more help sucking up to us’. In comparison, Eliza and Vivian come from poorer, almost poverty-stricken backgrounds, both selling their wares in order to eke out a living. Eliza sells flowers in order to make money but she is not very successful at her occupation, ingratiating herself to passersby at Convent Garden. She is not ‘a romantic figure’ but this is probably a product of her poverty as Eliza’s features are ‘no worse’ than the other ladies at Convent Garden but is ‘very dirty’ in comparison to them. Her appearance and clothes are unkempt as her ‘little sailor hat of black straw’ had ‘long been exposed to the soot of London’ and ‘her hair needed washing badly’. This portrays her as having very little wealth and a low socio-economic status as she is not able to dress like or look like a lady. Vivian’s apparel also conveys her social standing and to a greater extent her profession as a prostitute. On Hollywood Boulevarde, where she sells her ‘wares’, Vivian fits in with the other ‘working girls’ with her revealing clothes, heavy make-up and her ‘boots held up by a safety pin’. She keeps her boots black by using a black permanent marker to erase any wear and tear on them, instead of, perhaps, buying a new pair. Vivian though, we know, is not wealthy. She cannot afford to pay her rent money for her small, run down, apartment and prefers to escape seeing her landlord by using the fire escape ladder. As she searches for her room-mate Kit, on Hollywood Boulevard, the viewer can see that the area is accustomed to prostitutes, drug-dealers and, as Vivian happens to stumble on, dead bodies. As she later relates the discovery of seeing ‘a girl pulled out of a dumpster’ to Kit, she asks afterwards ‘Don’t you want to get out of here?’, obviously indicating that she dreams of a better life for herself. This aspiration is also shared by Eliza, for even before contemplating the idea to visit Professor Higgins for elocution lessons to become a flower-girl, she returns home to her squalid lodgings, ‘dreaming and planning’ what to do with her ‘new riches’ to better her life. Pinned up on the wall of Eliza’s small room is a portrait of a popular actor and a fashion plate of ladies dresses torn from newspapers, an example of Eliza wanting articles to aspire for to decorate her life.
|
