A Re-interpretation Of Eliza Doolittle’s Transformation

It is generally acknowledged that George Bernard Shaw is the most famous playwright after Shakespeare in the British literary history. He wrote51noted plays and his works have always been considered as the main voice of the twentieth century English theater. Bernard Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in1925.Since1920s, Shaw’s works have been introduced to China. In the following nearly a hundred years, his works have received increasing popularity among common readers as well as literature scholars. From the perspective of Marxist feminism------the product of the second wave of feminism movement, this dissertation attempts to re-interpret the transformation of Eliza Doolittle------the heroine of Pygmalion, one of Shaw’s most popular plays. The main aim of this writing is to enrich the interpretations and understandings of Shaw’s female characters, as well as to draw people’s attention to female issues which still exist in modern society.In terms of the key concepts and theories from Marxist feminism about oppressions upon women in Capitalism society, this dissertation has elaborated the oppressions Eliza has received on perspectives of economy, morality and patriarchy and her spirit of resistance and revolution. She has won her independence step by step in that she takes her mastering of the "science of phonetics" as the turning point and completes the transformation gradually. On the one hand, she sticks to her good character and on the other hand, she owns her economic basis and sees through the nature of patriarchy later. Based on this main line, this dissertation can be divided into six parts:the first part is the introduction, including George Bernard Shaw himself and his literature career, a general review of the study object------Pygmalion, objectives and structures of this dissertation. The second part is about the theory of Marxist feminism, with a summarization of its core concepts, process of development and significance. In the following three parts, according to Eliza Doolittle’s gradual realization and transformation, the author applies Marxist feminists’key concepts and theories upon bourgeois ideological, economic and patriarchal oppressions upon women respectively. The last part is the conclusion, including a summarization of this whole writing and its significance and limitations.