《賣花女》中伊莉莎的蛻變與成長(zhǎng) Changes in Eliza during the Play—Pygmalion

摘 要：本文主要對(duì)《賣花女》的人物伊莉莎進(jìn)行了全面分析。伊莉莎的蛻變表現(xiàn)在外貌，語(yǔ)言，自我意識(shí)以及行為方式等四個(gè)主要方面。本文嘗試分析這一蛻變并探索其深層次原因。

關(guān)鍵詞：蛻變；伊莉莎；賣花女

作者簡(jiǎn)介：杜秀紅（1980-），女，山東冠縣人，碩士。聊城大學(xué)大學(xué)外語(yǔ)教育學(xué)院講師。研究方向：英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)。

[中圖分類號(hào)]：I106 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼]：A

[文章編號(hào)]：1002-2139(2011)-24-0025-01

1. Introduction

Pygmalion tells us how low dialects divided people into social class， and many low- classes want to change their low dialects into Standard English. When it comes to Eliza， she begins as a dirty， ignorant， utter-dialect - spoken flower seller of the London Street， under the language training directed by Higgins and Pickering， becomes a duchess temporarily. We can see that Eliza changed a lot in the play Pygmalion. The process may be described like this: a flower girl—half flower girl and half duchess - duchess. The changes are presented in four aspects， I think.

2. Changes in appearance

At the very beginning， when Eliza appears for the first time. She is an unlikely figure of a heroine at first sight: her dirty little straw hat， her old black coat， brown skirt， apron， and worn shoes impress us deeply. What a poor and dirty girl she is.But she is lively and cheerful as she tries to sell Pickering a flower. She is， after all，very young so that she has not been worn down by her hard life.

At the second period， at Mrs. Higgen’s， Eliza shows up following Pickering. She is exquisitely dressed， producing an impression of such remarkable distinction and beauty. Therefore， as she enters， all the guests rise， quite fluttered.

At the last period， at the Embassy， she is in opera cloak， evening dress， diamonds， fan， flowers and all accessories. Her beauty shocked all the ladies and gentlemen from so-called high society， completely different a girl from a flower girl.

3. Changes in language

Eliza wants to change her poor background and pursuit good life， so she tries her best to change her dialects. Before the phonetic training， Eliza is a flower girl in the gutter， and she speaks the simple uncultured language with a vulgar， cockney accent. In the second period， her way of speaking has been changed， that is， more formal than before， but her contents stay the same. The trouble is that his brain can’t catch up with the changes in other ways. Sometimes， she knows how to speak， but she doesn’t what to say. At the first social party， she greets her hostess and her fellow guests in the proper manner. She is a pleasure to look at， and her speech is beautiful. Freddy falls head over heels in love with her on the spot. And at last， when she becomes a real duchess: she speaks English very perfectly and what she said is relevant.

4. Changes in consciousness

As a flower girl， in lower class， she is aware of the poverty and the cockney accent， which is the very reason for her to employ a teacher. She wants to improve her level of life via mastering cultured speech.

What’s more， she is independent to tell something good from something bad， for example， she chooses Freddy， rather than Higgens as his boyfriend. Higgens is a famous phonetics and owns a lot of money. In contrast， Freddy is an idle and nearly a fool. Why Eliza makes such kind of choice? Because， she can know something deep about the person as well as the surface. In fact， Higgens is selfish， ill-mannered and proud of reputation. And more important， what attracts Higgens is not Eliza but the experiment proper. So Eliza married Freddy at last.

5. Changes in way of behavior

Consciousness is connected with the way of behavior closely. In fact， the former influences the latter a lot. Even we can say that consciousness determined way of behavior. We have talked about it. Here. Just emphasize something. Only because of the inferiority， the flower girl does something very cautiously， and cares much about the reputation， and also seems not polite.

But later， she behaves herself perfectly， and is polite， even when she is greatly angry， what impressed me most is her leave from Higgens’ without hesitation. I really appreciate this kind of way of behavior.

6. Conclusion

Can correct speech change a person that much? In fact， the linguist only give Eliza the external coat of culture， but she turned out to be really cultured because the manner the linguist treats her has awakens her real culture. Anyway， the poor flower girl turns out to be a Duchess at last.

References:

[1] Bernard Shaw 著，楊憲益譯，蕭伯納戲劇選[M]，作家出版社，2006。

[2] Frank Harris 著，黃嘉德譯，蕭伯納傳[M]，外國(guó)文學(xué)出版社，1983。

[3]王佐良，英國(guó)二十世紀(jì)文學(xué)史[M]，外語(yǔ)教育與研究出版社，1989。