Comparison between Pygmalion and Cinderella

Samantha Clavien & Joëlle Pfefferlé 10th February 2012

Comparison between Pygmalion and Cinderella
Plan
1.      Introduction
2.      Summary of Cinderella’s tale
3.      Links between Cinderella and Pygmalion
4.      Links between the characters of both stories
4.1 Eliza – Cinderella
4.2 Henry Higgins – Cinderella's Godmother
4.3 Alfred Doolittle – Cinderella’s stepmother
4.4 Mrs. & Ms. Eynsford Hill – Cinderella’s stepsisters
4.5 Mrs. Higgins/Colonel Pickering – The animals
4.6 Freddy Eynsford Hill – Prince charming
5.      The motif of the slippers
6.      Two morals
7.      Conclusion


1. Introduction
- We will begin with the presentation of the plan.
- Then we will explain how we chose to approach the theme:  we compared the relations that the various characters of both stories have with both main characters (who are Eliza and Cinderella).
- We will finally talk about the many comparisons between these two stories which could be made because they have lots in common.
2. Summary of Cinderella’s tale
Cinderella is the name of the heroine of the fairy tale, who is the rich man’s daughter. She is a pretty and charming woman. She is called Cinderella because she often sits in the cinders, after having finished the housework.
The tale begins when Cinderella’s father marries Lady Tremaine, because he is widowed and thinks that his daughter needs a mother’s care. This woman has already two daughters: Anastasia and Drizella (in French they are called Anastasie and Javotte). They all live in a big castle. Lady Tremaine and her daughters hate Cinderella and behave badly with her, because they are jealous of her numerous qualities. After the death of Cinderella’s father, they begin to mistreat her; she is forced into servitude. However Cinderella stays a really kind woman; she never complains. She even becomes friend with the mice and the birds that live there.
One day, the family hears off that a ball has been organized by the King for his son. All the young noble women who live in the kingdom are invited. Cinderella asks her stepmother if she can participate and she agrees, provided she finishes her chores.
Her animal friends fix a gown. Just before departing, Lady Tremaine complements Cinderella's gown, subtly pointing out the beads and sash. The stepsisters are jealous and destroy the gown, forcing Cinderella to remain behind.
As Cinderella sees her stepsisters going to the royal ball, she cries in despair. But suddenly appears her fairy Godmother. She transforms a pumpkin and animals into a coach with horses etc. Cinderella herself is transformed and now she wears a beautiful jeweled gown and glass slippers. She prepares everything to permit Cinderella to go to the ball. Just before she goes to, she is warned that the spell will break at the stroke of midnight. That is to say that everything will change back to the way they were before.
At the ball, Cinderella is the only girl who pleases the Prince. They stay together until the clock begins to stroke midnight. Cinderella runs towards the coach and on the way she loses one of her glass slippers.
The next day, the Grand Duke tries to find the girl to whom belongs the slipper. To do so, he visits every house in the kingdom and makes each girl try the slippers to know to whom it fits. When he arrives at Cinderella and her stepfamily’s house, Lady Tremaine locks her in a bedroom, because she has just realized that SHE was the girl wanted. Fortunately the mice recover the key and they deliver Cinderella who just arrives in time. Lady Tremaine (trips the footman, causing him to drop the slipper, which shatters into hundreds of pieces) breaks the slipper but Cinderella has taken the other one. The Duke slides it onto her foot and sees that it fits perfectly.
Soon after, Cinderella and the Prince celebrate their wedding.
3. Links between Cinderella’s and Pygmalion’s stories
Both stories have the same main topic. They talk about a young girl with a poor life who will be transformed throughout the stories. In both cases, the young girl is a maid at a moment of the story. In Cinderella, she is a maid before her Godmother suggests helping her, she works for her stepfamily. And in Pygmalion, Eliza is Higgins’ maid during her transformation. Her work begins when she comes to ask Higgins for help. These two stories show a young person desperate for a better life.
For Eliza, the transformation lasts until the end, while the transformation of Cinderella disappears at midnight (Does it really? Are you referring to physical appearance or to deeper transformation?). Another similarity is that both go to a ball in a carriage. In Pygmalion, she goes to the embassy for a party. She is forced to go there because she bet with Higgins . On the other hand, Cinderella goes to the palace for a party in honor of the Prince. She goes there without permission of her stepmother, she follows her heart.
Both main characters of the stories have lost their mother and do not receive any help from the father. In both stories, Pygmalion and Cinderella, you can find the so-called "Cinderella Complex". The main characters, Eliza and Cinderella, are very dependent. The two girls need somebody they can rely on. They are afraid of being responsible for their own life and so try to rely on other people, who can decide for them.

4. Links between the characters of both stories
4.1 Eliza – Cinderella
There are many similarities between Eliza and Cinderella.
Firstly, both are poor at the beginning and they become rich at the end. Eliza is a street flower seller and wants to be a seller in a real florist shop. For that, she must transform herself and change her way of speaking. She wants to have a better place in the society. Cinderella, after her father's death, becomes a skivvy for her stepmother and for her stepsisters. She does the housekeeping, the laundry and the cooking. She just wants to live like the other people and she wants to go to the Prince's ball.
Secondly, both girls rebel at one point in the story. Eliza realizes at the end that Higgins and Pickering laughed at her. They just used her for a bet. This rebellion takes place just after the party at the embassy, when they return to Higgins' house. She decides to throw the slipper to Higgins’ face and to scream at him. After that, she wants to die and she runs away. For Cinderella, it's not the same thing. She decides to rebel just before the party. It's when she is transformed and goes to the palace. It's again the rules of his stepmother. And the second revolt of Cinderella is when the mice open the door and she runs to try the glass slipper. The climax of the rebellion is when she gives the second slipper to the man. In both stories, the rebellion is linked to the slipper.
Thirdly, the two women have not the same personality. Eliza is very fearful and crybaby, especially when Higgins annoys her. At the beginning, she always shows her feelings. But at the end, she becomes more reserved. Cinderella prefers to take her feelings inside. She never shows that she feels bad or sad, even if the cat is very evil with her. She cries just before meeting her Godmother. But it is the only time.
Lastly, both girls become rich. Eliza is rich when she is with Higgins and Pickering because they give her accommodation and some beautiful dresses. But she becomes really rich at the end of the story when her father becomes rich. While Cinderella isn’t rich at the beginning of her life but she becomes just at the end, when she tries the glass slipper and she marries the Prince.


4.2 Henry Higgins – Cinderella's Godmother
Cinderella’s Godmother can be compared with Higgins because they play more or less the same role: they participate in the transformation of Eliza and Cinderella. At the beginning, both girls are part of a lower-class society and thanks to Higgins or the Godmother, they have the opportunity to go to the ambassador’s garden party and to the royal ball. And finally Eliza wants to get married with Freddy and Cinderella marries the Prince; these marriages could not have been envisaged if both girls hadn’t been transformed by Higgins or the Godmother.
Eliza wants to become a “lady in a flower shop instead of selling at the corner of Tottenham Court Road”. So, to make it possible, she goes to Higgins and asks him to teach her how to “talk more genteel”. After having accepted, Higgins ask Mrs. Pearce to “bundle her off to the bathroom” to wash her. Then new clothes are given to her. It is like that that Eliza’s transformations begins, thanks to Higgins, and will last six months.
Higgins and Cinderella’s Godmother are similar because they both help desperate girls but their behavior with them are really different, even opposite. Higgins does not speak sensible to Eliza; the words that he uses are really hard. For example: “Shall we ask this baggage to sit down, or shall we throw her out of the window?”, “Somebody is going to touch you, with a broomstick, if you don’t stop sniveling. Sit down”, “I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe”, “Put her in the dustbin”, etc.
He does not care about Eliza and doesn’t know anything about her future, when the bet will be at the end.
On the other hand, Cinderella’s Godmother appears when she is crying and comforts her; she speaks mildly with her.
There is also another difference between Higgins and Cinderella’s Godmother. Higgins is quickly there at the beginning of the story and Cinderella’s Godmother appears only then Cinderella cries in despair. In Pygmalion, that’s Eliza who asks for help and Higgins does not immediately agree; if Eliza had not asked him, he certainly wouldn’t have offered help. On the other hand, Cinderella does not ask anything and, seeing her crying, her Godmother comes on her own initiative.


4.3 Alfred Doolittle – Cinderella’s stepmother
In both cases, there is a parental figure lacking morals: Cinderella’s evil stepmother and Mr. Doolittle in Pygmalion. These two people use the young girl. Mr. Doolittle uses Eliza as a thing. When he comes to Higgins’ house, he begins to shout because Higgins is keeping his daughter. But he does not want his daughter back. He just wants money in exchange for his daughter. Higgins: “Have you no morals, man?” Mr. Doolittle: “Can’t afford them, governor, neither could you if you were as poor as me.” He wants to get rid of his daughter. Cinderella’s stepmother also uses the girl as a thing. Cinderella has to do all that her stepfamily wants. They use Cinderella as a maid because they do not want to do anything. It is easier for them. But they do not want to lose Cinderella otherwise they shall do everything themselves. That’s the reason why the stepmother refuses to let Cinderella go to the ball and she locks her in a room.
At the end of the Pygmalion story, Mr. Doolittle returns to Higgins’ house to take Eliza back. It is not what he really wants, but he has no choice. He has become rich thanks to Higgins and has the duty to care for his daughter. So she becomes rich too. In Cinderella’s tale, it is not the same end. The stepmother understands that Cinderella is the girl who the Prince is looking for. She locks her in her room to protect the comfort of the three women. When Cinderella brings the glass slipper to the Prince’s servant, she becomes the new princess and must leave the house. So the stepmother and the stepsisters never see Cinderella again.
4.4 Mrs. & Ms. Eynsford Hill – Cinderella’s stepsisters
Mrs. and Ms. Eynsford Hill and Cinderella’s stepsisters have the same reaction in two important stages of the story.
In the first act of Pygmalion, the two women who are waiting for a taxi look at the flower girl with an evil eye. They criticize the poor girl because they don’t like lower classes people as she is. They laugh and eventually ignore the girl. They are wicked (or just feeling superior?)  with the flower girl. It is the same thing in Cinderella’s story, with both stepsisters. They laugh at her all the time; they are wicked with the flower girl. In Cinderella’s story, both stepsisters behave badly too. But they don’t pay attention to her if it is not for their own needs.
In the third act of Pygmalion, Eliza goes to Mrs. Higgins’ house. She is cute and talks with a good accent. She is already transformed. Mrs. and Ms. Eynsford Hill are present and meet the flower girl for the second time. But they don’t recognize the poor girl; they think that she is a duchess or something like that. The same thing happens to Cinderella, when she goes to the ball. The stepsisters and the stepmother don’t recognize the wonderful girl who dances with the Prince because of Cinderella’s transformation, helped by her Godmother. Both girls change their behavior during the party, being nice with the wonderful girl. And they become really nice to her when they understand who she really is, at the end.
4.5 Mrs. Higgins/Colonel Pickering – The animals
In both stories the girls have their protector(s), who act(s) in their own way.
In Pygmalion, Pickering is always together with Higgins and Eliza. Even if he has bet with Higgins (thus using Eliza as a "thing"), even if he does not know anything about Eliza’s future and does not worry about it and even if he does not really worry about her when they come back from the embassy either, he is nice to Eliza. He pays for Eliza’s lessons and for her clothes and when Higgins goes too far with what he says to her, he asks him to calm down: “Put her in the dustbin.” > “Oh come, Higgins! Be reasonable”. At the end of the story, Eliza says to him that he was nice to her, contrary to Higgins, even if he has participated in the bet: “it was from you that I learnt really nice manners…” and what began her real education is that Pickering called her Miss Doolittle. Eliza says even to Pickering that “… [she] should be very unhappy if you forgot me”.
Mrs. Higgins is also nice to Eliza. When she learns what her son is doing with her, she immediately finds it silly. She also finds it silly that Eliza “has to keep to two subjects” of discussions (weather and everybody’s health): “Safe! To talk about our health! About our insides! Perhaps about our insides! How could you be so silly, Henry?”. Later, when Eliza comes to take refuge at her, she welcomes her gladly and accommodates her.
Cinderella is good friend with the animals that live around there. There are birds, mice, a dog, etc. Among the mice, there are mainly Jaq and Gus. There is also a cat, Lucifer, but he belongs to her stepfamily and, like them, he behaves badly with her. The animals have been there since the beginning. The birds awake Cinderella and make her bed. Later, birds and mice make her a gown for the ball…and at last, they help her to deliver from where she is locked by Lady Tremaine.
4.6 Freddy Eynsford Hill – Prince Charming
At the beginning of Pygmalion, Freddy does not care about Eliza. The very first contact that they have is when Freddy comes into collision with her, makes her flowers falling down and does not help her to pick them up. (The second time that they meet, he is nicer: he lets her have the cab that he has found). Later they see each other at Mrs. Higgins’ home, but Freddy does not recognize her. He immediately falls in love with the “new” Eliza. Mrs. Higgins understands that Freddy would like to see Eliza again and to make it possible, she says to him: “you know my days”. Since that day, Freddy “[spends] most of [his] nights [waiting for Eliza]”. In the evening when Eliza leaves Higgins’ laboratory, he admits to her that “it’s the only place where [he is] happy”. He calls her “darling” and charms her; then they spend the night together.
The Prince Charming sees Cinderella for the first time at the ball; he had never seen her before. And he immediately falls in love with, contrary to Freddy. But would he have fallen in love with Cinderella if he had known her as a maid? Freddy, he, has known both Elizas and was not attracted by the first one who sold flowers.
At the end of Pygmalion, Eliza wants to get married with Freddy. The reason for her decision is that “Freddy loves [her]: that makes him king enough for [her]”. In the other story, Cinderella and the Prince celebrate their wedding.
5. The motif of the slippers
In both stories there are slippers. And they have their importance in both stories.
In Pygmalion, they belong to Higgins. They appear when Higgins, Pickering and Eliza come back from the embassy. Both men are drunk and Higgins exclaims that “[he] wonders where the devil [his] slippers are”. So Eliza places a pair “on the carpet before [him]”. But the second time that he looks for them, before going to bed, Eliza throws them at him with all her strength: “there are your slippers. And there. Take your slippers; and may you never have a day’s luck with them!”. Eliza gets angry because he attaches more importance to these things than to her. Thanks to her he won the bet, but he does not thank her and he does not even care about her. Instead of that, he looks for his slippers and complains about the evening because “when [he] saw [they] were going to win hands down, [he] felt like a bear in a cage, hanging about doing nothing […]. Never again for [him] […]. The whole thing has been simple purgatory”. That very evening, Eliza leaves Higgins’ laboratory. So the slippers have had their importance, because it is because of them that Eliza runs away. They are at the basis of their basis of their scene.
In the other story, the slippers are made of glass and belong to Cinderella. Her Godmother offers them to her to go to the ball. When midnight arrives, Cinderella leaves the royal palace and loses one of her slippers on the way home. The Prince immediately picks it up. The next day begins the search for Cinderella and the slipper makes it possible to find her. So these slippers also have their importance, but contrary to Pygmalion, they were of use for something good: thanks to them, the Duke was able to find Cinderella and she and the Prince could get married.
6. Two morals
Pygmalion is a social criticism of classes in England at the beginning of the 20th century. On one hand, Shaw shows Higgins’ hardness and arrogance through his manner of speaking to Eliza. But on the other hand he shows that Higgins is also educated because he doesn’t speak slang as Eliza does at the beginning of the story. Higgins thinks he is able to eliminate the unfairness between classes with education and knowledge. Eliza shows that being educated can elevate anyone to a higher class.
Cinderella’s tale has two morals. The first one is that “beauty is a treasure, but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything.” The second one is almost the same as the first one, but it adds that "even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a Godmother."

7. Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see that both stories deal with the same main topic but in a very different way. They talk about a young poor girl who becomes a beautiful and a rich princess. Many characters in these stories play the same role, like Eliza and Cinderella, Mr. Higgins and Cinderella’s Godmother. At the end of both stories, people’s nasty behavior teaches a similar lesson and change a little.