Shaw’s Pygmalion, Euripides’ Medea While the obvious connection between Euripides’ “Medea” and George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” is that both plays draw on Greek myth for their basic subject matter, these works are also similar in that each playwright exploits the traditions and conventions of their era’s formal dramatic conventions, while introducing the innovative elements for which each one is justly famous. George Bernard Shaw is considered to be one of the greatest English dramatists of the modern era, and his “contribution to British theater is considered second only to that of William Shakespeare” (Sisler, 2004). In plays, such as his popular “Pygmalion,” Shaw rejected “outmoded theatrical conventions” as he incorporated “realism and social commentary” into his plays, exploring issues such as “sexism, sexual equality, socioeconomic divisions, the effects of poverty and philosophical and religious theories” (Sisler, 2004). Shaw is credited with introducing the “theater of ideas” to twentieth century contemporary Western society (Sisler, 2004). His plays combine moral situations confronting the contemporary society of his era, combined with an ironic wit, a genius for language and multiple paradoxes (Gascoigne, 2003). Discussion and “intellectual acrobatics” are the primary basis for his drama (Gascoigne, 2003). The original Greek myth of Pygmalion tells of how a sculptor fell in love with his own creation, Galatea, who was subsequently brought to life by Aphrodite (the goddess of love) in answer to Pygmalion’s prayer. In Shaw’s play, a British linguist and elocution expert, Henry Higgins, makes a wager with a friend that he can masquerade a lower-class girl, Eliza, as a member of the upper class simply by teaching her to
speak differently. H