A Comparative Study of Life Force in Shaw’s Selected Characters Ann Whitefield and Eliza Doolittle
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Abstract
George Bernard Shaw’s plays Pygmalion and Man and Superman represent the superiority of two female characters Eliza Doolittle and Ann Whitefield over their male counterparts. Eliza and Ann are able to exhibit their supremacy by choosing the male partners of their choice in spite of the adverse situation. The life force present in these makes the intellectuals like John Tanner and Professor Higgins take refugee in the asylum of their strength. The playwright, doubtless, has tried to offer some of the bold images of the women to counterbalance the traditional superiority of men and these attempts keep important meaning since Ann is able to shun the desperate Octavius and pull Tanner for better mating while Eliza hurls slipper at her own teacher and gets accompanied with Freddy Hill.
This research paper aims to reveal the notion of the playwright that women always have greater roles in better evolutionary process and the males are just tools in this process. Shaw has presented the race of life force in both the plays and has also shown that the characters with more powerful life force have defeated the rest. The will power and self-determination, the by-products of life force, are such virtues through which the women can lead the world any time they wish.