How is Pygmalion a romantic play?

The play
, by , belongs to the genre of Romanticism, which composed most of the mid
to end of the 19th century literary scene.

The reason why the play falls
under the Romantic genre is because it uses reality as the conduit of the plot. Contrary to what
most people thing, Romantic literature advocates . It is not romantic in the sense of love or
the fantasy of love. Quite the contrary, Romantic literature will often deal with crude and cold
topics that would make the typical "romantic" person shriek.

The
themes in Pygmalion demonstrate this tendency in Romantic literature to
treat real rather than fantastic topics.

One of them is how a classicist
society is prone to live under appearances. As a result, a society such as that of Eliza's and
Higgins's proves to be hypocritical and superficial enough to be easily fooled to think that
Eliza is a duchess only by the way she talks.

Similarly the play treats
poverty and the sad living conditions of the poor in Victorian England with the crudeness that
characterizes it. London, its classicistsociety, its obsession with appearances, and its
hypocritical system of values, is a world of extremes. Eliza belongs to the extreme poor: Those
who can only aspire to reach less than midway and acquire less than nothing. Even after Liza
becomes reformed she loses her "place" within the society that she has always known
because now she would be shun by her former peers. However, there is no place in society for a
newly-reformed girl unless it is through the act of marriage. Even marriage is treated
realistically. We do not see a blushing bride in Eliza, but a woman who has to really think
about who to choose as a husband for the sake of not losing sight of what she has now
become.

Finally the topic of gender is rife in the play and the way GB Shaw
treats it shows its crude reality. We are shocked as readers to see how Higgins calls Eliza all
kinds of names under the sun, and how he treats her, literally, as a second class citizen.
Although Eliza is strong she still allows this treatment because in her world the man is always
right.

Topics that are often tough to talk about are the bread and butter of
Romantic literature. This genre shows things for what they are and does not aim to add color,nor
dimension to what is real: It shows words, people, and situations just the way they are, whether
they are hard to accept or not. This is why Pygmalion and the themes that
are treated in the play are prime examples of Romantic theater.