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"Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw 'Pygmalion' is set in the late 1800s, during the Victorian age, when the distinction between the social-economic classes was very clearly made. Shaw made this issue one of the themes of this play and unveiled the "markers" people of the era had used to judge and evaluate one another. These 'yardsticks' include - articulation of the English language, wealth, social status, dressing and education. The members of society at that …

…comes to working. For instance, Clara Eynsford-Hill was not supposed to work and Freddy could not take on a clerical position because these are deemed beneath their gentility. In Pygmalion, however, one observes that 'gentility' is an acquired trait. What a genteel person does makes him/her genteel; therefore, any person who can do the same can be called 'genteel' too. Therefore, after Higgins works his magic with her, Eliza successfully became a 'genteel' lady.