I chose the archetype The prostitute with a heart of gold. An archetype is defined as a universal idea that can take many forms, appearing spontaneously, at any time, at any place, and without any outside influence (Pygmalions Word Play, Carl Jung, p. 82). When present in the unconscious, an archetype shapes thoughts, feelings, moods, speech, and actions. The prostitute with a heart of gold originated in early Greek mythology as the story of Pygmalion. Next, a more modern version called My Fair Lady was written and performed in the 1950s. Then in the 1980s the movie Pretty
Woman came out, which has the same story line as the other two, although it is a lot more modernized and the theme of a prostitute with a heart of gold is much more evident than in of its predecessors. Although the oldest profession was just as large a factor in society in 1912 when George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion play was released as it is today, it was talked about much less freely and the idea of reforming street girl was not as feasible as it is today. My Fair Lady was one of the first versions of a poor street girl metamorphasizing into an elegant, proper lady.
Pretty Woman can closely trace ts roots back to My Fair Lady, because both women reform to a better life that they never dreamed was possible, the most striking difference being that Pretty Woman is a more modernized version and the evidence of prostitution is much more evident. In the story of Pygmalion, he wanted a wife, yet he saw too much corruption in women and always doubted their true motives. He was a very talented sculptor, and one day he began sculpting an ivory maiden statue.
No woman was physically comparable to this statue, not the most perfect naturally created woman. His art was so good that it caught him in his own web of deceit. Eventually Pygmalion fell in love with this counterfeit creation, full well knowing that he would drive himself mad obsessing over an inanimate object while at the same time knowing that nothing good could come from his love. He caressed her, gave her presents and decorated her body with fine clothing and jewels. He even laid her on his royal bed at night to sleep, calling her his wife.
Finally, the festival of Venus came and Pygmalion stood before the altar and timidly said, Give me, I pray to you for my wife – he dared not say my ivory wife, but said instead – One like my ivory virgin (Metamorphoses by Ovid, p. 10). The golden goddess of Venus knew that he meant he wanted his statue to be his wife, so she granted his wish. When Pygmalion returned home he placed his hands upon his statue, and to his surprise she felt warm and alive! Her lips became soft, and her skin molded to his touch. Nine months later a baby girl was born to them. In this Greek myth Pygmalion creates an ideal woman, made out of ivory.
Although he never expected her to become real he still treated her like his wife and took great care of her. Eventually his wish was granted and she was brought to life. The perfect woman, in his eyes, was now his wife. Pygmalion reated and formed this woman, showing that if you want something bad enough and love it as much as he loved his statue, you can make it happen. In My Fair Lady, written during the era of the 1950s in England, there was a high aristocratic society which demarcates itself from the rest of English society, consisting of the elegantly dressed bourgeois class sharply contrasting the poor peasant class.
Eliza Doolittle, a disheveled cockney flower vender who was lucky enough to catch the eye of a Professor Henry Higgins who gives her an offer she cant refuse. Higgins is a well known phonetic expert who studies … the cience of speech… speech patterns and their corresponding locations… (Pygamalion, p. 19). He brutally criticizes Elizas detestable boo-hooing and crude pronunciations of words. To the snobby, intolerant Higgins inarticulateness and ignorance concerning proper dialect and language produces a verbal class distinction that functions as an external indicator of what class in society you belong to.
He cannot understand why some English men and women do not take the time to learn how to speak proper English. Higgins makes the offer to Eliza to stay with him for six months and he would teach her how to speak articulately nough to pass in the most exclusive social gathering, the Embassy Ball, without anyone being aware of her Cockney origins, which is no small task. He says that she will become a proper aristocratic lady who speaks proper English. Once Eliza and Professor Higgins begin business, they practice the skills and pronunciations of the proper use of English.
Everyday they repeatedly practice Elizas grammar, dialects, and speech patterns with a recording device that enables Eliza to learn from her own mistakes. In just weeks there are dramatic differences in Elizas speech patterns that are apparent by listening to their recording lessons. Not only has her English improved, but her manners and etiquette have improved as well, due to the help of Professor Higgins. Months later, Eliza has been transformed into one of them, a member of the exclusive bourgeois class in England, able to pass at any social event she chooses, which is no easy accomplishment.
Thanks to Professor Higgins, Eliza can mingle with the snobs of the elite class, and no one has any idea where she is originally from. Higgins has not only traversed the phonetic stream, transforming one polar opposite dialect into another, but he has simultaneously developed an affection for his star pupil. Although he denies it to by telling himself that he can live just the same without her, just as he did before, he knows it is just a lie. The six months have passed quickly, and it is time for Eliza to leave.
Eliza is a fresh new woman, and is capable of playing off the aristocratic role, to live a sophisticated and proper life of her own. In fact she won the heart of a fine gentleman, Freddy, and is planning a marriage with him. Higgins is surprised, although he doesnt show it, and continues to act as if he is not bothered at all by this development. In his mind though, hes remembering how accustomed he has grown to her face, that he ill soon miss. The two say their good-byes, and Higgins returns home to find himself listening to the first recordings of Eliza.
Shortly thereafter Eliza returns back to Higgins home and surprises him with the truth of her true feelings for him. She finally admits to herself that she has grown to love both him and his lifestyle, and that Freddy is not her true love. The story of My Fair Lady is similar to Pygmalion because of the similarities between the archetypal characters Professor Higgins and Pygmalion. Professor Higgins has the intelligence and ability to take a poor and uneducated woman with no manners and culpt her into an elegant and sophisticated lady who is able to ascend into the upper echelons of high society from the streets of England seamlessly.
At the same time, Professor Higgins has unknowingly molded Eliza into his ideal woman. On the other hand, although Pygmalion did not actually teach and transform his statue into his ideal woman, his undying hope for an ideal intellectual mate to suit the physical beauty he created brought together divine intervention with divine creation and formed his ideal woman, in his eyes. Again, this is evidence that anything is possible, if you really devote your ind to it.
Although Professor Higgins was rude and snobby, he still held a strong belief in his ideal and it took a lot of devotion to take an unmolded human being and bring qualities out in her that no one ever thought were there. This example gives hope to every little girl who aspires to be something she is not. Although Professor Higgins did bring to the surface the elite qualities that were necessary to fit into society at this time, it was the untapped potential in Eliza which made it possible for her to fit in and have confidence to become something that she wasnt previously.
Higgins clearly lacks the roticism of Ovids Pygmalion, but his distaste for women in lifes gutters, his passion for creation, for an art that conceals its art in carrying a thing of beauty from raw materials, his dressing Eliza in gowns and jewels, and his desire to articulate life and achieve an ideal, all echo Ovids hero. Pygmalions passions finally impregnate his creation; Higgins finally sparks Eliza to give birth to the woman within her (Berst, p. 13).
Elizas growth involves increasing self-realization, an evolution from a lower to a higher state of being, and an important quality that sometimes is not innately there nd must be developed. Pygmalion spent great time and effort in creating his ideal woman. This gives hope to society, especially the lower classes, that one can change and succeed if they just try hard enough. The more advanced and modern version of My Fair Lady was spawned in a film entitled Pretty Woman.
This 1980s film is more blunt than its predecessors because the Higgins character (played by Richard Gere) chooses a prostitute (Julia Roberts) not as someone to try to pass into high society, but as a companion to himself. The movie takes place in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, in a ealthy area in present day, and is not so unlikely a scenario to happen considering the day and age that we live in today. Gere is a rich, cool executive who finds a soft spot for Roberts, who turns out to be a strikingly honest, real and charming woman.
Gere decides to hire her for business and social reasons (as a woman for display) with the agreement that she is treated like a princess for a week. She gets a new wardrobe, goes to the opera, and learns proper etiquette manners for fine dining. We see Higgins plight paralleled in Geres attempt to pass her off as a normal, Beverly Hills debutante. We see Eliza Doolittle represented in Roberts because she decides she wants more from Gere than money. Julia ends up like a fairy tale character, succeeding in passing as well as getting her man, like Eliza Doolittle and similar to Pygmalions statue.
Each woman is transformed into a new identity. My Fair Lady and Pretty Woman are the stories that more young women will be able to take inspiration from and shows once again that its very possible to find true women with hearts of gold. Pretty Woman really shows society that regardless of your living status, class or occupation, all women have the bility to grow, change and succeed buried deep inside. Not all prostitutes or street people are helpless, and meaningless.
They can have genuine hearts as well and sometimes they are truly more honest and real because of the experiences that they have lived through and the challenges they have faced thus far in their lives. In all three stories, both the man and woman can be seen as an archetypal hero. Pygmalion, Professor Higgins and Richard Gere all each take the risk of helping these women, and society could view them negatively for their involvement with the lower class. Eliza and Julia take a big risk in being tepped on and being ridiculed lower than they already are compared to the mens lifestyles.
They are archetypal heroes because they have strong character and are willing to change. These women have the confidence and ability to change and this shows society that again, anything is possible. The only downfall was the verbal abuse both women took from the elite class, as they were learning to adapt. High society doesnt appreciate or care for prostitutes, but for everyone to be fooled and convinced of this new woman shows their absurdity. A person has a heart of gold regardless of their status even if it is not evident to the naked eye.
