A
SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY ON GEORGE
BERNARD
SHAW’S PYGMALION
CHAPTER
I
INDRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Study
There are various characteristics of human being society. The
characteristics reflect someone's behavior, attitude, and the way of speaking,
dressing and thinking. The variations of their behavior are caused by many
cases such as family, environment and education. The way they behave in the
society shows the way of the life in their environment, for example, the
behaviour of villagers and city resident, shows the level of their education.
Viewed from their behavior, we can conclude whether they have high education or
not.
Most of people prefer hiding their identities than showing who they
really are. They cover themselves by using make up, dressing, attitude, the way
of speaking and etc. Eventhough they cover their real identity, sometimes,
their real identity will turned up again. But not all people hide their
identities, they act like what they are.
The correlation between attitude and social class attract the literary
author's attention. One of those writes is George Bernard Shaw in his play Pygmalion.
Shaw began to write criticism, reviewing books and later music and
drama in 1885. In his long lifetime he wrote than fifty plays, five novels and
some criticism on music, politic biography and autobiography. In 19?5 Shaw got
the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his plays, Shaw presented many controversial
ideas and sometimes-lengthy introduction to them.
Besides as a scribe, Shaw became a socialist and joined the Fabian
Society in 1884. According to Gassner (1963:622) that the reading of Marx
Capital was the turning point in his life. Shaw's greatest concern was society
and social problem (The World Book Encyclopedia Volume II. 1966: 242). As a
socialist Shaw realize the important of art as a propaganda, art is the
subtlest, the most seductive, the most effective means of propagandist in the
world –
Besides, Shaw is known as a critic and satirist, it can be seen from his
masterpiece play are: Arm and the Man (1894), The Man of Destiny
(1897), Fanny's First Play (1911), Androcles and the Lion (1912), and Bouyant
Billions (1949). Another masterpieces are: You Never' Can Tell (1900) Pygmalion
(1912) and Man and Superman (1905) is comedy talk about new women, Robson
(1970:4) states that Pygmalion is the finest Shaw's comedy, Pygmalion
(1912), which has deep roots in his own psychology. According to Gassner
(1963: 634) in Pygmalion Shaw forced satire on society with comedy of
sex. It means that in Pygmalion Shaw is using satire and critic to the
class in English. It can be seen from the relation of Henry Higgins, the phonetics
professor, and his student, Eliza Doolittle. The teacher from the upper class
and the student from the lower class Gassner furthermore told that the
different of social class just the "skin deep after all". It means
that the different of social class is the took of it, because all of the men
are same. Gassner (1963: 6334) states that the difference between a lady and a
flower girl is not how she behaves but how she is treated.
Social aspect in Pygmalion play is interesting for the critic to
criticize- In Encyclopedia Americana (1974: vol. 24: 676) written that Pygmalion
play is criticism of Shaw to - the British Class Structure". The
difference of social class is just to obstruct the development of society, so
it must be destroyed. The difference of social class is false, so that, Pygmalion
the title of the play which is has the same meaning as the carver name in
Greek Mythology a 'flower girl' can be changed to be "lady"
after sixth months studied phonetic to the professor phonetics.
Pygmalion play is a comedy play, which consists of criticism and
satire .It means the play has two aspects, they are comedy aspect and social
aspect. Those aspects motivates to the writer to analyze this play. The writer
is interested in analyzing one of them, namely the social aspect.
B.
Literature Review
Exactly, there are many researchers who analyze GB Shaw's, Pygmalion plays.
Mostly they come from the student of UNS. For instance: Nur Zaini, NIM C 0382034
with the title "Aspek Komedis Drama Pygmalion Karya GB Shaw (Sebuah
Analisis structural ) ". In his thesis, he uses structural analysis
that represents the intrinsic of comedy aspect in Pygmalion- Another is
Suyarmanto, NIM C 0385055 with the title " Usaha Eliza Doolittle
.1leningkatkan Status Socialnya & Masyarakat dalam Drama Pygmalion Karya GB
Shaw". By using psychological approach she tried to express the
factors of Eliza to increase her status. Another researcher is Muhammad Ari#
Hidayat, NIM C 039149, with the tittle "The Strategies of
Apology Used by the Characters in the Drama Entitled Pygmalion by GB Shaw".
For her the from of apology which are used by the characters in the
Pygmalion and function as apology. Thus the other is Lestari, NIM C 0394042,
with the title "An Analysis Address Type in Pygmalion a Play 6y GB Shaw
(A Sociolinguistics Approach). For her descriptive qualitative research
about the types of address used by characters in Pygmalion. Then, Sumiyati, NIM
C0391059, with the title "Shaw's Criticism Toward the English Socio
Culture in Pygmalion ". She fined out Shaw's criticism toward the
character. Thus the last researcher is Dyah Ely Yuni W, NIM A 320 910 030, With
the title "Struggling Motivation Toward Self Realization as Implied in GB
Shaw's Pygmalion ".
Among them, as far as the writer concern, there is no research that
focuses on the sociological analysis in Pygmalion, at least, among the
University students in Surakarta. The researcher is interested in taking the
play as the object of the study.
C.
Research Problem
The problem of the study is "How does the play reflects the social
realities of the English society in the Early Twentieth Century and how does
George Bernard Shaw respond to the social realities?"
D.
Objective of the Study
Based on the problem statement, the writer scrutinizes the objective of
the study as follows.
1.
To
analyze the structure of the play.
2.
To
analyze the play using sociological approach in order that the readers easier
to understanding the play
E.
Benefit of the Study
The benefits
expected from the study are as follows:
1.
The
study contributes to the body of knowledge, particularly the literary study on
Shaw's Pygmalion.
2.
The
study gives information to the reader about the sociological play.
F.
Research Method
To analyze " the relationship between the play and the social aspect
of the play a case study on GB Shaw's Pygmalion", the writer uses qualitative
research in this research paper that will cover:
1.
Primary
Data Source
The
primary data source is Pygmalion play. The data covers such things as
word, sentences, events, and dialogues in the play.
2.
Secondary
Data Source
The
secondary data source include such source as:
a. The author's biography.
b. The history of England in the late
nineteenth and the early twentieth century.
c.
The
literary work.
3.
The
Technique of Data Collecting
The data
collecting technique is library research. The writer takes some steps as
follows:
a. Reading the play repeatedly.
b. Taking notes of the important part in
both primary and secondary data.
c.
Classifying
the data into some categories.
d. Selecting them by rejecting the
irrelevant information, which does not support the topic of the study.
4.
Technique
of Data Analysis
In
analyzing the data, the writer employs descriptive qualitative analysis.
G.
Paper Organization
The Thesis Organization of this study consists of six chapters. The first
chapter is the introduction that contains the background of the study, literature
review, research problems, the objective of the study, the benefit of the
study, research method and paper organization. The second chapter is the
underlying theory, which consist of genetic structuralism. The third chapter is
the historical backgound of English in the early twentieth century, which
consist of England in the late nineteenth century and GB Shaw's social
background The fourth chapter is structural analysis, which consist of
character and characterization, setting, plot, and theme. The fifth chapter is
the sociological analysis, which contains in the social issues reflected in the
early of twentieth century and Shaw's response to the social issues, and the
last chapter is conclusion and suggestion
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