「피그말리온」의 현재성:언어의 경계와 공존

Pygmalion ’s Presentness: The Boundary and Coexistence of Language.

This paper discusses Pygmalion ’s presentness in two ways: the influence of Shaw’s presentness on his writing of the play and that of our presentness on our reading of his play. Shaw revises the Pygmalion myth, empties the romantic implications, and replaces physical creation with linguistic creation. His revision is grounded in the notions of the human potential for transformation, and of language as a means of social mobility. In this day Eliza’s story becomes the image of young people today who are eager to abandon their native dialects for standard language that is regarded as an essential element for social advancement. Higgins, as an author of Higgins’s Universal Alphabet , is representative of principles of standard language, and unable to individuate Eliza as a person from the scope of humanity. Their language barrier is not resolved, and their conflict anticipated. Shaw, however, supplies a sequel to the play in order to resolve their differences and remove their language boundary, opening up the possibility of their coexistence. Thereby characters are given the balanced voices which require the combined depth of emotion and intellect.