'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 time were plainly marked by how they articulate the English language. Those higher up the socio-economic ladder spoke better English, 'genteel English' as Eliza Doolittle puts it, and those from the lower classes spoke a hotchpotch of English dialects according to their origins. Henry Higgins, a professor of linguistics readily informs us, "... by creating a new speech for her. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class..."(Act III)
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