1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

literature review

george bernard shaw (1856-1950), considered to be the best-known english dramatist since shakespeare, wrote over 60 plays during his long career. shaw claimed himself to be the follower of ibsen who had a great influence on his thinking, and held the idea that art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life, revealing social contradictions and educating the common people. in his plays, shaw combined contemporary moral problems with ironic tone and paradoxes, "shavian" wit. his 'unpleasant plays', ideological attacks on the evils of capitalism and explorations of moral and social problems, were followed with more entertaining but as principled productions. in the 1930s, shaw visited china and met with lu xun, who spoke highly of and regarded him as the literary giant of the modern world because he could tear the mask of the gentlemen.

shaw#8217;s works are examples of the plays inspired by social criticism. pygmalion (1914), among his most famous plays, is a socio-economic play based on the cinderella story, but actually taken from the story of pygmalion and the statue pygmalion written by ovid - about a sculptor pygmalion who fell in love with and married a marble statue of his own creation. but in shaw#8217;s pygmalion, eliza doolittle, as a counterpart of the statue in the greek version, insisting on independence instead of marrying higgins, who has taught her how to pronounce in a dignified way and to behave like a graceful lady. though borrowing its idea from the greek myth, the present text has creative features, whose more vivid and creative characters have their independent thoughts and exert a great effect not only on the society where shaw lived but also on the modern world.

1. previous studies on pygmalion

some scholars analyze pygmalion in light of the root of george bernard shaw#8217;s basic thoughts. louise crompton in his shaw the dramatist (1969) defended shaw#8217;s refusal to sentimentalize the relationship between eliza and higgins, and he said one of shaw#8217;s theories was that well-educated people tended to be selfish and unfeeling because they could not gain access to the common emotions or freedom from ordinary affectionateness. the development of the relation between eliza and higgins in the last two acts was designed to illustrate this perception. deng niangang (2010) thought that eliza#8217;s willingness of self-improvement was the impetus to develop the story and shaw#8217;s principle in writing plays was fully reflected in pygmalion, that was, ”dramatic composition is responsible for improving the society and making it more righteous” (deng 69). li kai and shi yanling (2012) believed that george bernard shaw, by depicting higgins in pygmalion as an extremely selfish and rude person from the basic idea of creative evolution, revealed the disadvantages of the capitalist society in the process of improving human races. in addition, they thought that eliza gained creativity from her creator, higgins, and became a really independent woman.

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2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

research topic

this thesis will focus on the comparison of characterization between bernard shaw#8217;s pygmalion and ovid#8217;s the story of pygmalion and the statue pygmalion, aiming to show that characters will carry the marks of their eras and the basic thoughts of their authors.