Bernard Shaw’ın "Pygmalion" Adlı Oyununda Dil, Eğitim ve Toplumsal Sınıf İlişkisi

Year 2008, Volume: 48 Issue: 2, 29 - 42, 01.01.2008

Sıla Şenlen

Abstract

Çağdaş İngiliz tiyatrosunun en ünlü örneklerinden biri olan Bernard Shaw’ın Pygmalion adlı eserinde ‘gündelik dil’ biçiminde yer alan ‘sözel şiddet’, dili yetkin biçimde kullanamayanlar üzerinde otorite kurmak için uygulanmaktadır. Oyunda, aşağı tabakaya mensup olan ‘çiçekçi kız’ Liza Eliza Profesör Higgins’in sözel şiddetine maruz kalır ve daha sonra ondan aldığı fonetik dersleri sonucunda toplumsal açıdan önemli bir değişim geçirir. Liza, aldığı fonetik eğitimi ve dolayısıyla dili kullanma becerisi ilerledikçe, hem toplumsal statüsünü yükseltir, aynı zamanda da yabancılaşma yaşar çünkü aldığı eğitimle sınıfının dışına düşmüş, ne ki başka bir sınıf tarafından da bütünüyle kabul edilmemiştir. Bir başka deyişle, aldığı fonetik eğitimi sonucunda Liza ‘standartlaşmış’, topluma uyum sağlamış, ancak toplumsal düzeyde gerçek anlamda bir yükselme gerçekleştirememiştir.

Keywords

Shaw, Dil, Güç, Sözel Şiddet, Konuşma Sanatı, Otoritenin Söylemi, Standardizasyon, Çağdaş İngiliz Tiyatrosu

Language, Education and Social Class in Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”

Abstract

In contemporary English plays, linguistic violence contributes not only to the creation of a realistic spectacle, but also to the replacement of critical thinking by automatic patterns of thought and speech. Such pre-constructed thought and speech function to re-shape, redefine and transform individuals’ character and destroy their autonomy. In Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, linguistic violence is employed to promote conformity to social order. The play illustrates the transformation of Eliza, a common flower girl, as a result of the instruction in phonetics given to her Professor Higgins. At the beginning, her non-standard Cockney accent makes her an outcast of the system and she is subjected to verbal abuse by Prof. Higgins. As Eliza’s education in phonetics advances and her command of English increases, she is both empowered and alienated. Despite her success at the Embassy reception, Eliza remains a disclassed flower girl who will never be completely accepted in upper-middle class British society.

Keywords

Shaw, Language, Power, Verbal Violence, Rhetoric, Discourse of Authority, Standardization, Contemporary English Drama

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