There are a few themes expressed in the play, the main one being rich versus poor. The characters seem to represent this theme as Higgins versus Eliza is most of the conflict, and he is rich, and she is poor. Also the fact that Pickering treats Eliza nicely, despite her being a common flower girl, shows 'you can't judge a book by it's cover'. The theme of rich versus poor refers to a social problem in the time the play was written. The rich and the poor lived very separate lives, and the rich looked down on the poor, when really, as proven in the play, the only difference between the two was the fact that the rich spoke more eloquently, and acted more reserved. Even if it is agreed that the problem of classes is less prominent nowadays, I believe the problem of improper grammar is still very present. You can see how horribly people write, and even speak nowadays, that grammar has not improved, and may have even worsened. The only difference between now and then, is everybody has poor grammar now, whether you are rich or poor.
Another theme that is important is the independence of women, which was a big problem with little publicity in the time this play was written. By the end of the play, although Rowan believes that marrying Freddie constricts Eliza more, and therefore takes away from the theme of women's independence, but I disagree. I believe that Freddie was so head over heels in love with Eliza, and so easily tromped over by the other women in his life, Eliza would be happy with him, as he would not boss her around like Henry did. I also believe the fact that she left Henry instead of giving in to him was a large step for her.
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