George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" focuses on economic, cultural, and linguistic disparities between different social classes. The issue of the gap between rich and poor is very much a global concern today, as new technologies have reduced the gap in some ways (for example, through widespread access to cell phones) and exacerbated it in others (for example, with respect to unequal digital access).

In "Pygmalion," access to certain modes of English syntax and diction is a cipher for access to culturally elite culture more generally. Shaw creates a democratic fable about gaining access to elite culture through the reform of one's speech. Yet Shaw is also careful to show the limitations on cultural membership via accent reduction and training in grammar and manners. The question of how to become a gentlewoman is used by Shaw to examine larger issues about the shallowness of class distinctions and the moral danger of judging solely by one's eyes and ears.