Something that I do NOT understand at all is happening everyday to me, but maybe a different point of view will help. I have lived my whole trying to be as nice I can to everybody I meet, especially girls, and yet my love life is virtually nonexistent. One thing I do not understand is how assholes and guys who think they are God manage to get the girls.

     Take Mr. Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's 1913 Pygmalion, filmed in 1938 by directors Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, for example; here we have a man (Leslie Howard on screen) that goes out of his way, or so it seems, to make poor Eliza's (Wendy Hiller in the movie) life a living hell. He abuses her emotionally everyday starting from the day they met. The two of them make life a constant hell, and neither one of them shows signs of relenting, and yet Eliza goes back to Higgins in the movie, although not in the original play, in the end. What is wrong with this picture?!? Higgins must be some kind of stud in Eliza's eyes.

     However, the more I think about this, the more I wonder if Eliza was not actually mentally...unstable. This thought has occurred to me more than once, but I have only recently began to give it any credit. Do not get me wrong; I am not trying to be sexist or anything; but a woman who will take constant barrage of mental and emotional abuse has GOT to have a few screws loose. Not only this but Eliza seems a little loopy from the get-go. Now, I am not going to go so far as to say there was some sort of twisted physical attraction between Eliza and Mr. Higgins; but I DO believe there was something going on; why else would she go back?

     Personally, if I were Professor Higgins, I would be a little afraid for my life. Honestly, If I treated a girl like that, I would be afraid of her coming back and trying to kill me. So I hope I have stated my case clearly, and I can also only hope that you agree with me. Maybe you can tell me what I am doing wrong, and tell me what Higgins did right.