What is the concept of the play Pygmalion?

The title and basic concept of Shaw's play Pygmalion are taken from an ancient legend most famously recounted by Ovid, the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. In this story, Pygmalion was a Greek sculptor who created the statue of a beautiful woman and fell in love with the statue. He prayed to the Greek goddess Aphrodite to make the statue come alive. Aphrodite granted his wish.

The concept behind this is the idea of a man, unsatisfied with real women, molding his own ideal female. Higgins, although a confirmed bachelor, attempts to mold Eliza Doolittle into an ideal upper class woman. In one sense, Eliza, due to her superb ear and facility for imitation is the perfect subject for this experiment. However, unlike the marble sculpture, she has ideas, emotions, and a will of her own. Even though she does an outstanding job of learning how to pass as an upper class lady, she is not a purely passive receptacle of Higgins' creativity.