At the outset one has to understand that Eliza Doolittle is a character created by George Bernard Shaw, a famous English playwright and to understand her we have to start with Shaw. He was the third and the youngest child of George Carr Shaw, and Lucinda Shaw. He was supposed to have been part of the Protestant group that was rising in England at that time, but he did not succeed in life. He was first prematurely pensioned off from his civil servant job and then he became a grain merchant. Even in that he was not successful and that led to George Bernard Shaw being raised in an atmosphere of genteel poverty. This was felt to be more insulting by him than being poor. .

             Yet Shaw developed well and became well versed in music, art, and literature. This was due to the influence of his mother, as also his frequent trips to the National Gallery of Ireland. This made him determined to become a writer and ended up being in London with his mother and elder sister. In his early years, he suffered a lot from frustration and poverty. Though he failed as a novelist in the 1880s, he found his own footings during this period. He became a vegetarian, a Socialist, a very good orator, a polemist and a playwright of unknown quality. He was also a part of the group that formed Fabian Society in 1884, and this was a middle class group of Socialists that tried to transform the English society. This was not to be achieved by revolution but through the process of permeation of the political and intellectual life in the country. (Shaw, George Bernard. Britannica Nobel Prizes).

             Among the plays written by Shaw, the most liked and best received by the general public, is Pygmalion. This is the play featuring Eliza Doolittle. This is also probably the play with the greatest significance. The film has been made into films several times, and has also been converted into a musical. This has made it possible for Shaw to become the only person to have won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Academy Award.