Abstract
Pygmalion can be considered one of the most outstanding literary works of the English language. Shaw´s talent can be appreciated in his retelling of the myth of Pygmalion and Galathea depicted by Ovid in The Metamorphoses. The text draws on the mythical source but addresses the topic of social ascension with newer variants relevant to Shaw´s time. Pygmalion deals with many topics, mainly social, and highlights the issue of identity and its transformation depending on the context and the characters’ background. While in Ovid’s The Metamorphoses love is the protagonist, in Shaw´s Pygmalion vanity and the desire to boast predominate. Shaw’s play is positively received because it rescues a classical myth, it adapts the myth to the time the play was written, and it exhibits profound ideas about human beings and their levels of interaction.