Final answer:
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw can be interpreted as supporting socialist ideologies, highlighting the superficiality of class distinctions and promoting social mobility, aligning with Shaw's personal socialist views. The answer is true.
Step-by-step explanation:
George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion can indeed be interpreted as a socialist text, although the question of whether it was intended as a direct socialist manifesto is debatable. Shaw's lifelong socialist beliefs certainly permeate his works, and Pygmalion, with its exploration of social class, individual transformation, and societal perceptions, resonates with themes such as the superficial nature of social divisions and the possibility of transcending one's assigned role in society - ideas which align with socialist thought.
In Pygmalion, the main character, Eliza Doolittle, is transformed from a flower girl into a lady of society through changes in her speech and manners. This transformation critiques the class-based distinctions that socialist ideology argues are arbitrary and imposed rather than natural or inherent. By highlighting the superficiality of class distinctions, Shaw suggests the possibility of social mobility and the power of personal agency - both of which are in sympathy with socialist ideals that advocate for equality and the dismantling of rigid class structures.
While the play itself doesn't explicitly advocate for the overthrow of capitalism or a restructuring of society along socialist lines, it does question and critique the class-based nature of society in a way that aligns with socialist thinking. Therefore, it is true that Pygmalion can be interpreted as a socialist text.