George Bernard Shaw is known by many titles: a leader of Fabian society, a devout socialist, and perhaps the greatest English playwright since Shakespeare. His literary work is iconic, having led to some of the greatest social reforms of the Victorian period, as well as influencing modern literature today. He ventured where many playwrights would not, bringing his socialist views into his works. Shaw uses characters and phonetics to exemplify tolerance of the "unbridgeable" gap between social classes. In his socially critical work Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw uses Greek myth as a paradigm of social mobility with his didactic style, challenging the social norms and hypocrisy of the Victorian social class. Much of Shaw's beliefs about social class stem from his youth. His background in socialism and Fabianism greatly influenced his works. He grew up lower-middle class and as a child saw many people, including himself, denied certain luxuries and respect because of their place in the social hierarchy. Shaw did not believe in social classification (Crick), instead he believed that everyone deserved equal opportunities, as Bert asked in The Awakening: “How good is social status based less on family and money? How many wrongs would a birthright have to right if a birthright could right wrongs? Social equality was not a popular goal, however, nor was the idea that people could improve their social position since, quoted by George Gissing, "social transformation, whether passive or active ("growing up or being raised"), was still for a member of the London underclass in the late 19th century, or a virtual impossibility.” Shaw addresses social mobility in his preface, arguing that it is quite easy and quite… middle of paper… will always have a idol to follow, whether it is an idealistic social title, or the dominant one. All these theories are consistent with today's society, generating a timeless nature to the story of Pygmalion English society, but Shaw set new social standards with his plays, provoking the mind and forcing his audience to see his point of view (Crick) enabled equality between social classes by setting the stage for reform social and equal opportunities. His didactic style and courageous approach to politics set him apart from the average playwright, allowing Shaw's literary works to have an exceptional impact on social class and to teach his socialist and Fabianist beliefs in a way that leaves general audiences without doubts about what he intends to achieve with his ideas of social reform.