Pygmalion

Humor Wry humour

Class system in England
How it defines us
How we classify people
What types of people do the characters represent?
Mismatch of character
Henry derides her
Doolittle: Impetuous, nave, headstrong, appealing
Assertive people get what they want
2 conflicting beliefs: capacity of the human being to completely
refashion him/herself, to expose the shibboleths of class and voice
as the mere costume of drama of an arbitrary class system. (The
flower girl could pass for a duchess). Yet equally there was the
conviction that the persons so transformed were always themselves
even before their metamorphosis.
Pygmalion simultaneous satirizes the idea of human difference
exemplified in the constructions of class, and celebrates the
irrepressible individualism of the worlds vital geniuses. Liza, East
End flower girl turned duchess, was no ordinary flower girl to start
with. Her father, Doolittle, was no ordinary dustman, even before
the riches of the Ezra D Wanna fellers Pre-digested Cheese Trust
translated him protesting up into the middle classes.
Late 19th century Shaw
A great deal of the continuing joy of Pygmalion derives from its
extraordinarily genial comic characterization. Higgins is a monster
of egotism, a tyrant, a bully, but in the innocent unawareness of his
own monstrosity he is oddly disarming. He is brought alive for us by
his small tastes and mannerisms the chocolate and fruit that he
munches, the coins and keys he jingles in his pockets by the
energy of his temper-tantrums and his virtuoso mastery of
invective. Bilions pigeon, squashed cabbage leaf, draggletailed
guttersnipe are only a sample of the insults he lavishes on the
phonetically unregenerate Liza.
Then there is the charm of the moral-free Doolittle with his great
apologia for his undeserving poverty: I dont need less than a
deserving man: I need more. I dont eat less hearty than him; and I
drink a lot more.
Never was Shaws comic timing in better tune than in the climatic
At Three of Mrs Higgins at-home. Higgins, as his long-suffering
mother remarks, may be the life and soul of the Royal Societys
soirees but is rather trying on more commonplace occasions.
Banging into the furniture of the salon, demolishing the small talk,
he contributes spectacularly to the social wreckage of the event
well before Liza gets going with her exquisitely enunciated account
of her aunts suspected murder.

Pygmalion, uses its one-word title to suggest it source in classical

myth. Without these titles, the novel might be read as no more than
a day in the life of 1904 Dublin, the play just the bizarre encounter
of flower girl and phonetics-teacher. Shaw rewrites the Pygmalion
legend ironically. In Ovic, the sculptor Pygmalion, scornful of
women, falls in love with his perfect female statue and obtains his
prayers to Venus that she be given life so that he can marry her.
Higgins shares Pygmalions misogyny but there the resemblance
ends. He does not fall in love with his artificial duchess; at best he is
brought to admit that he has grown accustomed to her face. And
in the most crucial reworking of the original, the statue Liza is not
merely his artifact, and does not quietly accept her fate to be
married off to her maker. The great strength of the part of Liza is
that, from the beginning, she has the capacity to resist Higgins. Im
a good girl, I am, in all its childish defensiveness and with the
Londons street-sellers terrified awareness of the dangers of being
arrested for soliciting, is yet a declaration of human independence.
Liza makes better profit from her teaching: she learn show to talk
back. Shaws reworks the Ovidian legend into a feminist fable.
In Pygmalion, Shaw is true to his feminism men! Men!! Men!!!
exclaims Mrs Higgins in exasperation at Higgins and Pickering
playing with their live doll and is true to his socialism. The
inanities and the inequities of the class syste are exposed in the
pathetic pretentions of the Eynsford Hills, in the yawning chasm
between the flower girl Liza and the well-to-do Higgins. What is to
him a mere gesture in flinging a handful of money into her lap, is to
her a small fortune. The political points are never labored but are no
less pointed for that. The nave Freddy is taken aback to find that he
and liza are moved on every time they stop to embrace in their
nighttime elopement: I had no idea the police were so devilishly
prudish. Liza at 18 already knows better: Its their business to hunt
girls off the streets. The sexual exchange value operating
throughout the socity hit off in Lizas retort to Higgins suggestion
that his mother might find someone for her to marry: We were
above that at the corner of Tottenham Court RoadI sold flowers. I
didnt sell myself. Now youe made a lady of me Im not fit to sell
anything else.
Pygmalion is classified as a Romance in Five Acts and from he very
first production Shaw was pressured to give the ply the ending it
was assumed a romance should have. Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the
actor-manager playing Higgins, ingeniously contrived t evade
Shaws repeated embargo on a happy ending by throwing Liza a
bunch of flowers at curtain close, thus suggesting a marriage to
come. Shaw fought back with the sequel to the 1916 printed text, in
which he insisted that Liza did not marry Higgins but married Freddy
instead, giving the history of their attempts to fun a flower shop
together.

Such rewriting betrays all that Shaw had worked to achieve in the
play. Pygmalion does end with a wedding, as comedies should: the
wedding of Doolittle to his common-law wife, an enforced
concession to the middle-class morality into which money has
trapped him. It is around this ironic event that all the characters
save the unassimilated Higgins, are to assemble in mocking
mimicry of the traditional romantic comedy closure. Higgins is not
sexually attracted to Liza. He associates sex with the life of the
gutter from which he has rescued her.
The whole point of the play is the independent autonomy which Liza
achieves, denying her status as Higgins male artifact.
- Nicholas Grene

Eliza:

He opens his umbrella and dashes off Strandwards, but comes onto
collision with a flower girl who is hurrying in for shelter, knocking
her basket out of her hands. A blinding flash of lightning, followed
instantly by a rattling peal of thunder, orchestrates the incident
She is perhaps eighteen, perhaps twenty, hardly older
She wears a little sailor hat of black straw that has long been
exposed to the dust and soot of London ad has seldom if ever been
brushed.
her hair needs washing rather badly: its mousy color can hardly be
natural
she wears a shoddy black coat that reaches nearly to her knees
and is shaped to her waist.
she is no doubt as clean as she can afford to be: but compared to
the ladies she is very dirty
Im a respectable girl so help me, I never spoke to him ecept to ask
him to buy a flower off me.
Im a good girl, I am.
Hes no right to take away my character. My character is the same
to me as an ladys.
a small room with very old wallpaper hanging loose in the damp
places
a broken pane in the window is mended with paper
a portrait of a popular actor and a fashion plate of ladies
dresses.both torn from newspaper
a wretched bed heaped with all sorts of coverings hat have any
warmth in them
the refuse of some suburban kitchen
unused fireplace
rent: four shillings a week (Drury Lane)
At Wimpole Street: if my moneys not good enough I can go
elsewhere

I wont be called a baggage when Ive offered to pay like any lady
I wont give more than a shilling. Take it or leave it.
Temperamental, childlike
I didnt want no clothes. I wouldnt have taken them. I can buy my
own clothes
I dont want to talk grammar. I want to talk like a lady in a flowershop.
I dont want no gold and no diamonds. Im a good girl, I am.
I have my feelings the same as anyone else -> common dignity of
man

Higgins

You see this creature with her curbstone English: the English that
will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three
months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassadors
garden party.
Squashed cabbage leaf
disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns
incarnate insult to the English language
Wimpole Street
phonograph, laryngoscope, a row of tiny organ ppes with a bellows
A fireplace
a comfortable leather-covered easy chair
telephone and telephone directory
grand piano, on it, a desert dish heaped with fruits and sweets
robust,vital, appetizing sort of man or fourty
dressed in professional-looking black frock-coat with a white linen
collar and black silk tie.
He is f the energetic scientific type, heartily, and even violently
interested in everything that can be studied as a scientific subject.
careless about himself and other people, including their feelings
rather like an impetuous baby taking notice eagerly and loudly,
and requiring as much watching to keep him out of unintended
mischief
his manner varies from genial bullying when he is in a good mood
to stormy petulance when anything goes wrong: but he is so
entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likable even in his
least reasonable moments
he coaxes women as a child coaxes its nurse when it wants to get
anything out of her
When he sees Eliza at Wimpole Street: recognizing her with
unconcealed disappointment, and at once, babylike, making an
intolerable grievance of it
Be off with you, I dont want you
After Eliza offers to pay a shilling: if you consider it a percentage
of this girls income, it works out as fully equivalent to sixty or
seventy guineas from a millionaire.

its almost irresistible. Shes so deliciously low so horribly dirty

I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe
Wants to pass Eliza off as a duchess in 6 months. Talks like she has
no feelings. Objectifies her. Being extremely derogoratory.
Comedy: man in charge is irresponsible and childlike, large
vocabulary but no common sense.
I find that the moment I let a woman makes friends with me, she
becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance
I shall never get into the way of seriously liking young women

Mrs Pearce:

you cant take a girl up like that as if you were picking y a pebble
off the beach..what about her parents? She may be married
will you please keep to the point..i want to know on what terms
the girl is to be here. Is she to have any wages? And what is to
become of her when youve finished your teaching?
you never think or care what may happen to them or you

Pickering:

If im to be in this business I shall feel responsible for that girl. I

hope it is understood hat no advantage is to be taken of her
position

Pickering and Higgins:

Articulate at ease at the strata of society

Doolittle:

Elderly but vigorous dustman, clad in the costume of his profession

Free from fear and conscience
undeserving poverty is my line
I aint pretending to be deserving. I am undeserving; and I mean to
go on being undeserving. I like it and thats the truth
According to eliza, his trade is talking money out of other peoples
pockets into his own. His proper trades a navy.and earns good
money at it

Pickering

Does it occur to you, Higgins, that the girl has some feelings?

Mrs Higgins:

Chelsea Embankment
In the middle of the room there is a big ottoman; and this, ith the
carpet, the Morris wallpapers, and the Morris chintz window curtains
and brocade covers of the ottoman and its cushions

At Home:

You offend all my friends: they stop coming whenever they meet
you
Stop fidgeting and take your hands out of your pockets, With a
gesture of despair, he obeys and sits down again
Shes to keep to two subjects: the weather and everybodys
health
getting on like a house on fire
Higgins: You have to consider not only how a girl pronounces, but
what she pronounces
(after arrival of Mrs and Miss Eynsford Hill)
To pickering: We were interrupted: damn it!
Yes, by George! We want two or three people. Youll do as well as
anybody else
God of Heaven! Another of them! audibly, past endurance
What in the devil are we going to talk about until Eliza comes?
Mrs Higgins: you are the life and soul of the Royal Societys soirees;
but youre rather trying on more commonplace occasions.
(after arrival of Eliza)
Speaks to Mrs Higgins with studied grace
Speaking with pedantic correctness of pronunciation
Mrs Higgins: will it rain, do you think? The shallow depression in
the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in the easterly
direction
Darkly, my aunt died of influenza
But its my belief that the done the old woman in expression of
working class
My father he kept ladling gin down her throat till she came to so
sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon poverty of working
class, exposed more the sickness
Higgin, trying to recover from lost ground, new small talk
Comedy arise from juxtaposition of mismatched intonation and
grammatical structure
Freddy laughs at the new small talk, what was you laughing at?
Mismatch of context and form

At an Embassy in London:
Nepommuck:

Enormous moustache
Flowing luxuriant whiskers
hairglows with oil
amiable and genially voluble
Higgins taught him phonetics
Interpreter, speaks 32 languages
Places any man in Europe the moment he opens his mouth

The Greek diplomatist pretends he cannot speak nor understand

English..I help him to pretend; but I make him pay through the
nose. I make them all pay. Ha ha! unpleasant, blackmails others,
dangerous, may expose Eliza
She is not English. She is Hungarian. And of royal blood.
Only the Magyar races can produce that air of divine rightShe is
a princess.
Pickering: You have not lost it my dear. You have won it ten times
over.

Back at Wimpole Street

Eliza: She is tired.her expression is almost tragic

Brooding and silent
Eliza has transformed from a dirty, uneducated street urchin into a
refined, supposedly educated women. Even was she was
uneducated she held tightly to her own morality.
Pickering and Higgins are in a relaxed state.
Higgins: I wonder where the devil my slippers are!
Eliza looks at him dark; then rises suddenly and leaves the room.
abrupt movement
Eliza returns with a pair ofslippers. She places them on the
carpet before Higgins. And sits as before without a word.
Higgins gives Eliza no regard
Pickering: Eliza did the trick, and something to spare, eh?
Higgins: Thank God its over!
Talk between themselves without including Eliza. Being incredibly
insensitive to her feelings.
Eliza flinches violently, but they take no notice of her
Higgins: I got deadly sick of itnever again for me. No more
artificial duchesses. The whole thing has been simple purgatory.
Elizas beauty becomes murderous
Put out the lights, Eliza
Eliza is on the point of screaming\
Higgins loses his slippers again, Eliza throws them at him,
exasperated, angry, erupts in sudden burst of anger
Why didnt you just leave me where you picked me out of in the
gutter? You thank God its all ovr, and that no you can throw me
back again there, do you?
Higgins does not understand her, calls her presumptuous insect,
the creature is nervous
Eliza instinctively darts her nails at his face
Whats to become of me?
You dont care, I know you dont care.
Eliza is hopeless and crushed

She writhes when he pats her kindly on the shoulder twists in

agony
You go to bed like a good girl and sleep it off. Have a little cry and
say your prayers: that will make you comfortable. Hes
patronizing, unfeeling, treats her like a child. Ironic-> He himself has
never grown up. He cannot see further than his own wants and
needs. He taught her how to function in upper class society when he
himself does not function well.
Eliza cannot be an actual duchess, yet she cannot go home again.
What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go?
Whats to become of me?
You might marry, you know.
You go to bed and have a nice good rest; and then get u and look
at yourelf in the glass; and you wont feel so cheap. Comedy, he is
unaware of the effect of his words and says them casually.
He eats his apple with a dreamy expression of happiness, as it is
quite a good one.
We were above that at the corner of Tottenham Court Road
I sold flowers, I didnt sell myself. Now youve made a lady of me
Im not fit to sell anything else. I wish youd left me where you found
me.- I was lower class but I had higher morality. She does not want
to depend on somebody else. She is self-dependent.
Paradox lowered her to this level.
Do my clothes belong to me or Pickering?
He might want them for the next girl you pick up to experiment on
Eliza packs her things and sees Freddy in front of the house, where
he spends most of (his) nights
Freddy you dont think Im a heartless guttersnipe do you?
Oh no no, darlingyou are the loveliest, dearest
He loses all self control and smothers her with kisses. She, hungry
for comfort, responds

At Mrs Higgins:

Higgins and Pickering cannot find Eliza, call the police.

Eliza is at Mrs Higgins
They are in an urgent state
Doolittle arrives
resplendently dressed for a fashionable wedding
dazzling silk hat patent leather shoes
Says Pickering has ruined him, destroyed (his) happiness, Tied
(him) up and delivered (him) into the hands of middle class
morality.
Higgins wrote to an old blighter in America that was giving 5
millions to found Moral Reform Societies all over the world that
wanted Higgins to invent a universal language for him.
He said that the most original moralist at present in England is
Doolittle, a common dustman.

I remember making some silly joke of the kind.

Thanks to your silly joking, he leaves me a share in his Predigested Cheese Trust worth three thousand a year on condition
that I lecture for his Wannafeller Moral Reform World League as
often as they ask me up to six times a year.
It aint the lecturing I mind.Its making a gentleman of me that I
object to.
I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money
when I wanted it.Now..everybody touches me for money.
In the house Im not let do a hands turn for myself: somebody else
must do it and touch me for it.
A year ago I hadnt a relative in the wrld except wo or thee that
wouldnt seek to me. Now ive fifty, and not a decent weeks wages
among the lot of them.
I have to live for others and not for myself: thats middle class
morality
Mrs Higgins, about Eliza: She has become attached to you
both.she did this wonderful thingyou two sat there and never
said a word to her, but talked of how glad you were that it was all
over and how you had been bored with the whole thing.
Pickering: Perhaps we were a little inconsiderate.
Higgins still refers to Eliza as this creature we picked out of the
mud
Liza deliberately speaks nicely to Pickering and ignores Higgins.
You see.apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing
and the proper way of speaking), the difference between a lady
and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. I
shall always be a flower girl to Prefessor Higgins, because he always
treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady
to you, because you always treat me like a lady, and always will.
Self esteem comes from being treated well.
I should like you to call me Eliza
And I should like Professor Higgins to call me Miss Doolittle more
distance, barrier created
Well, I am a child in your country. I have forgotten my own
language, and can speak nothing but yours.
Eliza says she wont relapse I dont believe I could utter one of the
old sounds if I tried. Doolittle touches her shoulders -> a-a-a-a-ah-ow-ooh!
Doolittles mistress marries him because she is
intimidated.middle class morality claims its victim
Comic reversal

Eliza and Higgins (end)

The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whher you ever
heard me treat anyone else better.

Liza: You are a motor bus: all bounce and go, and no consideration
for anyone.
Higgins: I can do without anybody. I have my own soul: my own
spark of divine fire.
But I shall miss you, ElizaI have learnt something from your
idiotic notions: I confess that humbly and gratefully. And I have
grown accustomed to your voice and appearance. I like them,
rather.
Liza: Oh! If I only could go back to my flower basket!...Why did you
take me independence from me?....Im a slave now, for all my fine
clothes.
Not a bit. Ill adopt you as my daughter and settle money on you if
you like.
I want a little kindnessI am not dirt under your feet. What I did
was not for dresses and the taxis: I did it because e were pleasant
together and I come came to care for you.
You know I have no real friends in the world but you and the
Colonel.
Ill marry Freddy I will, as soon as Im able to support him.
Freddy!!! Than young fool.do you not understand that I ave made
you a consort for a king?
Higgins doesnt believe that Eliza will become a teacher as she
says. She threatens to teach phonetics and offer herself to
Nuppomuck.
By George, Eliza, I said Id make a woman of you; and I have. I like
you like this. calls her a tower of strength.
Play ends with Higgins saying: shes going to marry Freddy.Ha ha
ha ha ha!!!!!

Freddy and Eliza:

Higgin considers Freddy a fool

Eliza: Perhaps I could make something of him

Others:

Notion of morality being connected with class, there is a certain

snobbery in England hat implies lower class people have lower
degrees of morality than upper class.
Wimpole street first time: creates dramatic intensity
Attitude to working class: shell only drink if you give her money
Comedy: man in charge irresponsible and childlike
Language invites a judgment, admiration or despise
Upper class = innate breeding, inherited money
Middle class = educated, but still have to work
She has learnt to become an artificial duchess but her lack of
education cannot be compensated.

Eliza Growth or reduced? She does grow but it is not learning to

speak or act the right way. She gains wisdom valuable. The words
she say at the end are his theme.
Ironic: Wealth has ruined Doolittle: comical -> most people wish to
be enriched financially
Eliza and Doolittle have changed social class
Play ends on a note of ambiguity -> may be frustrating, some
people like a strong and obvious resolution -> there is uncertainty in
life.
Pygmalion is alluding to a myth of an artist who falls in love with his
creation. This is deliberately misleading as Higgins is not in love
with her.