Analysis of Major Characters

Henry Higgins
Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics and also the Pygmalion to Elisa. Although enthusiastic about his
professions, he is a braggart of his achievements and often belittles other peoples intellectual abilities. Such
trait can be seen when his ridicule on the bearded mans conjectures about Elisas origins and his constant
negative remarks about Elisas intelligence. Because of his proud nature and joking mannerism, he starts a bet
with his fellow friend Pickering in the beginning of the play, saying that he is capable of passing a lowly flower
girl as a duchess. This bet starts the drama of the play.
Although a highly intellectual gentleman, Higgins practices poor manners , and his rudeness annoys the
public. A jerk to about every woman on Earth and a bully to Elisa,Higgins justifies his demeanor by saying that
he treats everybody, even a duchess, as equally badly as one would treat flower girls by the curbside.
Nevertheless, Higgins is kind by nature, and this characteristic of his has prevented the world from turning
against him.
Higginss character is full of contradictions, which makes his actions and true intentions ambiguous to the
audience. It is hard to know if most of what he has said was out of sincerity or not and this trait builds the
suspense in the play of whether Higgins has feelings toward Elisa. He is also considered to be a static
character. His personal traits dont change (or incorrigible as marked by the author) throughout the play, but
his intention toward teaching Eliza did. In the beginning Higgins only wanted to have fun playing the Pygmalion,
but in the end, he wants to mold Eliza into a true lady.He reflects Shaws belief that everybody should be treated
equal no matter his or her social class.

Eliza Doolittle
Before meeting Higgins, Eliza was a hard working flower girl who makes barely enough money to support
her living. She is stereotyped as a dirty lower class, but she is virtuous and has a kind and innocent mind.
When she implores Higgins to teach her phonetics, she never wanted to acquire any luxuries from his house, but
only thought of improving her career with this new knowledge.
As she resides in Wimpole Street, she is often out of the place and oblivious of the expect ations in the
upper classes reign. For instance, she thinks it is perfectly fine to wear mismatched feathers on hat and to
include the cuss word bloody in her small talk. Her cluelessness to the proper way to act in the upper class
portrays the theme that when a person is taken out of their social norm, he or she often encounters conflicts and
will not always fit in.
Elisa values respect and appreciation; that is why she despises Higginss rudeness to her and how her
achievement seemed to him as merely a game. This trait reflects the idea that everybody deserves respect from
society despite their social class.
With Higginss efforts, Elisa learns to speak perfect English and eventually passes the test at the garden
ceremony. However, although Elisa may act like a duchess, her true transformation from a flower girl to a lady
comes about when she finally realizes that she can make a living by her own out of teaching phonics. In the end,
Elisa has become a strong and independent lady, and no longer a feeble flower girl in the gutter.

Colonel Pickering
Pickering is an old chap, a professor of Indian dialect, and a foil to Higgins. While Higgins is boorish and
treats everybody as garbage, Pickering is polite and treats every girl, even a flower girl, like a duchess.
Nonetheless, Pickerings kindness to people is genial and detached: he didnt even bother to congratulate Eliza
on her accomplishments. Despite this, it is from Pickering that Eliza learned the importance of respect and truly
feels like a lady in his presences. The characteristics of Pickering add kindness to the play and serves to

develop the theme that appearance will not identify a person as an upper classman but it is the persons
mannerism that ultimately makes the person a true duchess.

Mrs. Pearce
Mrs. Pearce is the old housemaid that serves in Professor Higginss house. She is very aware of the class
difference and is aware of both sides of the social class problems. She sees the consequences of Higginss
experience with Eliza and disapproves of his bet with Pickering. The character of Mrs. Pearce serves as an
unbiased view of the conflicts presented by both upper class (Higgins) and lower class (Eliza). She often
mediates between Higgins and Elisas arguments, and constantly reminds him whe n he has made Elisa mad.

Freddy
A former member of the upper class, Freddy is humble and kind and has the manners of a gentleman. Freddy is
obsessed with Eliza and is reported to have been creeping on Eliza every night under her windows. Freddy
serves as the person that Elisa would marry in order to build the dramatic irony of the play. A fool, as
commented by Higgins, Freddy is truly incompetent. He is constantly being bossed around by his sister and
mother and cant readily find a job to support Eliza. He is a perfect example of how the upper classmen would
have a difficult time adjusting to being a lower class when the family suffers economic hardships.

Mr. Doolittle
Mr. Doolittle is a lower class scoundrel. He has at least 6 wives, spends all his earned money on alcohol,
and touches people whenever he needed money. When Eliza is permitted to stay at Higginss residence to
study phonetics, Mr. Doolittle immediately thinks that his daughter has decided on a path of
prostitution. Uncaring and selfish, he sells Eliza for only 5 pounds. Unembarrassed by his actions and behaviors,
Mr. Doolittle is happy about his being a rogue on the street.
However, when Mr. Doolittle becomes a richly endowed lecture to a moral reform society, he immediately
becomes miserable with his obligation and expectations from the others. Now, he must provide for his family,
marry his girlfriend, and give money to support his newly gained relatives. Nonetheless, even though his
appearances dramatically changed through the transformation, his mannerisms dont. He still speaks with his
usual scandalous voice, and he criticizes Higgins, who wrote his recommendation letter to the moral reform
society founder, for taking his freedom away, and putting him in a morose state. The character of Doolittle
voices a piece of satire to the middle class morality in that sometimes a deserving poor lives a happier live
than the rich middle class would because the lower class dont have to care so much about their responsibilities.

Themes and Analysis

Social Class Separations/Distinctions
The characters within Pygmalion are split into three main classes: upper, middle, and poor. There are distinct characters from these
three classes that embody the meaning of these social differences. The first one, lower class (or the poor) is shown by the main
character; Eliza Doolittle (or Liza). She starts out in the story as a poor girl selling flowers on the corner of the street. The book
describes her as not at all a romantic figurehair needs washing rather badlywears a shoddy black coatboots are much the
worse for wearno doubt as clean as she can afford to be; but compared to the ladies she is very dirty. This provides an image of
just how needy and poor she is. She is shown to sell flowers on the curb of the street to rich people- the Eynsford-Hills, in fact, in
the beginning of the play. Clara, the daughter, says, do nothing of the sort, mother. The idea! when Liza asks money for the
flowers that Freddy made her drop onto the ground. This is the first encounter we see of the lower and upper class. The powers of
the higher class are emphasized as Eliza goes to Wimpole Street to request lessons from Higgins (from the description of his home
in the play). The middle class is mostly depicted by Mrs. Pearce throughout the play and Alfred Doolittle towards the end of the
book. He isnt rich like Higgins, but contrasted with his daughters status in the beginning, he is much better off with more riches
and with that, more responsibilities.
Feminist Ideas

This is a minor theme branching out of class distinction. There are different ideas about women in each and every
social class- for example; the lower class women must work. They are unable to do anything but work. Middle class women
may work, may stay at home. Upper class women, however, are so delicate that the only thing they could possibly venture
to give is their bodies (ie. Prostitution). Also, their speech is different. While lower class women may speak as they please, it
is unladylike for women of the upper class to say words such as bloodyrottersfilthy and beastly. Clara is so down on
me if I am not positively reeking with the latest slang.

Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature- Higgins vs. Eliza

The main plot of Pygmalion revolves around social classes and the bet Higgins makes with Pickering that he can turn [Eliza] into a
duchess. That is to say, he is taking an ordinary, poor girl in the lower class and turning her into an elite member of the upper
class. This means that he is changing her natural speech, behavior, and her natural lifestyle and way of life (man vs. nature).
Higgins says, But you have no idea how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change her into a quite different
human being by creating a new speech for her which implies the theme of man vs. nature. He is also going against the norms of
the distinction between classes on the social ladder (man vs. man).

Males vs. Female

Throughout the play and the entire time Higgins and Pickering were experimenting with Eliza, they thought that it was a project,
merely play for amusement and a way to show skill and profession. However, the two strong, independent women in the book (Mrs.
Pearce and Mrs. Higgins), see things in a different view. They both ask of Elizas future after [theyre] done with her, but both
times, they do not receive an answer. The males are ignorant of the consequences of their actions while the females appear to be
the ones thinking of everything else- everything the men arent- Mrs. Higgins says, you two infinitely stupid male creatures: the
problem of what is to be done with her afterwards. This shows them to be more careful, critical, and well-rounded in thought than
the men, their thought patterns and the way they handle situations to be different. This again shows up when Eliza confronts
Higgins after winning his bet about her future, showing once more the differences between the two genders.

Summary and Analysis

Act One
Prior to midnight at St. Pauls Church, the women of the Eynsford Hill family (a line of old
money that has dried up, leaving the family with only the manners and expectations of the upper
class) wait in the rain for Freddy, the bullied son and brother. He returns to the portico, having
been unable to find a cab. On the way inside, he runs into a girl selling flowers. As the girl
hawks her wares to a nearby gentleman, who gives her money but does not take a flower, a
bystander warns her that a man is taking down everything she says. Mistaking the note taker for
a police man attempting to arrest her for prostitution, the flower girl grows very upset, and a
ruckus among the crowd ensues. As the commotion unfolds, the crowd begins to favor the note
taker when he is able to discern where a few members of the crowd grew up, merely by hearing
them speak. The crowd settles and disperses, and the note taker comments disparagingly on the
flower girls lower class speech. By chance, a bystander and the note taker reveal themselves to
be Colonel Pickering and Professor Henry Higgins, to distinguished dialect experts. As the two
leave together, Higgins gives the flower girl a handful of coins with poor grace. As Freddy
finally arrives with a cab, he finds his sister and mother gone. The flower girl, newly flush with
good fortune, takes the taxi back to her lodging, a dreary Drury Lane flat.

Act Two
Act Two commences in Higginss study as Pickering and Higgins discuss the intricacies of
dialect. Mrs. Pierce enters the study and announces that an unknown woman with a thick accent
is asking to see the professor. The flower girl, revealed as Eliza, has dressed and cleaned herself
as best she can, complete with a gaudy, tattered hat. Eliza asks for Higgins for speech lessons,
hoping to improve her circumstances. Higgins and Eliza argue about the amount of pay, when
Pickering suggests a bet- he will pay for Elizas lessons if Higgins can pass her off as a duchess
at a society garden party. With a bout of bullying from Higgins, and a great deal of confusion for
Eliza, it is settled that Eliza will live in Higginss house and take lessons each day in order to
train for the bets execution. Mrs. Pearce takes Eliza up to her new bathroom, and Eliza is
introduced to the accouterments of upper class grooming, demonstrating the class gap with her
naivet. In the meantime, Pickering interrogates Higgins, to determine if his intentions for Eliza
are honorable, and Higgins confirms that he is a life-long bachelor. Mrs. Pearce returns to the
study and reminds Higgins to be careful of Eliza, noting his carelessness, and insists that he be
on his best behavior if he is to teach her the mannerisms of high society. Alfred Doolittle, Elizas
father, then enters the study, attempting to wheedle money out of Higgins for the loss of his
daughter. Although Higgins and Pickering are shocked at his callousness, Doolittle declares the
follies of middle class morality and the practicality of his own philosophies. Impressed by his
speech, Pickering and Higgins agree to give him the money. Eliza, freshly scrubbed and
surprisingly lovely in a new dress, enters the study, stunning the men in the room. She scorns her
father for coming to get money to drink, and the two grow close to blows before Doolittle is
escorted out. Eliza expresses the desire never to see her father again, and exits as new clothes
arrive for her. Elizas first lesson proves to be a tumultuous experience for her. Under Higginss
bullying, she begins to improve her diction, fighting her natural accent. Overwhelmed, Eliza
begins to cry, but it gently reassured by Pickering. Shaw describes this lesson as a glimpse into
the six months of Elizas training.

Act Three
The third act begins in the home of Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higginss mother on her at-home day.
Higgins explains that he has picked up a young woman, who, despite his mothers hopes, is
certainly not a romantic interest. Higgins confirms the love for his mother which arguably settles
his bachelorhood. After explaining his project, he requests his mothers help to allow Eliza to
practice making conversation. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill enter to visit- the mother anxious,
and the daughter arrogant. Colonel Pickering enters and they exchange greetings. Higgins
embarrasses Mrs. Higgins when he expresses his scorn for mannerisms and begins crashing his
way through the conversation. Eliza enters, radiant enough to capture the eyes of the young
Freddy Eynsford Hill, who also enters the parlor. A conversation about the weather quickly turns

into a conversation about Elizas parents, as Eliza unknowingly makes several social bumbles,
although her use of the word bloody is taken as fashionable slang by Miss Eynsford Hill, and
Freddy finds her charming. Eliza and the Eynsford Hills take their leave, and Mrs. Higgins
chastises Pickering and Higgins for treating Eliza like a live doll, and is alarmed that neither of
them have realistic plans for her future. Pickering and Higgins leave undaunted, and Mrs.
Higgins is left frustrated by their lack of foresight. Upon the next scene, the full six months have
passed and Pickering, Higgins, and Eliza arrive at an Embassy in London or a party. As they
enter the house, Higgins is accosted by his former pupil Nepommuck, who is now an interpreter
for international parties. Higgins and Pickering discuss whether or not Nepommuck will be able
to figure out the truth about Eliza, and possibly blackmail her. Eliza returns, and the trio enters
the party. Eliza dazzles both her host and hostess, as well as all of the guests. The host and
hostess ask Higgins to tell them about Eliza, and Nepommuck enters the conversation, and insists
that Eliza, who speaks English far better than the average English woman, must be Hungarian
royalty. The host and hostess agree with Nepommuck, and Higgins and Pickering agree that
Higgins has won the bet. Eliza returns, distraught by how much she sticks out among the guests,
not understanding that she has gone above and beyond the terms of the bet. The three leave the
Embassy upon agreeing that they are tired and hungry.

Act Four
The act begins with Pickering, Higgins, and Eliza returning to Higginss study. Higgins and
Pickering leave their clothing scattered about, and Eliza sits in brooding silence as Higgins and
Pickering discuss her success and relief that the bet is over as though she were not in the room.
Pickering bids Higgins good night, and Higgins prepares to retire as Elizas rage and despair
overcome her. She throws herself on the floor and throws Higgins slippers at him. She furiously
declares that she has nowhere to go, and that Higgins doesnt care for her, and that she wishes
she had her independence in the gutter she was born in. Higgins dismisses her fury as
exhaustion, and notes that she could marry herself off. Eliza asks what clothing belongs to her
and what belongs to Higgins, deeply offending him. When she makes him take back her jewels,
he loses his temper and she says that she is glad that she has gotten a little of my own back.
Higgins storms out, and Eliza goes to her room and takes off her finery. Outside, Freddy
Eynsford Hill watches the light go out in her window. Eliza emerges from the house and asks
him what he is doing by her window. Freddy declares his love for her, and Eliza turns to him for
comfort. Between kisses, they are chased about London by several constables and Eliza and
Freddy decide to drive in a taxi all night, and Eliza resolves to go to Mrs. Higgins for help.

Act Five

Act Five opens into Mrs. Higginss drawing room. A parlor maid approaches Mrs. Higgins to tell
her that Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering are at the door, and that they are phoning the
police in a state of panic. Mrs. Higgins is unsurprised by Henrys state and tells the parlor
maid to bring them up, and to tell Eliza upstairs that Higgins and Pickering have arrived, and she
is not to come down until she is sent for. Higgins bursts in and informs Mrs. Higgins that Eliza
has left. Mrs. Higgins, acting as though she does not already know this information, states that
Higgins must have frightened her. Higgins dismisses the fact and announces that she has left
with her things. As Mrs. Higgins reminds Henry that she has the right to leave if she chooses,
Henry explains that he has become unanchored since shes left. Pickering enters, and Mrs.
Higgins realizes that the two have sent the police after Eliza, and rebukes them for acting as
though she were their runaway pet. The parlor maid comes and explains that Mr. Doolittle has
asked to see Higgins. Doolittle enters in a fine suit fit for a bridegroom, and accuses Henry of
unleashing the horrors of middle class morality upon him when he flippantly suggested
Doolittle as an expert of English morals to an American in the Moral Reform Societies, and that
Doolittle has obtained wealth as a speaker for the society. Doolittle, disgruntled with his new
responsibilities, explains that he now must marry Elizas step-mother, and expects that Eliza
will soon want a piece of his good fortune as well. Higgins is indignant, crying that he cannot
and shall not provide for her. Mrs. Higgins reveals that Eliza is upstairs and insists that he be
civil to her when she comes downstairs. She scolds them for their callous behavior towards her,
and Pickering begins to feel guilty, although Higgins is still ruffled. Mr. Doolittle leaves the
room for the moment and Mrs. Higgins calls down Eliza. Eliza comes downstairs perfectly
composed, greets the two, and sits by Pickering. She tells Pickering that he truly began her
education, for he always treated her as a lady, even when she was a flower girl, and asks him to
call her Eliza, rather than Miss Doolittle. After she requests that Higgins continue to call her
Miss Doolittle, Higgins pompously asserts that she will soon go back to her old ways. Mr.
Doolittle enters the room, and Eliza emits one of her old yelps to see her father in his suit, and
Higgins jumps on her mistake. Mr. Doolittle explains that he is about to go to his own wedding.
Although Eliza is upset, at Colonel Pickerings urging, she agrees to go, and leaves to dress.
Doolittle admits that he is concerned about the ceremony, and explains that hes never been
married before, and asks Pickering not to mention that he never married Elizas mother.
Pickering and Mrs. Higgins agree to come to the ceremony. Pickering tries to persuade Eliza to
return with them to Higginss home, but Eliza finally admits to Higgins that as neither of them
with to be married, or pursue any sort of romantic relationship, she cannot stay. Higgins explains
that he does not mean to treat her poorly; that he treats everyone in the same fashion. Eliza in
turn expresses that she does not wish to stay with anyone who does not care for her. Eliza is still
afraid for her future, and Higgins offers to adopt her, and notes that she could marry Pickering if
she wanted to. She says that she has plenty of suitors, including Freddy Eynsford Hill, whom she
intends to marry once she is able to support him. Higgins is stunned, and Eliza declares that she
does not want anything to be made of her through marriage- she wants one of affectionate
partnership. She loses her temper and tells Higgins that she will become a phonetics teacher

herself, even becoming an assistant to Nepommuck. Higgins is enraged, but finally gains respect
for Eliza, and asks her to stay with him and Pickering as equals. Eliza declines, and wonders
aloud how he will do without her. Eliza and Mrs. Higgins leave, and Higgins laughs at the
thought of her marrying Freddy as the play concludes.

Epilogue
In the epilogue, Shaw summarizes the details that would follow the play, explaining that he
would not with for anyone to get the wrong idea about the characters natures. Shaw firmly states
that Eliza and Higgins could never married, as both are too strong for each other, and that Eliza
would naturally favor a more attractive, attentive partner. Unsure after their marriage, Eliza and
Freddy are able to survive for a while on a generous wedding gift from Pickering, as Mr.
Doolittle refuses to support Eliza. The two eventually move in with Pickering and Higgins again
for a time as they figure out their options. Eliza decides against teaching phonetics, deciding that
Henrys techniques belong solely to him. At Pickerings suggestion, they begin a florist shop,
although they hesitate as it would ruin Freddys sisters chances at marriage. However, Miss
Eynsford Hill has lost her lofty ideas and taken a job at a furniture shop, allowing the two to
begin their business. They do dreadfully for a time, as Freddy and Eliza know nothing about
running a business. But after taking classes and hiring other employees, their shop blossoms, and
the two move out of Higginss home to start their own family. Eliza maintains a lifelong fatherdaughter relationship with Pickering, and continues to bicker with Higgins. Shaw notes that
although she may have occasionally dreamed of what might happen if she could make Higgins
love her, she is content with her life with Freddy, and continues to live in reality, and her florists
shop with Freddy. Shaw concludes that Galatea may never have truly liked Pygmalion, as she
would forever resent his godlike complex around her.

Quotes
1. I dont think I can bear much more. The people all stare so at me. An old lady has just told me that I speak exactly like Queen
Victorianothing can make me the same as these people.
This quote demonstrates the key moment of Pygmalion, as it reveals Lizas true characteristics. It shows that she doesnt want to
be queen; she only wants to be similar to everyone else. She only wants to be regarded as a duchess and a lady just like the other
ladies in the upper class. This is ironic because it is before this point that Liza wanted to be regarded as the queen. However, she
feels as if she stands out for the wrong reason and does not fit in. She states: Ill never be like these people, but doesnt realize
how successful she actually is.

2. I tell you, Pickering, never gain for me. No more artificial duchesses. The whole thing has been simple purgatory.
Higgins talks to Eliza as if she is a doll, as if she is not there and has no feelings. This shows the distinction she may feel exists
between the two classes. She may stereotype the upper class as those who disregard the poor and feel as if they have no feelings
and are lifeless. Because of this, Higgins statement may have strengthened Elizas stereotypes and angered her further.

3. 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.
Here the key difference between upper and lower women is emphasized; many believe that women in the upper class have nothing
to offer while women in the lower class must work. They simply hold many more responsibilities than those of the upper class. It is
Elizas turn to honor her statement, Im a good girl, something she has always said in the beginning of the book. However, with
her change in status, all she can do is marry and remain in the upper class with nothing to offer. She realizes the decrease in
responsibilities and usefulness she will have, and regrets her having Higgins help her change her social status.

4. Im sorry. Im only a common ignorant girl; and in my station I have to be careful. There cant be any feelings between the like
of you and the like of me. Please will you tell me what belongs to you and what doesnt?"
This statement angered Higgins and actually provoked a response from him. He had ceased to ignore Eliza after she says this, and
his responses indirectly demonstrate his affection towards her. When she said the like of you and the like of me, it emphasized
once again the distinction between the two classes. Eliza believes herself to be common and ignorant and not worthy of Higgins.
The fact that she provoked a response out of him by pointing this out showed that Higgins truly did care about her.

5. Who asked him to make a gentleman of me? I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I
wanted it, same as I touched you, Engry Iggings. Now I am worried; tied neck and heels; and everybody touches me for money.
Doolittle is angry because of his newfound riches. He doesnt want to be rich because he doesnt want the responsibilities that come
with his riches, once again emphasizing the distinction between higher class and lower class. In this sense, when he was poor, he
only had to ask for money. Apart from doing that, there was nothing else he had to do. Now his money comes with responsibilities.
However, he is now reluctant to bear these responsibilities and prefers his former life. Doolittle was quite content with asking for
money, as he was less burdened. This shows the attitude of those in different classes; many may be content with their current
status.

6. Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street. That was the beginning of self-respect for me. And
there were a hundred little things you never noticed, because they came naturally to you. Things about standing up and taking off
your hat and opening doors-
This shows the impact that societys perspective can have on one individual. They can significantly help or heal one; that is why
many people are proud in society. For example, the fact that Miss Doolittle was regarded with respect and was addressed with this
polite name added to Lizas self-respect. This shows the importance of society's view and opinions can have on an individual.

7. The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the
same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one
soul is as good as another.
This is ultimately the main theme of the story where the author criticizes the class distinctions. He believes that there are all types
of people in each class, both the good and the bad. Likewise, they should all be treated similarly which is why he says "one soul is
as good as another." He believes that everyone can contribute to the wholeness of the world (ie: how he changed Eliza) and
similarly, everyone has equal potential. This also reveals the good-heartedness of Higgins.

8. You were a fool: I think a woman fetching a mans slippers is a disgusting sight: did I ever fetch your slippers?...No use slaving
for me and then saying you want to be cared for: who cares for a slave? If you come back, come back for the sake of good
fellowship; for youll get nothing else. Youve had a thousand times as much out of me as I have had out of you; and if you dare to
set up your little dogs tricks of fetching and carrying slippers against my creation of a Duchess Eliza, Ill slam the door in your silly
face.

Higgins is emphasizing to Eliza her independence. The fact that he tells her to not find him his slippers is underlining the fact that
she is free. He is telling Liza that she doesnt need him or her father or anyone; she can do it by herself. By thinking or stating
otherwise, she is disrespecting herself for affection. He is emphasizing to her the potential that she has.

Study Questions
1 1 1. What are some assumptions that the upper, middle, and lower class make of each other?
The upper class has a mentality where they believe themselves superior to the poor class. The poor are
assumed to be dirty and crude common. To the rich, a poor womans purpose is prostitution. Even so, the poor
are deemed incapable of understanding the culture of the rich, especially small talk. Some assumptions coincide
with the ones the poor class makes about the rich. If a rich pers on is interested in a poor woman, it is probably
for prostitution. The poor appear to think they are inferior as shown through them thinking certain possessions
and acts too good for them. The rich do not need to walk, they can ride in taxicabs. Overall, e ach believes that
they would not fit in to each others' culture and environment.

2. How do Higgins and Pickering contrast and complement each other?

Higgins is characterized to be self-important and condescending towards others yet intelligent. His rude
behavior makes it difficult for others to tolerate him. He is a static character, never -changing throughout the
entirety of the story. Pickering, however, is the ying to his yang. He is described as a perfect gentleman. His
gentle and nurturing nature makes it easy for others to feel affection towards him. Essentially, Higgins and
Pickerings personalities balance each other out, especially during Eliza's education. Higgins would be very
strict towards her while Pickering would comfort her. As Liza herself points out, Higgins taught her how to speak,
but Pickering taught her how to behave.

3. What does Mrs. Higgins convey when she says to Higgins and Pickering, You certainly are a pretty pair of
babies, playing with your live doll"?
Although Higgins and Pickering plan for Eliza to become a lady, there is no real thought regarding her future
after the bet. Higgins even goes as far as to say that shell probably go back to the gutter. There is no planning
for Elizas dream of becoming a lady in a flower shop. Mrs. Higgins is basically saying that Higgins and Pickering
treat Eliza like a doll rather than a human. They dont take into account her feelings. They dress her up, teach
her manners and control all aspects of her life.

4. What is ironic about Eliza saying, I dont think I can bear much more. The people are stare so at me. An old
lady has just told me that I speak exactly like Queen Victoria. I am sorry if I have lost you bet. I have done my
best; but nothing can make me the same as these people?
To Eliza, she is not fitting in because people are staring at her and giving her comments on her speech.
However, she is completely wrong. People stare at her because of her beauty and behavior. This quote alludes
to the belief that the classes cannot fit in each others environment. Eliza believes she will never be able to be
the same as these people. Yet, she has done the impossible and convinced the upper class that she is one of
them.

Pygmalion - A Short Analysis Of The George Bernard Shaw Play

Pygmalion - A Short Analysis Of The George Bernard Shaw Play
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is an artistic employment whose depiction of drama invites study. This article
broadly examines some of the themes with the play.

An author of the play is obliged to impart concerning to his target market concerning his play's characters and
settings. Crucial to make sure vital that his own protagonists are portrayed in ways that is both intriguing, notable
and informative, yet does not appear contrived. Performance is an external structure, dependent on visual scene.
Consequently a considerable fat is put on the playwright to supply revealing yet persuading dialogue.
Professor Higgins in addition to Eliza Doolittle are protagonists whose status are important to the plot trajectory of
Pygmalion. Because they're invested with such another personalities, Shaw has to present these differences from a
careful mixture of discourse and gesture, yet still maintain an overall proportion to his have fun. Eliza's position in
culture is overtly indicated throughout her distinct accessorize and conversation therefore the audience immediately
collects that she is a lowly flower-girl. Electrical systems, Higgins's profession is primarily unknown, and only
steadily disclosed through a combination of inventive encounters with characters, such as Colonel Pickering, in fact
it is through him and even Eliza - as well as a lot of bystanders - that we gain knowledge of Higgins's vocation. The
exposure that he is a brilliant tutor in phonetics has a large involvement throughout the other play.
The play's additionally act sees all of the transformation of a fable into a contemporary part realist fiction. Off phase,
Higgins and Pickering have had been able train Eliza to appear to be a lady. It is from this scene where the clients
witnesses Shaw subtly alluding to the fable described in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Higgins's grand mother thoroughly
disapproves of the woman son's achievement, making reference to him and Pickering for a "pretty pair of babies,
messing around with your live doll" (Pygmalion, p.81). This set can be effectively juxtaposed by way of "Make this
fair statue mine... Give me all of the likeness of our Iv'ry Maid", an extract through Ovid's Pygmalion and the Statue,
the place that the protagonist prays to the goddess Venus to produce his creation alive. It would appear that Higgins
has considered the role associated with Pygmalion and Eliza is an individual's statue.
The styles of gender and sophistication are also evident on Act 3. Higgins's disposition to the opposite sex can be a
issue. When their mother laments her son's apathy towards any partner, "under the age of forty-five" (Pygmalion,
p.Sixty eight) the professor ripostes by simply stating that he is quite simply incompatible with women. He then
provides that they are "all idiots" (Pygmalion, p.'68). During Eliza's debut as the lady, it becomes recognizable that
her meant empowerment seems somewhat dubious. Her bring together has much 'improved' eventhough her
conversation visibly indicates that she is simply masquerading as a guy of high cultural standing. However it is sole
Mrs Higgins who anticipates the difficulties which will plague Eliza once your lady leaves the tutelage regarding her
son.
At the end of Act 4, the play usually have arrived at a fabulous conclusion. However the turning-point is introduced
while in the following act. Eliza has perceived the dreads that dawned on Mrs Higgins, as well as a whole new
avenue from narrative presents itself as she finally retaliates with the bullying professor. The action is certainly
dramatic, having Eliza's accent sounding a reduced amount of forced and more extreme. Higgins's character is also
intensified through dialogue, and as the act closes, there's a need for some sort of quality.
Conventions have to be within the creation of any artsy work. The practice of dividing the narrative associated with
a play into functions was an ancient custom, originating in antiquity. Five operates for a play happen to be
considered an acceptable amount of money at the beginning of the twentieth-century. As a result Shaw was fortunate
simply because figure was satisfactory for his story. However he was first more daring throughout areas such as
setting and duration, by using a variety of locations plus spanning his plot over several months. Yet it was in
dialogue wherever he was the vast majority of audacious, striving for realistic theatre through using famous
everyday speech rather than verse.

Shaw drew using a popular myth designed for Pygmalion. He also had intensive aspirations, believing any play to be
previously mentioned mere entertainment. Shaw believed the play worked best as an inherently didactic medium,
capable of gaining society - your dog was an die hard socialist and feminist. He also has a subtle kinship with his
character, being a champion for phonetics. Pygmalion raises interesting basic questions that are still conflicting,
such as whether a given work could produce changes in society.

00246-- Eliza Doolittle/Character

Sketch/Pygmalion/Bernard Shaw [English literature
free notes]

Eliza Doolittle
In the beginning Eliza Doolittle is a flower girl from the slums of London. She is ignorant, dirty and full of
terrible Cockney dialect which even the taxi driver can't understand. After six months this same girl
becomes a young beautiful Duchess who charms everyone at the Ambassador's garden party.

Even in the first scene on the portico of St.Paul's church, on that rainy night we get the impression that
Eliza is not just an ordinary flower girl. She is bold, confident and even a little impudent. There
she confronts Freddy, the people standing there. She calls Higgins a man stuffed with nails. When
Pickering and Higgins sing a song with various rhyming names she asks them not to be silly.
Prof.Higgins develops her this self confidence and transforms her into a lady. But even then she can
lose her temper and even throw his slippers at Higgins' face.
The girl who walked into the Wimpole Street was a poor nervous girl, but at the same time one who had
determined to become a lady or at least an assistant in a flower shop. The fact that she was prepared to
pay Higgins the fee for this work shows her individuality. In a short time Eliza becomes so indispensable
that when she threatens to leave, Higgins complains that he can't find anything and can't remember his
appointments. She becomes an efficient personal assistant to Higgins and Pickering.

Higgins training turns out to be a bitter battle for Eliza. Higgins was a severe master he bullied and
hectored her. He threatened to drag her around the room three times by her hair if she made a mistake
twice. Eliza was a keen intelligent student. She absorbed everything and was very sharp. She learned
easily and made rapid progress. In fact for both Higgins and Eliza the process of teaching and learning
was a hard task. Later on she confesses that while Higgins taught her how to speak it was Pickering who
unknowingly taught her good manners. At Mrs.Higgins' house both the gentlemen are lavish in their
praise of Eliza.
Happiness is an elusive thing for Eliza. as soon as she is big enough to earn her own living she is sent
out of her home. As a flower girl she struggles to make a living. She lives in a dingy room in a dirty
locality. Even after she becomes a lady she is far from being happy. She expected Higgins to like her
and propose to her. But for Higgins she was only an object of an experiment.
Higgins' bullying reaches a point where Eliza in desperation hits back. This happens only after she
suffers enough. Only Pickering's gentle attitude helps her to carry on. Even after she marries Freddy she
depends on Pickering's financial support.
Eliza's relationship with Higgins seems unnatural. But Shaw made it intentionally so. After she becomes
Higgin's pupil she comes to know that her master is too strong to be involved emotionally with her as a
woman,as he told Pickering a pupil was only a block of wood for him. When she discovers that Higgins
can never be a husband she is much chagrined. But she becomes strong enough to find love in Freddy
who needed her more than she needed him. In the end Eliza earns the appreciation or even the
admiration of Higgins himself. He had made a flower girl a duchess and then changed a duchess into a
real woman.

Eliza Doolittle
In the beginning Eliza Doolittle is a flower girl from the slums of London. She is ignorant, dirty and full of
terrible Cockney dialect which even the taxi driver can't understand. After six months this same girl
becomes a young beautiful Duchess who charms everyone at the Ambassador's garden party.

Even in the first scene on the portico of St.Paul's church, on that rainy night we get the impression that
Eliza is not just an ordinary flower girl. She is bold, confident and even a little impudent. There
she confronts Freddy, the people standing there. She calls Higgins a man stuffed with nails. When
Pickering and Higgins sing a song with various rhyming names she asks them not to be silly.
Prof.Higgins develops her this self confidence and transforms her into a lady. But even then she can
lose her temper and even throw his slippers at Higgins' face.
The girl who walked into the Wimpole Street was a poor nervous girl, but at the same time one who had
determined to become a lady or at least an assistant in a flower shop. The fact that she was prepared to
pay Higgins the fee for this work shows her individuality. In a short time Eliza becomes so indispensable
that when she threatens to leave, Higgins complains that he can't find anything and can't remember his
appointments. She becomes an efficient personal assistant to Higgins and Pickering.

Higgins training turns out to be a bitter battle for Eliza. Higgins was a severe master he bullied and
hectored her. He threatened to drag her around the room three times by her hair if she made a mistake
twice. Eliza was a keen intelligent student. She absorbed everything and was very sharp. She learned
easily and made rapid progress. In fact for both Higgins and Eliza the process of teaching and learning
was a hard task. Later on she confesses that while Higgins taught her how to speak it was Pickering who
unknowingly taught her good manners. At Mrs.Higgins' house both the gentlemen are lavish in their
praise of Eliza.
Happiness is an elusive thing for Eliza. as soon as she is big enough to earn her own living she is sent
out of her home. As a flower girl she struggles to make a living. She lives in a dingy room in a dirty
locality. Even after she becomes a lady she is far from being happy. She expected Higgins to like her
and propose to her. But for Higgins she was only an object of an experiment.
Higgins' bullying reaches a point where Eliza in desperation hits back. This happens only after she
suffers enough. Only Pickering's gentle attitude helps her to carry on. Even after she marries Freddy she
depends on Pickering's financial support.
Eliza's relationship with Higgins seems unnatural. But Shaw made it intentionally so. After she becomes
Higgin's pupil she comes to know that her master is too strong to be involved emotionally with her as a
woman,as he told Pickering a pupil was only a block of wood for him. When she discovers that Higgins
can never be a husband she is much chagrined. But she becomes strong enough to find love in Freddy
who needed her more than she needed him. In the end Eliza earns the appreciation or even the
admiration of Higgins himself. He had made a flower girl a duchess and then changed a duchess into a
real woman.

The structure of Pygmalion/Play/George Bernard Shaw

Shaws Pygmalion is a very well-constructed play. It has:
exposition,
complication, and,
conclusion.
Act-1 works as exposition. Main characters are
introduced. Prof.Higgins, the hero of the play claims that
he can train ignorant and ill-educated flower girl, Eliza
Doolitle in such a way that after six months people will
accept her as a Duchess.

In Act-II and Act-III, the complication takes place. Elizas

training has started. She begins to change in her
speaking, dressing and manners after the training. Now
she is presented at the Ambassadors party. This event
works as the climax. It comes between Act-III and Act-IV,
the complication sets in Higgins behaves in callous
manners and Eliza did not have soft feelings of love for
him. She resents her treatment as an experiment. Act-IV
and Act-V function with spirited discussion of the
consequences of Elizas education. Higgins becomes
totally dependent upon Eliza. There takes place a verbal
sword play between them. Finally, Eliza accepts Freddy
as husband and leaves Higgins, and Prof.Higgins laughs
out the whole affairs.

Thus the play progresses from ignorance to knowledge,

the myth fades into the reality the didacticism turns from
Phonetics to life and Elizas spirit evolves from darkness to
light. Thus the construction of the play is logical, artistic
and elegant.
George Bernard Shaw and His Play : Pygmalion

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

He was England's most important dramatist since the Renaissance

In 1882, Shaw's life changed with hearing a lecture by the American political theorist
Henry George. It made Shaw read Karl Marx's "Das Kapital."

This set Shaw to work on the problems of capitalist society.

Shaw and his friends found the Fabian Society and then he worked on changing the
British society for the rest of his life.
FABIAN SOCIETY : It was founded in 1883-1884 in London, having as its goal the
establishment ot a democratic socialist state in Great Britain. The Fabians put their faith
in evolutionary socialism rather than in revolution.The name of the society derived from the
Roman general Fabius cunctator,whose patient and elusive tactics in avoiding pitched battles
secured his ultimate over stronger forces.It aims to promote greater equality of power, wealth,
and opportunity, the value of collective action and public service, liberty,human rights.

Bernard Shaw thought that he could use the theater as a vehicle for serve his own idea.
He was only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature and on Oscar, for his
contributions to literature and for his work on the film of his play Pygmalion.
PYGMALION // The source of the title
The myth of Pygmalion and Galatea

Pygmalion's title came from ancient Greek myth with the same name Pygmalion. Pygmalion
was a talented and famous sculptor who could find nothing good in women and never fell in love
with a women. He spent most of his days at home sculpting beautiful things.
He resolved to live out his life unmarried until he create his beautiful statue with an image of
"perfect women"
His statue was so perfect that no living being could possibly its equal and he fell in love with his
own creation.
He put clothes on it, gave it jewelry and named it Galatea.Consequently at festival, he prayed to
goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite, that he might have the statue come to life.
When he reached home, he found that his wish had been fullfilled then he wanted to marry his
statue.

Shaw's Pygmalion Professor Henry Higgings is the most renowned man of

phonetics of his time. Higgings is also like Pygmalion view of woman-cynical and
derogotary
Higgins says : " I find that the moment that I let a women make friends with me, she
becomes jealous,exacting, suspicious and a damned nuisance."
In the myth, Pygmalion carved sth beautiful and raw stone and gave it lafe. Shaw's Higgins takes
a "gutternipe", "squashed cabbage leaf" up out of the slums and makes her into exquisite work of
art.
Pygmalion is a play which includes crucial values such as social-criticism, selfimprovement, humanitarian grounds. It reflects the social system of its era.
HERE IS MY ANALYSS OF PYGMALION PLAY

If Pygmalion is thought as a social criticism, Bernard Shaw, tries to demonstrate us the

segregation between the upper class and the lower class people. That's kind of hiearachy. Both
Shaw's stage direction and expressions about lower class apparently reveal the social
discrimination. Additionally, there is a character who reach his ideal state thanks to will of
power, it emphasizes the power of self improvement. Bernard Shaw as a socialist,criticizes the
British Society' circumstances. We witness Eliza Doolitle's self developmen in process .By this
respect we understand the frustration of human regarding of their social class. Shaw prove us that
the people havent got inferiorty because of their inheritance, they are responsible for themselves
throughout their life and they have the capability of develeoping themselves properly. At the
beginning of the play Shaw displays us Liza is manipulated to grow up as a lady just because of
simple bet which come true due to Pickering and Higginns' quarrel.
Also we are over against the behaviour which scorn human's feeling and just exploit them as an
object for the sake of their personal satistaction.
Bernard Shaw , beginning of the play named the character according to their jobs. Especially
Lize is given " flower girl" and her speech and peculiar language display that she belongs to
lower class . The nickname of flower girl lay stress on the proper aim of the play in a sense.
Moreover , Shaw harshly criticize the commercial system in those times. When Alfred Doolitle
, Liza's father, comes to stage , he consent to sell his daughter to Mr. Higgins for the sake of
gaining even 5 pounds. It is a bitter truthness regardings of not to caring about their own family
member for the aim of gaining money.
The social dignity is one of the stressed matters in this play. In the quarrel between Mrs.
Higgins and Liza , she says social marriage is nothing better than the exchange of sex for the
money like what one sees among prostitutes. Liza indicates that an upper-class marriage market
as more degraded than her previous profession of selling flowers. Here Shaws expresses the
deepest condemnation of society. It can be understood that Shaw frames Liza's words
intentionally to draw attention about the pathetic conditions of those times and the working class
can and often do have more dignity than the hypocritical segments of upper class.
Furthermore, Eliza's final declaration of independence might have a political connotation . We
can deduce as a socialist, Bernard Shaw, founded Fabian Society to defend human's right and
protect people from oppression as a defender of human rights. Since the beginning of the play,
Shaw often bring up style of language an location have been mentioned. The fact that English

forced their language on the Gaelic-speaking Irish, after invading Ireland , where we witness a
male forcibly teaching a female to speak.
As a conclusion, Shaw tries to reveal the barrier's between classes arent natural and can be
broken down and if one want something by heart , t can come true ( Liza ). Shaw , in this play,
comments on the capacity for the individual to overcome the boundaries established by system of
class and gender. The dominant assumptions and expectations, may essentially prevent on
individual from beginning socially mobile withing a seemingly rigid hieararchical socail
structure.

Pygmalion - A Short Analysis Of The George Bernard Shaw Play

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is an artistic work whose depiction of drama invites analysis. This
article broadly explores some of the themes within the play.
An author of a play is obliged to impart some information to his audience concerning his play's characters
and settings. It is therefore vital that his protagonists are portrayed in a manner that is both interesting
and informative, yet doesn't appear contrived. Drama is an external medium, dependent on visual
spectacle. Consequently a considerable weight is put on the playwright to produce revealing yet
convincing dialogue.
Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle are protagonists whose backgrounds are important to the narrative
trajectory of Pygmalion. As they are invested with such contrasting personalities, Shaw has to convey
these differences through a careful mixture of dialogue and gesture, yet still maintain an overall symmetry
to his play. Eliza's position in society is overtly indicated through her distinct accent and conversation so
the audience immediately gathers that she is a lowly flower-girl. By comparison, Higgins's profession is
initially unknown, and only gradually disclosed through a series of inventive encounters with other
characters, such as Colonel Pickering, and it is through him and Eliza - as well as several bystanders -

that we learn Higgins's vocation. The revelation that he is a brilliant professor in phonetics has a
considerable involvement throughout the rest of the play.
The play's third act sees the transformation of a myth into a contemporary piece of realist fiction. Off
stage, Higgins and Pickering have managed to train Eliza to sound like a lady. It is in this scene where
the audience witnesses Shaw subtly alluding to the myth described in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Higgins's
mother thoroughly disapproves of her son's achievement, referring to him and Pickering as a "pretty pair
of babies, playing with your live doll" (Pygmalion, p.81). This line can be effectively juxtaposed with "Make
this fair statue mine... Give me the likeness of my Iv'ry Maid", an extract from Ovid's Pygmalion and the
Statue, where the protagonist prays to the goddess Venus to bring his creation to life. It would appear that
Higgins has assumed the role of Pygmalion and Eliza is his statue.
The themes of gender and class are also evident in Act 3. Higgins's attitude to the opposite sex is an
important issue. When his mother laments her son's apathy towards any woman, "under the age of fortyfive" (Pygmalion, p.68) the professor ripostes by stating that he is essentially incompatible with women.
He then adds that they are "all idiots" (Pygmalion, p.68). During Eliza's debut as a lady, it becomes
apparent that her supposed empowerment seems a little dubious. Her accent has much 'improved'
although her conversation clearly indicates that she is merely masquerading as a person of high social
standing. However it is only Mrs Higgins who anticipates the difficulties that may plague Eliza once she
leaves the tutelage of her son.
By the end of Act 3, the play appears to have arrived at a conclusion. However a turning-point is
introduced during the following act. Eliza has now perceived the fears that dawned on Mrs Higgins, and a
whole new avenue of narrative presents itself as she finally retaliates against the bullying professor. The
action is certainly dramatic, with Eliza's accent sounding less forced and more aggressive. Higgins's
character is also intensified through dialogue, and as the act closes, there is certainly a need for some
sort of resolution.
Conventions have to be observed in the creation of any artistic work. The practice of dividing the narrative
of a play into acts was an ancient tradition, originating in antiquity. Five acts for a play were considered an
acceptable amount at the beginning of the twentieth-century. Therefore Shaw was fortunate as this figure
was sufficient for his story. However he was more daring in areas such as setting and duration, utilizing a
variety of locations and spanning his narrative over several months. But it was in dialogue where he was
most audacious, striving for realistic drama through using recognizable everyday speech as opposed to
verse.
Shaw drew on a popular myth for Pygmalion. He also had extensive aspirations, believing the play to be
above mere entertainment. Shaw thought the play functioned best as an innately didactic medium,
capable of benefiting society - he was an ardent socialist and feminist. He also had a subtle kinship with
his protagonist, being a champion of phonetics. Pygmalion raises interesting questions that are still
unresolved, such as whether a particular work could bring about changes in society.

Shaw's Pigmalion : analysis against a social background

boris.petrovic

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George Bernard Shaw was born in 1856, in Dublin, into a middle class family. After finishing school
he started working as a clerk, a post he soon abandoned in order to join his mother and stepfather in
London and pursuit his literary carrier. Given that his first novels were rejected he would not live on
his writing and was not fully independent until he began working as an art critic. Parallel with his
struggling to succeed in the literary world Shaw was, from early age, interested in politics, precisely
Socialism, and was politically active. He became a member of the Fabian Society, a left wing
oriented group established to promote fight for social justice by peaceful means. Trough this activity
he met his wife, moved with her to Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire where he continued his writing
and passed the remainder of his days.
Shaws life, his literary work and political activities are tightly interwoven, cross-referenced and
inseparable one from another. Many of ideas that he tried to present to the English society are
current and soundly explicated in his work. Shaw himself insisted that his writings are, before all,
didactic and socially engaged. His first novel (at the time rejected), Cashel Byrons Profession, was
about his disdain and contempt for English educational system. In many a detail it was an
autobiographical novel of hardship and suffering in Englands public educational institutions of the
time, where strictness and austerity did not compensate for poor and inadequate education. He was
especially against corporal punishment, at the time still present and widely used in Englands
schools. This particular attitude is visible in many of his works, notably Pygmalion, where the
educational system had managed to produce exactly nothing out of Freddy Eynsfor-Hill and his
sister Clara. The very opening of the play gives us playwrights attitude towards academic prejudice
and (what he saw as) hard shelled, impenetrable discrimination of the Oxbridge circle.
As we have already mentioned, Shaws criticism and social engagement was conducted in a much
larger scope than Englands educational system. In his writings, we are able to distinguish a vast
number of different subjects placed under a piercing analysis: class struggle, social injustice, battle
for women rights. He also stayed just to his attitude that art should be educative (when schools are
apparently not) and impregnated his works with remarks on behavior, snobbery, even practical
advices on how one should conduct himself in the society. We will take a closer inspection upon the
social order he probed in his works and try to explicate on major points of his critic in one of his most
well known plays,Pygmalion.
This play was published in 1913, one year prior to First World War. This is the pinnacle of the
Edwardian era of the English society, although some consider it to be finished with the death of
King Edward, which occurred in 1910, and others with the Titanic shipwreck that took place in 1912.
Some, on the other hand, go as far to 1918 in order to proclaim an end to this particular poque
while others claim that it was all in fact a part of Victorian period. If we take into consideration

Europe in its entirety, of which United Kingdom is a significant part, this is the period of Belle
poque which ended with the First World War. Significant traits of these three periods are present
and visible in Pygmalion. As much as they were chronologically overlapped or even existing in the
same time, these periods have separate characters that vary in numerous aspects.
The Victorian era refers to a rule of Queen Victoria, which spanned from 1837 to 1901. It was the
longest reign in history of the state. At the beginning of the period, England was rather undeveloped,
agrarian country (although it was, even then, the most industrialized nation in the world). First years
of the reign were marked by a series of epidemics (notably cholera and typhus) and some economic
collapses and crop failures. During the reforms the Queen had performed, numerous improvements
were made: the economy was vastly industrialized and the distant regions of the Kingdom were
made accessible by a well developed system of railways. The economic emphasis placed on the
industry rather than the agriculture made a considerable change in balance of wealth in the society.
It gave rise to bourgeoisie or the middle class, while taking a certain part of influence out of nobility,
whose incomes where mostly based in agriculture. Industrialization led to further development of the
cities and middle classes were further more associated with the city way of life. With economic
progress also came the advance in science and culture, and with those came the class awareness
and first serious attempts of fight for womens rights, most notably the Married Womens Property
Act. The Victorian moral is still well known and today it stands as a symbol of seriousness,
Puritanism, even austerity. It was closely connected to bourgeois strict, sometimes minimalist way
of life. The second part of the reign is marked by emphasis on the imperial, colonial politics and
conflicts it had led to, notably Anglo-Zanzibar War and the Boer War.
The countrys politics became more and more liberal and the classes got more distant, which would
mark the beginning of the Edwardian era. While Victorian period sported rigid morals and modest
lifestyle, King Edward, who himself was a man of the world, introduced a model of behavior
influenced by European fashionable elite and Belle poque. This change in socially acceptable
behavior had increased the spread between the classes further more. On one side there where
middle class (that in richness often surpassed high class) and aristocracy and on the other there
where lower classes, the proletariat. However, due to Victorian era investments in education and rise
of general political awareness, further class segregation was followed by the fight for social justice.
Socialism was gaining on popularity, politicians were paying more attention to problems of
underprivileged and civil rights were developing, most notably issue of womens suffrage and
womens right in general.
This is the exact moment in which Pygmalion took place, in the midst of the great social turmoil and
the continued affirmation of the middle class in English society. It would be difficult to separate this

work from its middle class background. It is written by a member of middle class, for the middle class
audience. It is impregnated with problems and issues inherent to middle class. Even
though Pygmalionis a play, not a novel, the plot corresponds in great detail to a bourgeois (middle
class) genre par excellence, the bildungsroman.
The formation novel or the novel of self-cultivation (possible translations of bildungsroman) is a
genre presented to the world by Goethe in 1795, by his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, which is
the paragon of the genre. It was a part of Goethes widespread effort to establish and uphold middle
class values and lifestyle in Germany. The main prejudice of aristocratic society is that a man, with
certain qualities that are bestowed upon him by his birth (and by his birth only, therefore any change
is quasi impossible), is born into a world of steady constants: bildungsroman, on the other hand,
emphasizes the fact that a man can cultivate and change himself. In another words, the man can
adapt himself to the world, which is, contrary to the previous belief, an ever changing place of
constant motion. The hero needs to learn how to compromise, to overcome certain illusions
nourished by his youth and naivet and most important of all to accept guidance. Many a novelist of
the nineteen century gave at least one example of the genre: Stendhal, Le rouge et noire,
Balzac, Les illusions perdues, Flaubert, Lducation sentimentale, and the one to present the genre
to the British audience, Charles Dickens with pretty much every novel he ever wrote (we will
take Great expectations for example). The genre lived well into the twentieth century with works of
Joyce, James, even Proust and Mann, however more than often as a parody and tweak of the
genre.
It might strike us as a certain oddity that the theme developed in late eighteenth century Germany
and popular throughout the middle nineteen century Europe found its way into early twentieth
century English society. However, we must bear in mind that the English culture has its own
specifics. While being one of the most liberal and openly capitalistic societies in the world, it is one
also of rare cultures that never had a revolution. England, even of today, is an extremely
conservative society, where class issues are present in everyday life in a greater measure than
arguably anywhere else in the world (except perhaps India). The differences between high, middle
and low class are seemingly abysmal. That perspective is necessary to justly appreciate the
subversive character of this play and what it may have represented a hundred years ago.
As we have mentioned, even though it is a play, Pygmalion bares many traces of
the bildungsromangenre. The principal character, a former flower girl, is a persona of great wits,
talent and charm: yet she is of the modest of origins, not having anything in the world but herself.
Still, thanks to her abilities and natural predispositions, as well as a careful tutorship, she manages
to transform herself into a genuine lady, presenting a social grace (and beauty) to best one given by
a born lady, Clara. Like Goethes Meister, Dickens Pip of Balzacs Lucien, Eliza has tutors which

guide her on her way to becoming a lady, in changing herself to better fit the world and changing, as
much as she can, the world to be more suitable for her. Didactic dimension is ever present in this
particular genre, so it is in Pygmalion: Shaw dedicates a good portion of dialogue and no less of
prologue and epilogue to present us with his attitudes towards snobbery, behavior and class
prejudice. One of principal traits of the genre is the irony[1], certain distance between the author and
the principal character, where by no means he is presented as ideal: Shaw maintains this irony in
regard to every character in the play. Even the wisest of man (Professor Higgins and Colonel
Pickering) are sometimes presented as stubborn and confused as children are, even though they
are the seemingly almighty tutors.
Just like every hero (or heroine) of the genre Eliza must also lose her illusions and support moments
of great distress: she must have periods of moral downfall and problems with determination, which
she will, of course, overcome. The key moment is every formation novel is certainly the one where
principal character realizes a great truth about him and/or life in general: these epiphanies, so to say,
naturally have their place in Pygmalion. The final dialogue between Eliza and Professor Higgins is
such a moment, where both reveal their true feelings and thoughts, even to themselves: but we
could say the same for the moment following successful dinner party, where Eliza throws slippers on
Professor Higgins.
Even though the genre includes irony as one of his major characteristics, Shaw tries to be ironic
even with the genre itself. In the standard set up of a formation novel characters romantic illusions
and unreal expectations would be surmised to irony, as those are the features a character must
change in order to succeed in life. Class issues, however, are not to be touched or placed under
question, and they rarely are. For Goethe, who spent his entire life reaffirming middle class trough
various works as the absolute and nearly ideal one, it would have been a blasphemy. One could
debate whether Flaubert had intended to criticize society in France of the era, but his insight and
criticism were more towards the emptiness of life and prevailing stupidity in people than towards a
certain social solution. It was Dickens who first included the question of classes and critics of
industrialized society in his interpretation of formation novel. Shaw tried to overcome this middle
class boundary imposed to the genre and place the class problem and social adhesion as a principal
question. In other words, Shaw very much politicized the principal features of a formation novel and
used them as engaged art.
This leads us to the next principal attribute of Pygmalion, its subversivness. Although for todays
standards this play could hardly qualify as subversive, we must bring before our eyes the
circumstances of that particular era and the very moment when this play appeared. As we have
already mentioned, England is a class organized society with a strong right as political position. It is

a monarchy based upon the economy of liberal capitalism. So, any socialist idea at the time of the
zenith of English imperial power might have not been welcomed so gladly and open mindedly.
Aristocracy, (no matter how great the ascent of the upper class may have been), was, and still is
quite respected. Yet in this play we have attitudes openly denouncing the true nature (as it appeared
to Shaw) of their class.
At a certain point, Eliza says that while she was a simple flower girl, she was self sufficient and
depended on no one. She was of insufficient incomes for a decent existence and living rather
uncomfortably, but was honest and made up her own income. After becoming an elegant woman,
she is rendered incapable of taking care of herself. Only thing she can do is get married, that is sell
herself: as she puts it rather bluntly Before I sold flowers, now I have to sell myself. It is not only the
case with her person, rather with the entire class: ladies (and even gentlemen) of name and stature
found it disgraceful to work, so, the only thing they could do, if they fall into financial trouble was to
find a rich husband or wife. This was an economic problem as well as it was moral, for England had,
in fact, an entire class of society effectively unable to take care of itself, always depending on the
work of others, that is lower class.

Those were the calamities of financially challenged nobility or middle class. On the other hand, even
when means of existence appear to fall from the sky, (like they did for Elizas father) even that
particular chain of events cannot bring anything but trouble. Mr. Doolittle[2], a former dustman,
explains in a long monologue how great money brought him no happiness, on the contrary. Now he
finds himself enchained by the various rules of etiquette inherent to higher classes: also, he is
surrounded by an army of frauds who are trying to take some of his money away, while before he
was one of those people who would touch someone richer then he is. His wife to be, a former free
spirited, independent woman finds herself crushed by the newly imposed regulations and even
accepts to marry Mr. Doolittle in order to respect and uphold now obliging bourgeois moral. But the
worst of all is that Elizas father finds himself completely incapable of departing from his new
situation, now meter how unpleasant it may be: his spirits are also crushed by the weight of money,
social stature and prestige. This particular attitude, that money and possession do not bring
happiness but trouble, is highly disregarded in a capitalist, materialistic society which was founded
on the excess of property. We see Shaws socialist ideas shining through these lines of dialogue:
one needs not more than one can handle or even more than one can make.
What Shaw is telling his audience in a quite obvious way is that the man is fully free only when he is
capable to take care of himself. Furthermore, excess possession-wise oriented moral leads to a
certain social model that does no good to personality. One becomes enchained and formed by

various rules quite different from his own personality. We see another example for this attitude. Clara
Eynsford-Hill, presented in the beginning of the play as a rather shallow snob, gladly accepts Elizas
vulgarity thinking that those are the new ways. Her mother is more reluctant: but Clara takes
anything she thinks comes from a certain social model, even if those are plain and simple bad
manners and impolite talk. This scene is another subversive point of a play and a slap in the face of
an upper class society. It demystifies their most sacred values: decency, distance, politeness and
social grace. It goes to show how easy it is to bring down rules that have been around for a long
time. Further than that, in a conclusion we see that not only the upper classes are easily changeable
in values presented to them (and by them) as monolith and forever, they are completely incapable of
surviving on themselves. Freddy has a hard time trying to make a living. His education proved to be
pointless: in this aspect Shaw combined critics of educational system and class society: so he must
reenter school, which proves to be completely useless, because school itself is good-for-nothing. It is
thanks to Elizas abilities and a turn of good luck they are able to make a living. On the other hand,
Clara, Freddys sister, founds herself rejected by society until she is able to leave her snobbishness
behind and start being open minded. Mr. Doolittle, now a respectable gentleman, is more than
welcome into the highest spheres of English society and he never stops accentuating the fact that he
was born a commoner. This, as romantic as it may occur us, is actually quite subversive and difficult
to imagine in reality, especially in the zenith of Edwardian era.
These are, however, not the only aspects of play that we might find subversive and morally
challenging. Shaws attitude towards women is, for the time, quite advanced. Although throughout
Edwardian period it was not uncommon to speak of womens rights, Shaw did decide to go one step
further. Women characters in Pygmalion are, with few exceptions, actually superior to man. Mr.
Higgins mother must always apologize for the rudeness oh her son, further more she must act as a
voice of reason and explain certain things in great detail so that he could understand them. Eliza is
by far the strongest personality of them all, also the most sensible and gifted one: in numerous
occasions it is stated that she is potentially better in phonetics than the Professor Higgins himself.
Female characters are independent, stable and intelligent: even the little snob Clara becomes open
minded and gains her intellectual autonomy at the end of the play. On the other hand, male
characters are often lost, confused and not capable to fully understand what exactly is going on. The
most interesting male character is by far Elizas father, Mr. Doolittle, but no matter how charming he
may be he is still presented as irresponsible, moral-free nihilist who is ready to sell his daughter for
five pounds (or fifty if it was for dishonest intentions). Colonel Pickering is a polite, genteel man, but
rather bland, indecisive and inclined to easily support opinions of others. Freddy is a sympathetic
young man but with no ability or faculty whatsoever. In their couple, it is up to Eliza to take all the
decision and to keep them afloat. This particular attitude differs in more than one aspect from

traditional role of women and man: it is also a little more than play engaged in obtaining womens
rights. It sports a certain attitude towards men as well.
This particular aspect of the play can be attributed to Shaws left wing convictions. It is a wide spread
fact that, in most communist countries, while having suffered from various forms of dictatorship
women where equal to men also up to the point where they were equally often executed and sent
to concentration camps. The point is that the treatment of man and women did not differ. In Soviet
Russia, during the Second World War both sexes could equally participate in the army, before and
after the war they could have been the members of the Party etc. It is a left oriented attitude that
upholds the equality of sexes. Perhaps making women more stable and intelligent then man was
Shaws way to put the scale into balance, as social and racial injustice and prejudice were much
visible and present all around. In the Edwardian period this attitude towards sexes must have
provoked more surprise than it does today.
In a certain fashion, Shaws social and political ideas that are so densely interwoven into his works
became more and more present in Englands modern history. After the world wars one came to talk
more often about a society of meritocracy, where it is possible (still very hard, but possible) by a
personal effort to change class and gain access to quality education, better lifestyle and all other
attributes of higher class. Women are socially and politically much better off than they were during
his time and entirety of discrimination comes from individual cases rather than social structures. But
Shaws work did not focus just on womens position in society or on social, political problems. It was
also preoccupied with human relations, which made it rich in fine humor, genuine situations and
even authentic pathos.

G. B. Shaws Pygmalion: Study Guide

August 17, 2012
Dr. Vishwanath Bite Drama, Study Notes drama 3 Comments

About Pygmalion
Pygmalion has become by far Shaws most famous play, mostly through its film adaptation in 1938. Shaw
was intimately involved with the making of the film. He wrote the screenplay and was the first man to win
both a Nobel Prize and an
Academy Award.

Shaw wrote the part of Eliza Doolittle for a beautiful actress named Mrs. Patrick Campbell, with whom it
was rumored that he was having an affair. This rumor later turned out not to be true, and some critics

read the disappointed love affair between Higgins and Eliza as reflecting Shaws own romantic
frustrations including a long, celibate marriage.
Shaw once proclaimed: The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children
to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds like. Much
ofPygmalion is wrapped up with the class identification that comes with having an accent in British
society. As a socialist with strong convictions, Shaw used the stage to expose hypocrisies surrounding
marriage, language, and convention. Shaws preoccupation with language in this play may also have had
something to do with the fact that the most frequent criticism of his earlier plays was that his characters
engaged in witty banter that lacked depth. By making language the center of this play, Shaw highlights
the significance of something that his critics, despite their criticisms, were tending to downplay.

Pygmalion Summary
In Covent Garden, the Eynsford Hills wait for a cab in the rain. When Freddy goes to hail one, he
knocks Lizas flowers out of her basket. She accepts money from Freddys mother, then Colonel
Pickering. A bystander warns her that a man is writing down what she is saying, and she confronts him,
saying that she has done nothing wrong. Higgins amazes the crowd by imitating her accent and guessing
where they all come from. Pickering and Higgins meet and agree to have dinner, and Higgins fills Lizas
basket with money before he leaves. Liza leaves in a cab.
The next day, Liza intrudes upon Pickering and Higgins in Higginss home. She wants English lessons,
and Pickering bets that Higgins could not pass her off as a lady at the ambassadors ball in a
months time.Mrs. Pearce takes Liza away to bathe her and dress her more appropriately, and Lizas
father arrives and demands some payment. Higgins likes him and gives him five pounds.
A few months later, Mrs. Higgins is writing letters at home when she is interrupted by her son, who shocks
her by telling her that he is bringing a flower-girl to his house. The Eynsford Hills arrive for a visit, as does
Elizawith her newly elegant accent and manner. Freddy is infatuated right away. Eliza makes the
mistake of swearing and describing her aunts alcoholism, and she is hustled away by
Higgins. Clara thinks that swearing is the new fashion and shocks her mother by saying bloody on the
way out. Mrs. Higgins scolds Pickering and her son for not considering what is to be done with Eliza after
the experiment.
At midnight at Higginss house, Eliza enters looking exhausted. Higgins ignores her, looking for his
slippers and crowing over her success at fooling everyone as his own. Eliza begins to look furious. When
Higgins asks where his slippers are, Eliza throws them at his face. She explains that she does not know
what to do with herself now that Higgins has transformed her. He suggests that she marry, to which she
responds that she used to be something better than a prostitute when she sold flowers. She throws the
ring that he gave her into the fireplace, and he loses his temper at her and leaves the room. She looks for
the ring in the ashes.
Mrs. Higgins is in her drawing room when her son comes and tells her that Eliza has run away. Doolittle
arrives and announces that after he spoke with Higgins, Higgins recommended him as a speaker to an
American millionaire who died and left him everything. Doolittle is now middle-class and hating every
minute of it; his mistress is forcing him to marry her that afternoon. Eliza comes downstairs (she ran away

to Mrs. Higginss house), and Higgins looks flabbergasted. Doolittle invites Pickering and Mrs. Higgins to
the wedding, and they leave Eliza and Higgins alone to talk. Eliza says that she does not want to be
treated like a pair of slippersand Freddy writes her love letters every day. When she threatens to
become a phonetics teacher herself and use Higginss methods, he says that he likes the new, stronger
version of Eliza. He wants to live with her and Pickering as three bachelors.
Mrs. Higgins returns dressed for the wedding, and she takes Eliza with her. Higgins asks her to run his
errands for him, including that of buying some cheese and ham. She says a final goodbye to him, and he
seems confident that she will follow his command.
The onstage drama ends, and Shaw narrates, in an epilogue, that Eliza recognizes Higgins as
predestined to be a bachelor; she marries Freddy instead. With a gift from Colonel Pickering, Eliza opens
a flower shop. The only person truly bothered by this state of affairs is Clara, who decides that the
marriage will not help her own marriage prospects. But then she begins to read H.G. Wells and travel in
the circles of his fans, and she is convinced to begin working in a furniture shop herself in the hopes that
she might meet Wells (because the woman who owns the shop is also a fan of his). Freddy is not very
practical, and he and Eliza must take classes in bookkeeping to make their business a success. They do
reach success, and they live a fairly comfortable life.

Character List
Liza
a poor girl who was thrown out by her parents as soon as she was old enough to make a living selling
flowers on the street
Eliza Doolittle
the same person as Liza; what she begins to be called when she acquires a genteel accent and set of
manners under Higginss tutelage
Henry Higgins
a professor of phonetics who takes on Liza as a pupil as a dare, or as an experiment
Colonial Pickering
an Englishman who has served in India and written in the field of liguistics there; a perfect gentleman who
always treats Liza with utmost kindness
Mrs. Higgins
Henrys mother, who disapproves of her sons wild ways and who takes Liza under her wing
Mrs. Pearce
Higginss housekeeper; an extremely proper and class-aware lady, she heartily disapproves of the
experiment
Freddy
a poor, genteel young man who falls in love with Eliza

Clara
Freddys sister, who regards Higgins as marriageable
Mrs. Eynsford Hill
Freddys and Claras mother
Mr. Doolittle
Lizas father, who amuses Higgins very much; he comes into a fortune after the death of an American
millionaire to whom Higgins had recommended him

Major Themes
Class
The social hierarchy is an unavoidable reality in Britain, and it is interesting to watch it play out in the work
of a socialist playwright. Shaw includes members of all social classes from the lowest (Liza) to the servant
class (Mrs. Pearce) to the middle class (Doolittle after his inheritance) to the genteel poor (the Eynsford
Hills) to the upper class (Pickering and the Higginses). The general sense is that class structures are rigid
and should not be tampered with, so the example of Lizas class mobility is most shocking. The issue of
language is tied up in class quite closely; the fact that Higgins is able to identify where people were born
by their accents is telling. British class and identity are very much tied up in their land and their birthplace,
so it becomes hard to be socially mobile if your accent marks you as coming from a certain location.
Gentility and Manners
Good manners (or any manners at all) were mostly associated with the upper class at this time. Shaws
position on manners is somewhat unclear; as a socialist, one would think that he would have no time for
them because they are a marker of class divisions. Yet, Higginss pattern of treating everyone like dirt
while just as democratic as Pickerings of treating everyone like a duke or duchessis less satisfactory
than Pickerings. It is a poignant moment at the end of Pygmalion when Liza thanks Pickering for teaching
her manners and pointedly comments that otherwise she would have had no way of learning them.
Marriage and Prostitution
These institutions are very much related in Shaws plays, especially in Mrs. Warrens profession. From his
unusual standpoint of being committed to a celibate marriage, Shaw apparently feels free to denounce
marriage as an exchange of sexuality for money similar to prostitution (even though this was not
happening in his own marriage). Ironically, while her father expresses no regrets when he is led to believe
that Liza will take up this profession, it is she who denounces it. She declares that she was less degraded
as a flower-seller than as a genteel lady trying to make an appropriate marriagebecause as a flowerseller, at least, she wasnt selling her body.
Myths of Creation
Of all Shaws plays, Pygmalion has the most references to Greek and Roman mythology. Higgins
represents Pygmalion, a Greek sculptor who lived alone because he hated women. Pygmalion created a
sculpture of a perfect woman and fell in love with it; after he prayed, Aphrodite brought it to life for him.
This statue is named Galatea, and it is represented in Shaws play by Liza. Unlike the myth, Shaws play
does not end in a marriage between the pair, and Liza is infuriated with Higginss suggestion that her

success is his success and that he has made her what she is. She has worked to recreate her identity as
well.
Language
In this play and in British society at large, language is closely tied with class. From a persons accent, one
can determine where the person comes from and usually what the persons socioeconomic background
is. Because accents are not very malleable, poor people are marked as poor for life. Higginss teachings
are somewhat radical in that they disrupt this social marker, allowing for greater social mobility.
Professionalism
At the time that this play was written, the idea of female professionals was somewhat new. Aside from the
profession of prostitution, women were generally housewives before this period, and there is some
residual resistance to the idea of normally male professions being entered by females in the play.
Moreover, Pickering is initially horrified by the idea of Eliza opening a flower shop, since being involved in
a trade was a mark of belonging to the lower class. Pickering is shaken similarly after his experience of
watching Eliza fool everyone at a garden and dinner party, saying that she played her part almost too
well. The idea of a professional female socialite is somehow threatening to him.
Gender Solidarity or Antagonism
Although British society is supposed to break down along class lines, Shaw makes a point of highlighting
gender loyalties in this play. Although Mrs. Higgins initially is horrified by the idea that her son might bring
a flower-girl into her home, she quickly grows sympathetic to Liza. As a woman, she is the first to express
a concern for what will be done with the girl after the experimentthe idea that her training makes her
highly unmarriageable by anyone anywhere on the social scale. When Liza runs away from Wimpole St.,
she instinctively knows that Mrs. Higgins will take good care of her. Higginss mother sides with Liza
before even her son, not revealing that Liza is in the house while Higgins is dialing the police.
In contrast, relations between people of opposite genders are generally portrayed by Shaw as
antagonistic. Higgins and his mother have a troubled relationship, as do the professor and Mrs. Pearce.
Freddy and Liza get along better perhaps only due to his more passive, feminine demeanor.

Precursors to Pygmalion
Shaws play, as its title indicates, owes much to previous sources, mostly mythology. Pygmalion was a
character in the tenth book of Ovids Metamorphoses. A sculptor from Cyprus who did not enjoy the
company of women, the man Pygmalion created an idealized female form out of ivory and then fell in love
with the statue. He began to bring it presents as he would a lover, and he prayed to Aphrodite-the
goddess of love-to meet a woman like his statue. Instead, Aphrodite brought his statue to life. Pygmalion
named her Galatea, married her, and had a son named Paphos.
This myth differs from Shaws interpretation in several regards. Most importantly, Eliza (as Galatea) was
already a living person before Higgins (as Pygmalion) created her. Higgins certainly shapes Elizas
demeanor, her voice, and the way she looks, but he does not fashion her out of marble. Higgins gives
Eliza a new human life in the the way that Aphrodite did, while it was Elizas father who created Elizas
material reality. Moreover (and quite rightly), Eliza is indignant when Higgins claims that her success at
winning his bet is his own. When she realizes that she no longer fits into any stratum of society, Eliza

curses Higgins for creating her at all. The largest difference between the play and the myth is the
ending. In Shaws play, the stand-in for Galatea does not choose to marry the stand-in for Pygmalion. In
the prologue, Shaw explains that Galatea never does quite like Pygmalion: His relation to her is too godlike to be altogether agreeable. In ancient myth, it was not so bad to have a relationship with a god, but
this is not the kind of thing Eliza wants.
Shaws Pygmalion has one other major source, the tale of King Cophetua. King Cophetua was an
apocryphal monarch who was not interested in women until he met a beggar-woman. He fell in love with
her and elevated her to be his queen. The Cophetua complex names an attraction to lower-class women,
a tendency which Higgins exhibits in his interactions with Eliza. (The broader rags-to-riches theme is
common in Western literature; compare the film Pretty Woman.) Higgins assures Pickering that his
students are sacred, because he has always found them so before. But he finds himself attracted to
Eliza, who is quite different from the millionaires he taught before. Part of this difference is in the power
dynamic which is so central to Higgins relationship to Eliza. Like Pygmalion and King Cophetua, if he
were to choose Eliza as his consort, he would be in a position of great power in the relationship.

Suggested Essay Questions

1. How does the play deal with the issue of social class? Does Shaw ultimately uphold it or notis
there enough evidence in the play to demonstrate Shaws point of view? Consider Pickering, for
example, who is very much a product of the British hierarchy, and who is one of the most
sympathetic characters.
2. Does the play suggest that true love is possible and good? On the basis of evidence in the text,
what are the feelings that Liza has for Higgins and Freddy, and why does Liza marry Freddy?
3. Does language itself have transformative power, or does its power come entirely through the
people who use it? In what sense is Eliza a new person after she learns to speak differently?
4. The subtitle of the play is A Romance in Five Acts. Discuss the ways that the play is a romance
or might it more properly be called a tragedy or a comedy?
1. Is Freddy the perfect match for Eliza? If the story is a romance, is Freddy or Higgins a romantic hero?
2. How does the knowledge that Shaw was a socialist color ones reading of this play? Consider, for
instance, Doolittles speech on the undeserving poor. Does Shaw sympathize with this class of
people, or should we view his presentation of each character uniquely?
3. How does the movement from the public space of Covent Garden to the private spaces of Wimpole
Street and Mrs. Higginss home affect the behavior of the characters? What is the safest space for
Eliza?
4. How does the audience appreciate dramatic irony in the play? For instance, What does it mean when
Clara swears using the term bloody?
5. Shaw gives one of the reasons that a marriage between Eliza and Higgins would never work out as
that Eliza would have been unable to come between Higgins and his mother, suggesting that such a
dynamic is necessary in marriage. Given the events of the last act, does this reason seem accurate?

6. How does the quotation from Nietzsche that Shaw quotes at the end of the play, when you go to
women, take your whip with you, relate to Elizas relationship with Higgins? With Pickering? With
Freddy?

Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological character. It was
first presented on stage to the public in 1912.
Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower
girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to
assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable
speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary
on women's independence.
In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to
life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era English playwrights,
including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story
called Pygmalion and Galatea first presented in 1871. Shaw also would have been familiar with
the burlesqueversion, Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed. Shaw's play has been adapted numerous
times, most notably as the musical My Fair Ladyand the film of that name.
Shaw mentioned that the character of Professor Henry Higgins was inspired by several British
professors of phonetics: Alexander Melville Bell, Alexander J. Ellis, Tito Pagliardini, but above all, the
cantankerous Henry Sweet.[1]
Contents
[hide]

1 First productions
2 Plot
o 2.1 Act One
o 2.2 Act Two
o 2.3 Act Three
o 2.4 Act Four
3 Ending
4 Differing versions
5 Influence
6 Notable productions
7 Adaptations
8 In popular culture
9 References
10 External links

First productions[edit]
Shaw wrote the play in the spring of 1912 and read it to famed actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell in
June. She came on board almost immediately, but her mild nervous breakdown contributed to the

delay of a London production. Pygmalion premiered at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on October
16, 1913, in a German translation by Shaw's Viennese literary agent and acolyte, Siegfried
Trebitsch.[2][3] Its first New York production opened March 24, 1914 at the German-language Irving
Place Theatre.[4] It opened in London April 11, 1914, at Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's His Majesty's
Theatre and starred Mrs. Campbell as Eliza and Tree as Higgins, running for 118
performances.[5] Shaw directed the actors through tempestuous rehearsals often punctuated by at
least one of the two storming out of the theater in a rage.[6]

Plot[edit]

First American (serialized) publication, Everybody's Magazine, November 1914

Shaw was conscious of the difficulties involved in staging a complete representation of the play.
Acknowledging in a "note for technicians" that such a thing would only be possible "on the cinema
screen or on stages furnished with exceptionally elaborate machinery", he marked some scenes as
candidates for omission if necessary. Of these, a short scene at the end of Act One in which Eliza
goes home, and a scene in Act Two in which Eliza is unwilling to undress for her bath, are not
described here. The others are the scene at the Embassy Ball in Act Three and the scene with Eliza
and Freddy in Act Four. Neither the Gutenberg edition referenced throughout this page nor the
Wikisource text linked below contain these sequences.

Act One[edit]
'Portico of Saint Paul's Church (not Wren's Cathedral but Inigo Jones Church in Covent
Garden vegetable market)' 11.15p.m. A group of people is sheltering from the rain. Among them
are the Eynsford-Hills, superficial social climbers eking out a living in "genteel poverty", consisting

initially of Mrs. Eynsford-Hill and her daughter Clara. Clara's brother Freddy enters having earlier
been dispatched to secure them a cab (which they can ill-afford), but being rather timid and fainthearted he has failed to do so. As he goes off once again to find a cab, he bumps into a flower
girl, Eliza. Her flowers drop into the mud of Covent Garden, the flowers she needs to survive in her
poverty-stricken world. Shortly they are joined by a gentleman, Colonel Pickering. While Eliza tries
to sell flowers to the Colonel, a bystander informs her that a man is writing down everything she
says. The man is Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics. Eliza worries that Higgins is a police
officer and will not calm down until Higgins introduces himself. It soon becomes apparent that he and
Colonel Pickering have a shared interest in phonetics; indeed, Pickering has come from India to
meet Higgins, and Higgins was planning to go to India to meet Pickering. Higgins tells Pickering that
he could pass off the flower girl as a duchess merely by teaching her to speak properly. These
words of bravado spark an interest in Eliza, who would love to make changes in her life and become
more mannerly, even though, to her, it only means working in a flower shop. At the end of the act,
Freddy returns after finding a taxi, only to find that his mother and sister have gone and left him with
the cab. The streetwise Eliza takes the cab from him, using the money that Higgins tossed to her,
leaving him on his own.

Act Two[edit]
Higgins' Next Day. As Higgins demonstrates his phonetics to Pickering, the housekeeper, Mrs.
Pearce, tells him that a young girl wants to see him. Eliza has shown up, because she wishes to talk
like a lady in a flower shop. She then tells Higgins that she will pay for lessons. He shows no interest
in her, but she reminds him of his boast the previous day. Higgins claimed that he could pass her for
a duchess. Pickering makes a bet with him on his claim, and says that he will pay for her lessons if
Higgins succeeds. She is sent off to have a bath. Mrs. Pearce tells Higgins that he must behave
himself in the young girl's presence. He must stop swearing, and improve his table manners. He is at
a loss to understand why she should find fault with him. Then Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father,
appears with the sole purpose of getting money out of Higgins. He has no interest in his daughter in
a paternal way. He sees himself as a member of the undeserving poor, and means to go on being
undeserving. He has an eccentric view of life, brought about by a lack of education and an intelligent
brain. He is also aggressive, and when Eliza, on her return, sticks her tongue out at him, he goes to
hit her, but is prevented by Pickering. The scene ends with Higgins telling Pickering that they really
have got a difficult job on their hands.

Act Three[edit]
Higgins' home The time is midnight, and Higgins, Pickering, and Eliza have returned from the ball.
A tired Eliza sits unnoticed, brooding and silent, while Pickering congratulates Higgins on winning
the bet. Higgins scoffs and declares the evening a "silly tomfoolery", thanking God it's over and

saying that he had been sick of the whole thing for the last two months. Still barely acknowledging
Eliza beyond asking her to leave a note for Mrs. Pearce regarding coffee, the two retire to bed.
Higgins returns to the room, looking for his slippers, and Eliza throws them at him. Higgins is taken
aback, and is at first completely unable to understand Eliza's preoccupation, which aside from being
ignored after her triumph is the question of what she is to do now. When Higgins does understand
he makes light of it, saying she could get married, but Eliza interprets this as selling herself like a
prostitute. "We were above that at the corner of Tottenham Court Road." Finally she returns her
jewellery to Higgins, including the ring he had given her, which he throws into the fireplace with a
violence that scares Eliza. Furious with himself for losing his temper, he damns Mrs. Pearce, the
coffee and then Eliza, and finally himself, for "lavishing" his knowledge and his "regard and intimacy"
on a "heartless guttersnipe", and retires in great dudgeon. Eliza roots around in the fireplace and
retrieves the ring.

Act Four[edit]
Mrs. Higgins' drawing room, the next morning. Higgins and Pickering, perturbed by the discovery
that Eliza has walked out on them, call on Mrs. Higgins to phone the police. Higgins is particularly
distracted, since Eliza had assumed the responsibility of maintaining his diary and keeping track of
his possessions, which causes Mrs. Higgins to decry their calling the police as though Eliza were "a
lost umbrella". Doolittle is announced; he emerges dressed in splendid wedding attire and is furious
with Higgins, who after their previous encounter had been so taken with Doolittle's unorthodox ethics
that he had recommended him as the "most original moralist in England" to a rich American founding
Moral Reform Societies; the American had subsequently left Doolittle a pension worth three
thousand pounds a year, as a consequence of which Doolittle feels intimidated into joining the
middle class and marrying his missus. Mrs. Higgins observes that this at least settles the problem of
who shall provide for Eliza, to which Higgins objects after all, he paid Doolittle five pounds for her.
Mrs. Higgins informs her son that Eliza is upstairs, and explains the circumstances of her arrival,
alluding to how marginalised and overlooked Eliza felt the previous night. Higgins is unable to
appreciate this, and sulks when told that he must behave if Eliza is to join them. Doolittle is asked to
wait outside.
Eliza enters, at ease and self-possessed. Higgins blusters but Eliza isn't shaken and speaks
exclusively to Pickering. Throwing Higgins' previous insults back at him ("Oh, I'm only a squashed
cabbage leaf"), Eliza remarks that it was only by Pickering's example that she learned to be a lady,
which renders Higgins speechless. Eliza goes on to say that she has completely left behind the
flower girl she was, and that she couldn't utter any of her old sounds if she tried at which point
Doolittle emerges from the balcony, causing Eliza to relapse totally into her gutter speech. Higgins is
jubilant, jumping up and crowing over her. Doolittle explains his situation and asks if Eliza will come
to his wedding. Pickering and Mrs. Higgins also agree to go to the wedding. They depart, leaving
Higgins and Eliza alone.

Left alone, Higgins and Eliza spar, she accusing him of having "taken her independence" and he
dismissing her feelings but trying to cajole her into returning. Eliza muses that she could marry
Freddy, who is at least kind to her; this upsets Higgins, but he loses his temper entirely when Eliza
proposes that she will support herself by teaching phonetics, perhaps as an assistant to Higgins'
great rival. In a rage, he threatens her, and she dares him to hit her. Impressed by her sudden
strength and determination, Higgins declares, "By George, Eliza, I said I'd make a woman of you;
and I have. I like you like this." Mrs. Higgins returns to accompany Eliza to the wedding. A cool and
elegant Eliza bids Higgins goodbye: "I shall not see you again, Professor." Higgins bids the women
goodbye, but suddenly recollects a number of items he wants, and tells Eliza to pick them up for him
afterwards. "Buy them yourself," she replies, and sweeps out. Alone, Higgins chuckles to himself,
confident she will come around.

Ending[edit]
Pygmalion was the most broadly appealing of all Shaw's plays. But popular audiences, looking for
pleasant entertainment with big stars in a West End venue, wanted a "Happy ending" for the
characters they liked so well, as did some critics.[7] During the 1914 run, to Shaw's exasperation but
not to his surprise, Tree sought to sweeten Shaw's ending to please himself and his record
houses.[8] Shaw returned for the 100th performance and watched Higgins, standing at the window,
toss a bouquet down to Eliza. "My ending makes money; you ought to be grateful," protested Tree.
"Your ending is damnable; you ought to be shot."[9][10] Shaw remained sufficiently irritated to add a
postscript essay, "'What Happened Afterwards,"[11] to the 1916 print edition for inclusion with
subsequent editions, in which he explained precisely why it was impossible for the story to end with
Higgins and Eliza getting married.
He continued to protect the play's and Eliza's integrity by protecting the last scene. For at least some
performances during the 1920 revival, Shaw adjusted the ending in a way that underscored the
Shavian message. In an undated note to Mrs. Campbell he wrote,
When Eliza emancipates herself when Galatea comes to life she must not relapse. She must
retain her pride and triumph to the end. When Higgins takes your arm on 'consort battleship' you
must instantly throw him off with implacable pride; and this is the note until the final 'Buy them
yourself.' He will go out on the balcony to watch your departure; come back triumphantly into the
room; exclaim 'Galatea!' (meaning that the statue has come to life at last); and curtain. Thus he
gets the last word; and you get it too.[12]
(This ending is not included in any print version of the play.)
Shaw fought uphill against such a reversal of fortune for Eliza all the way to 1938. He sent the film's
harried producer, Gabriel Pascal, a concluding sequence which he felt offered a fair compromise: a
romantically-set farewell scene between Higgins and Eliza, then Freddy and Eliza happy in their
greengrocery/flower shop. Only at the sneak preview did he learn that Pascal had shot the "I washed

my face and hands" conclusion, to reassure audiences that Shaw's Galatea wouldn't really come to
life, after all.[citation needed]

Differing versions[edit]
Different printed versions of the play omit or add certain lines. The Project Gutenberg version
published online, for instance, omits Higgins' famous declaration to Eliza, "Yes, you squashed
cabbage-leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate insult to the
English language! I could pass you off as the Queen of Sheba!" a line so famous that it is now
retained in nearly all productions of the play, including the 1938 film version of Pygmalion as well as
in the stage and film versions of My Fair Lady.[13]
The director of the 1938 film, Anthony Asquith, had seen Mrs. Campbell in the 1920 revival
of Pygmalion and noticed that she spoke the line, "It's my belief as how they done the old woman in."
He knew "as how" was not in Shaw's text, but he felt it added color and rhythm to Eliza's speech,
and liked to think that Mrs. Campbell had ad libbed it herself. Eighteen years later he added it to
Wendy Hiller's line in the film.[6]
In the original play Eliza's test is met at an ambassador's garden party, offstage. For the 1938 film
Shaw and co-writers replaced that exposition with a scene at an embassy ball; Nepommuck, the
dangerous translator spoken about in the play, is finally seen, but his name is updated to Arstid
Karpathy named so by Gabriel Pascal, the film's Hungarian producer, who also made sure that
Karpathy mistakes Eliza for a Hungarian princess. In My Fair Lady he became Zoltan Karpathy.
Shaw's screen version of the play as well as a new print version incorporating the new sequences he
had added for the film script were published in 1941. The scenes he had noted in "Note for
Technicians" are added.

Influence[edit]
Pygmalion remains Shaw's most popular play. The play's widest audiences know it as the inspiration
for the highly romanticized 1956 musical and 1964 film My Fair Lady.
Ironically, Pygmalion has transcended cultural and language barriers since its first production. The
British Museum contains "images of the Polish production...; a series of shots of a wonderfully
Gallicised Higgins and Eliza in the first French production in Paris in 1923; a fascinating set for a
Russian production of the 1930s. There was no country which didn't have its own 'take' on the
subjects of class division and social mobility, and it's as enjoyable to view these subtle differences in
settings and costumes as it is to imagine translators wracking their brains for their own equivalent of
'Not bloody likely'."[14]
Joseph Weizenbaum named his artificial intelligence computer program ELIZA after the character
Eliza Doolittle.[15]

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Most people will know the story of Pygmalion, from My Fair Ladyif nowhere else, where Eliza Doolittle is
taught to speak 'like a duchess' by Professor Henry Higgins. Shaw describes this as a didactic play in his
preface, revelling in its success when popular opinion says that art should not be didactic. Yet it is also a
charming play with likeable characters, which allows you to painlessly engage with the serious message
underlying it.
It begins with a scene on a rainy London street. A flower girl begins causing a nuisance of herself, trying to
sell her flowers to anyone standing still; gradually the people milling around realise that a man is noting
down everything they say. After accusations that he is a copper's nark, the note-taker astounds everyone
by being able to pinpoint exactly where they come from by how they speak.

'THE SARCASTIC BYSTANDER: Yes: tell him where he come from if you want to go fortune-telling.
THE NOTE-TAKER: Cheltenham, Harrow, Cambridge, and India.
THE GENTLEMAN: Quite right.
Great laughter. Reaction in the note-taker's favour. Exclamations of He knows all about it. Told him
proper. Hear him tell the toff where he come from? etc
THE GENTLEMAN:May I ask, sir, do you do this for your living at a music hall?
THE NOTE-TAKER: I've thought of that. Perhaps I shall some day.'

The note-taker is, as you will have gathered, Professor Higgins. The play concerns his attempt to take this
cockney flower girl and teach her to speak properly, and how this affects both their lives.
'You see this creature with her kerb-stone 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 ambassador's garden
party.'
Reading this has reminded me that Shaw's plays are both eminently readable and, I've always found,
eminently watchable. It is light and engaging, with witty dialogue. The play is dated in the sense that it is
firmly set in the Edwardian era and I feel it would be hard to set it in the present without significantly
changing the text (for instance, the swear word 'bloody' does not have the same capacity to shock in the
twenty-first century), but the dialogue is clear and natural, and you can believe in the characters, no
matter how bizarre the situation they are in.
However, there is a social commentary underlying the romantic veneer - Shaw's didacticism; this is a play
very firmly about class. As Higgins says:
'This is an age of upstarts. Men begin in Kentish Town with 80 a year, and end up in Park Lane with a

hundred thousand. They want to drop Kentish Town; but they give themselves away every time they
open their mouths.'
Class is something that still obsesses us in England ninety years later, and for this reason the play stands
the test of time. There are constantly new books written, television programmes being made about it; we
have just recently had a furore in the press about 'middle-class drinking'. We all define ourselves and
others as belonging to one class or another, and the way we use language is a large part of that. This
obsession is satirised by Shaw in this play, this need to classify ourselves and others and present ourselves
according to the station we believe we belong, or want to belong, to by the way we speak.
As time passes, Eliza comes to realise that there is more to becoming a lady than her accent. Her character
develops throughout the play as she becomes a strong, dignified woman who is able at last to stand up to
Higgins.
She also finally recognises in Higgins and her father the meaning of true classlessness, in the way that,
with no thought for ceremony or situation, both treat everyone the same whether they be a duke or a
dustman: Mr Doolittle with easy-going familiarity and Higgins with bored contempt.
Raymond Williams (in Drama from Ibsen to Brecht) describes how Shaw did not consider plays where
there was little more than the dialogue to be a true art form, they need the directions of the playwright for
the entire vision. For example, Shaw believed that we do not have the full genius of Shakespeare available
to us because we lack his character notes and directions. Shaw will not allow this to happen to his plays,
and with a preface, an epilogue and detailed directions throughout Pygmalion has more the air of a playnovella hybrid than a piece of drama. For reading purposes this is fine, but I wonder how restricting
directors find this interference from Bernard Shaw.
An example of Shaw's control over his vision is the ending of the play, which does not make clear what will
happen to Eliza. In case you should be tempted to romantically decide for yourself, however, in the
epilogue Shaw provides a realistic and pleasing, if not romantic, future for Eliza, Henry and the other
characters.
It is pleasing because I had grown very fond of the defiant yet vulnerable Eliza, and the infuriating but
essentially innocent and child-like Higgins, as well as the other characters. So even if there is a slight
irritation at Shaw's need to control even after the end of the play, there is also a certain satisfaction in
ending with everything sorted, rather than having Eliza and Higgins teetering on the edge of either perfect
happiness or abject misery.