Pygmalion (1913) (edit title/settings)

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• Eliza Dolittle: "She is not at all a romantic figure." So is she introduced in Act I. Everything about Eliza Doolittle seems to defy any conventional notions we might have about the romantic heroine. When she is transformed from a sassy, smart-mouthed kerbstone flower girl with deplorable English, to a (still sassy) regal figure fit to consort with nobility, it has less to do with her innate qualities as a heroine than with the fairy-tale aspect of the transformation myth itself. In other words, the character of Eliza Doolittle comes across as being much more instrumental than fundamental. The real (re-)making of Eliza Doolittle happens after the ambassador's party, when she decides to make a statement for her own dignity against Higgins' insensitive treatment. This is when she becomes, not a duchess, but an independent woman; and this explains why Higgins begins to see Eliza not as a mill around his neck but as a creature worthy of his admiration.
• Henry Higgins: Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics who plays Pygmalion to Eliza Doolittle's Galatea. He is the author of Higgins' Universal Alphabet, believes in concepts like visible speech, and uses all manner of recording and photographic material to document his phonetic subjects, reducing people and their dialects into what he sees as readily understandable units. He is an unconventional man, who goes in the opposite direction from the rest of society in most matters. Indeed, he is impatient with high society, forgetful in his public graces, and poorly considerate of normal social niceties--the only reason the world has not turned against him is because he is at heart a good and harmless man. His biggest fault is that he can be a bully.
• Colonel Pickering: Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit, is a match for Higgins (although somewhat less obsessive) in his passion for phonetics. But where Higgins is a boorish, careless bully, Pickering is always considerate and a genuinely gentleman. He says little of note in the play, and appears most of all to be a civilized foil to Higgins' barefoot, absentminded crazy professor. He helps in the Eliza Doolittle experiment by making a wager of it, saying he will cover the costs of the experiment if Higgins does indeed make a convincing duchess of her. However, while Higgins only manages to teach Eliza pronunciations, it is Pickering's thoughtful treatment towards Eliza that teaches her to respect herself.
• Alfred P. Dolittle: Alfred Doolittle is Eliza's father, an elderly but vigorous dustman who has had at least six wives and who "seems equally free from fear and conscience." When he learns that his daughter has entered the home of Henry Higgins, he immediately pursues to see if he can get some money out of the circumstance. His unique brand of rhetoric, an unembarrassed, unhypocritical advocation of drink and pleasure (at other people's expense), is amusing to Higgins. Through Higgins' joking recommendation, Doolittle becomes a richly endowed lecturer to a moral reform society, transforming him from lowly dustman to a picture of middle class morality--he becomes miserable. Throughout, Alfred is a scoundrel who is willing to sell his daughter to make a few pounds, but he is one of the few unaffected characters in the play, unmasked by appearance or language. Though scandalous, his speeches are honest. At points, it even seems that he might be Shaw's voice piece of social criticism (Alfred's proletariat status, given Shaw's socialist leanings, makes the prospect all the more likely).
• Mrs. Pearce: The rather spirited but extremely proper housekeeper of Prof. Higgins at Wimpole Street, Mrs. Pearce is one of the triumvirate of sensible voices against Higgins' often unreasonable plans and suggestions, although she never goes out of her place to do so.
• Freddy Eynsworth-Hill: Higgins' surmise that Freddy is a fool is probably accurate. In the opening scene he is a spineless and resourceless lackey to his mother and sister. Later, he is comically bowled over by Eliza, the half-baked duchess who still speaks cockney. He becomes lovesick for Eliza, and courts her with letters. At the play's close, Freddy serves as a young, viable marriage option for Eliza, making the possible path she will follow unclear to the reader.
• Mrs. Higgins: Professor Higgins' mother, Mrs. Higgins is a stately lady in her sixties who sees the Eliza Doolittle experiment as idiocy, and Higgins and Pickering as senseless children. She is the first and only character to have any qualms about the whole affair. When her worries prove true, it is to her that all the characters turn. Because no woman can match up to his mother, Higgins claims, he has no interest in dallying with them. To observe the mother of Pygmalion (Higgins), who completely understands all of his failings and inadequacies, is a good contrast to the mythic proportions to which Higgins builds himself in his self-estimations as a scientist of phonetics and a creator of duchesses.

Quotes edit see section history

• “I ain't done nothin' wrong by speaking to the gentleman. I've a right to sell flowers if I keep off the kerb. I'm a respectable girl: so help me, I never spoke to him 'cept so far as to buy a flower off me.”

  Eliza Doolittle

• “I sold flowers; I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else.”

  Eliza Doolittle

• “I should never have known how ladies and gentlemen really behaved, if it hadn't been for Colnel Pickering. He always showed what he thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a common flower girl. You see, Mrs. Higgins, apart from the things one can pick up, the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a common flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me like a common flower girl, and always will. But I know that I shall always be a lady to Colonel Pickering, because he always treats me like a lady, and always will.”

  Eliza Doolittle

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech:

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• A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere-no right to live.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• London
• Wimpole Street

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Phonetics: The study of spoken speech
• Phonetician/Professor of phonetics: A scholar of phonetics
• Pygmalion: In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who created a statue of a beautiful woman and then fell in love with her. The goddess Aphrodite, in response to his prayers, brought the statue to life.
• Ibsen or Samuel Butler: Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and English novelist Samuel Butler were well known for their sharp critiques of middle-class life.
• Joseph Chamberlain: British politician who was an odd combination of social reformer and passionate imperialist.
• Clarendon Press: The press of Oxford University, named for Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon.
• Pitman: A system of shorthand invented by Sir Isaac Pitman.
• Sybil: In Greek mythology, the ten Sibyls were female prophets who lived in various parts of the ancient world.
• Gregg: A system of shorthand, invented by John Robert Gregg and widely used in America.
• alphabet... Russian size: The Cyrillic alphabet used for Russian includes extra characters for sounds not covered by the Greek alphabet, from which it is derived.
• Thames: The river that runs through London, pronounced "Tems."
• Robert Bridges: An English poet who was a leading proponent of spelling reform and a notable scholar of the English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.
• Ruy Blas: In this 1838 play by French writer Victor Hugo, a servant falls in love with a queen.
• e upside down: In phonetics this weak neutral vowel is called a schwa.
• Wren's cathedral... Inigo Jones's church: Sir Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones were English architects.
• Covent Garden: London's former vegetable and flower market stood near the famous Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
• Charing Cross: A railway station in London.
• Strandwards: "Towards the Strand," a street in London.
• Tanner: A British sixpence coin, which at the time of the play was worth about twelve American cents.
• Shilling: About twenty-five cents
• Florin: Two shillings
• Half-a-crown: Two shillings and a sixpence
• Sovereign: An out-of-date gold coin
• Guinea: Out-of-date coin
• Bloke: Cockney slang for "fellow."
• Tec: "detective"
• Copper's nark: "Police informer"
• Jaw: "Chat"
• Off his chump: Crazy; crazy people
• Balmies: Crazy; crazy people
• Charge: Arrest
• It's aw rawt...: "It's all right..."
• The Housing Question: A political issue concerning the housing of the poor, high rents, overcrowding, etc.
• Bly me!: Usually spelled "blimey," this Cockney exclamation of surprise is short for gorblimey, which is a euphemism for "God blind me."
• Spoken Sanscrit: The classical language of Hinduism
• Pharisaic: Self-righteous and hypocritical. It pertains to the Pharisees, a Jewish sect accused of adhering to the letter of scripture, but not the spirit.
• Bucknam Pellis: Eliza's pronunciation of Buckingham Palace, the London home of the British monarch
• Laryngoscope: A medical instrument for examining the vocal chords in the larynx
• Piranesis: Giambattista Piranesi created highly detailed engravings of Roman antiquities.
• Mezzotint: A kind of engraving
• Stupent: Latin for "He is astounded!"
• Youd had a drop in: "You'd had a bit to drink."
• Eliza, Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess: Four nicknames for the same person
• Monkey Brand: A strong cleaner, the trademark of which was a monkey looking at his reflection in a glass
• Officer in the Guards: A officer in the Household Cavalry or the royal bodyguard. These soldiers were usually wealthy and socially prominent, and were considered highly eligible bachelors.
• Copper: A policeman or a kind of washtub
• Put it in the oven: To sterilize it
• Bloody: A word which polite Britons at the time considered very shocking. It means roughly the same as "damn" or "damned," so that one might say, in a moment of anger, for instance, "That bloody cat!"
• Benzine: A petroleum-based solvent used for cleaning
• Dustman: A British term for "garbage collector."
• Blackguard: A unscrupulous person, pronounced "blaggard."
• governor: A term of respect, equivalent to "sir." Often abbreviated as "Guv."

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Social Classes: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. George Bernard Shaw (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR5363 .P8
• Dewey: 822.912

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Drama › British & Irish

Movie Connections edit see section history

• My Fair Lady (1964) (IMDb): Staring Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, and Wilfrid Hyde-White

More Books Like This edit see section history