Transcript Lecture 22.ppt

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DRAMA II
MODERN DRAMA
Lecture 22
SYNOPSIS
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9.
Plot Overview (Summary)
Themes
Language & Communication
Transformation
Identity
Appearance
Manipulation
Society and Class
Women and Femininity
Dreams, Hopes and Plans
Middle Class Morality
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PLOT SUMMARY
ACT I-V
PYGMALION
Pygmalion
Act 1- Summary
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It's a dark and stormy night, and a crowd of people are
seeking refuge from the rain in front of a church in London's
Covent Garden market.
Among them are an older woman and her daughter (both
dressed up), their son Freddy (who's been sent out into the
rain to find a cab), an old, well-dressed military man, a
poor young flower girl with a thick Cockney accent, and a
strange man standing in the shadows writing down
everything the flower girl says.
Trouble starts when the older woman starts asking the flower
girl questions.
The girl flips out and starts telling everyone what a good
girl she is.
Pygmalion
Act 1- Summary
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The crowd comes to her defense and everything seems
fine until some guy informs her about the strange man
taking notes. People think he's some kind of cop, or
maybe just a pervert.
She flips out again, although its pretty darn hard to
understand what she's saying through her thick accent,
until the note-taker shows himself, and everybody sees
that he's not a cop or a pervert, he's just an rich guy
with nice boots and a knack for guessing where people
come from, geography-wise.
People are amazed/frightened by this ability.
Pygmalion
Act 1- Summary
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He tells the flower girl to, well, shut up. She whines some
more.
He asks her to kindly shut up again and to please stop
butchering the English language (except he doesn't say
please).
He then tells the old guy that he could pass off the
crazy flower girl as royalty by teaching her how to
speak.
The two men introduce themselves – turns out they're
both well-respected linguists. The note-taker is Henry
Higgins, teacher of phonetics, the old guy an expert on
the dead Indian language Sanskrit.
Pygmalion
Act 1- Summary
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Higgins takes pity on the flower girl and gives her a
sovereign (imagine getting tipped a hundred
bucks).The girl jumps for joy, starts howling like a
banshee – no, really – and jumps in the next
cab.The two men head back to Pickering's hotel for
dinner, and poor old Freddy gets left in the rain,
abandoned by his mom and sis.
Pygmalion
Act 2 - Summary
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The next day, in Higgins's house on 10 Wimpole Street,
Higgins and the Colonel are talking shop when Mrs. Pearce,
Henry's very reasonable maid, tells him that a girl with a
funny accent has come to the door.
Thinking he might get some good material from her, he
decides to let her in.
The flower girl from the night before comes in wearing some
(relatively) clean clothes and what may just be the funniest
hat you've ever seen. She introduces herself as Eliza
Doolittle.
Higgins is about to throw her out – he already "has" her
accent – when she demands to be given speaking lessons.
Pygmalion
Act 2 - Summary
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After some deliberation, Higgins and Pickering
decide to take her on as a client, only they treat the
whole thing like a bet.
They really want to see if they can pass her off as a
duchess in six months time.
Higgins tells Mrs. Pearce to go burn all of Eliza's
clothes and get her clean.
While she's off in the shower, a hulking dustman –
that's British for garbage man – comes in and
introduces himself as Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father.
Pygmalion
Act 2 - Summary
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Doolittle proceeds to talk Higgins into giving him
five pounds for booze in return for leaving Eliza
alone.
Higgins, amazed by his speaking ability, does give
him some cash, but their discussion is interrupted by
the entrance of a "Japanese Lady."She turns out to
be Eliza in a kimono, and without all the dirt and
the silly clothes, Eliza's really pretty.
Pygmalion
Act 2 - Summary
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Eliza loves all the attention so much she wants to go
down to where all the other flower girls hang out
and strut her stuff.
Higgins knows this is a bad idea and tells her so.
Mrs. Pearce lures her away with the promise of new
clothes.
Eliza howls like a banshee again before skipping
off stage.
Pickering and Higgins shake their heads in disbelief.
They've got a lot of work to do.
Pygmalion
Act 3 - Summary
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Act Three finds us at the apartment of Henry Higgins's
mum. Higgins, it seems, wants to test his work at a party
she'll soon be throwing.
Mrs. Higgins does not approve of the idea – you get
the feeling she doesn't approve of most things Higgins
does – but Higgins doesn't listen.
He's not one to take no for an answer. He's also, we find
out, not interested in women, really. Except women like
his dear old mother. Higgins assures his mother that
Eliza will be on her best behavior, and talk only about
the weather and other people's health.
Pygmalion
Act 3 - Summary
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Turns out the whole thing isn't much of a party. The
only guests are the mother and sister from the first
act, Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, good old Freddy,
Pickering, and, of course, Eliza.
Eliza enters the party last, looking stunning, and
proceeds to ask everyone "How do you do?" She
acts a bit like a robot – a beautiful robot with a
perfect accent and a very small vocabulary.
Higgins spends most of the time trying to figure out
why the Eynsford Hills look so familiar.
Pygmalion
Act 3 - Summary
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By the time he figures it out, Eliza has forgotten to stick
to the script. She starts talking about how her aunt was
"did in" by someone. Freddy, not the sharpest tool in the
shed, is laughing like an idiot. His vocabulary seems
pretty small too (e.g., "Ha! Ha! How awfully funny!" and
"Killing!" He thinks Eliza's a comedian, not a Cockney
girl). Higgins, embarrassed, gives the signal – a cough –
and Eliza heads off like clockwork.
After the Eynsford Hills leave, Mrs. Higgins gives Henry
and Pickering a talking to. She scolds them like they're
little boys.
Pygmalion
Act 3 - Summary
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They assure her that they're treating Eliza well, not
like a doll at all, but Mrs. Higgins doesn't buy it.
Things start to get heavy, and we're not exactly sure
why.
You idiots, she says, if Eliza learns to act like a lady,
she won't be able to do anything to make a living!
Higgins and Pickering skip away, unconcerned.
Pygmalion
Act 4 - Summary
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Midnight at Wimpole Street, some months later.
Eliza comes in, looking beautiful but tired.
Higgins and Pickering stumble in, drunk and happy.
They've just come from a bunch of fancy parties
and, well, it turns out their scheme worked.
Higgins has won the bet, and is too busy tooting his
own horn to congratulate Eliza. He and Pickering
talk about the evening's events as though Eliza can't
hear them – even though she's sitting right across the
room.
Pygmalion
Act 4 - Summary
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They act like she's a kind of performing monkey, a
puppet, a doll, a robot.
By now, though, she's got a much larger vocabulary,
and she knows Higgins can be a pretty miserable jerk.
Even after she brings Higgins his slippers, the two men
don't pay any attention to her.
At this point Eliza's just about ready to pull an
Incredible Hulk and strangle the two of them. When
Higgins asks her to turn off the lights and give Mrs.
Pearce his breakfast order, she throws his slippers in his
face. She even threatens to kill him.
Pygmalion
Act 4 - Summary
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Just as Mrs. Higgins warned, Higgins's work has left
Eliza in a pickle.
She doesn't know what to do with herself now that
he's won his bet, and she's mad. Just like Mrs.
Higgins said, she's learned how to act like a lady
and now she's worried she won't be able to do
anything to make a living.
Higgins tries to talk her down, suggests she get
married, become a florist, etc., but Eliza doesn't
listen.
Pygmalion
Act 4 - Summary
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All she wants to do is get out of there, telling
Higgins that he can keep all the clothing and
jewelry he bought her.
This gets Higgins super angry and now he nearly
pulls an Incredible Hulk and hits Eliza. He gets so
angry that he cusses Eliza out and then storms out of
the room.
Eliza smiles, for the first time, Shaw tells us, as
Higgins slams the door.
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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The next morning, the Colonel and Higgins show up
at Mrs. Higgins's place looking for Eliza, who seems
to have run away.
Higgins is acting especially whiny, like a bratty child
who's lost his favorite toy.
Mrs. Higgins accuses the two men of scaring her off.
Higgins can't handle the accusation.
Woe is he. He's all confused, he says. He can't find
out what to do without Eliza.
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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Mrs. Higgins calls the men a couple of whiny kids.Once
again, their conversation is interrupted by the appearance
of Mr. Doolittle.
This time, he looks more like a gentleman than a garbage
man.
Turns out Higgins was right: Doolittle really did have a gift
for the gab. An American millionaire has left him a ton of
money, and now he's giving lectures all over England. Oh,
and he's totally miserable. He misses taking money from
people.
Mrs. Higgins decides that, since Mr. Doolittle is rich now, he
can take care of Eliza. Higgins objects, saying that he paid
five pounds to Doolittle for Eliza. The whole doll thing isn't
sounding so silly now, is it?
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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When Eliza finally comes down (she's been upstairs this
whole time), she gives Higgins the cold shoulder. She
tells Pickering how much he (Pickering) helped her just
by treating her like a lady.
At this point, Higgins is just about ready to through a
temper tantrum. He jumps for joy, however, after Eliza
starts howling like a banshee (again) when she sees her
father all dressed up.
Doolittle announces that he's on his way to get married.
Everyone files out of the apartment except for Eliza
and Higgins, who have one last climactic chat.
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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Higgins starts waxing poetic, talking about the soul
and humanity and how much he appreciated having
his own slippers thrown at him – turns out he didn't
like having them brought to him in the first place.
When Eliza accuses him of being mean and
dismissive, he claims he is just being fair; he treats
everyone from duchesses to flower girls the same
way.
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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Then he asks her to come back. She tells him to
shove it. She would rather go back to selling flowers
on the street corner.
The two bicker some more: she says she'll marry
Freddy. Higgins wants no such thing. He tells her
she's a fool. She tells him he's a jerk. Finally, Eliza
tells Higgins she wants her independence, and that
she'll go so far as to steal his secrets to get it.
Pygmalion
Act 5 - Summary
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She threatens to use everything he taught her
against him, to go into competition. This leads
Higgins to her a "damned impudent slut" and then
tell her, "I like you like this" (3.273). He tells her
she's his equal, now, but she won't have it. She turns
and leaves.
Higgins calls after her, telling her to buy him some
groceries and clothing. He's sure she'll return.
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PLOT THEMES
PYGMALION
Themes
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Language &
Communication
Manipulation
Appearance
Transformation
Identity
Themes
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Society
and Class
Middle
Class
Morality
Women
and
Femininity
Dreams,
Hopes
and Plans
Pygmalion
1. Theme of Language and Communication
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We hear language in all its forms in Pygmalion:
everything from slang and "small talk," to heartfelt
pleas and big talk about soul and poverty.
Depending on the situation, and depending on whom
you ask, language can separate or connect people,
degrade or elevate, transform or prevent
transformation. Language, we learn, doesn't necessarily
need to be "true" to be effective; it can deceive just as
easily as it can reveal the truth.
It is, ultimately, what binds Pygmalion together, and it
pays to read carefully; even something as small as a
single word can define a person.
Pygmalion
1. Theme of Language and Communication
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Science of
Language
Misinterpretation
Status
Act of Speech
Ambivalence
Pygmalion
1. Theme of Language and Communication
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Influences
Rebel
Association
Unifying
Force
Emotional
Link
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Science of Language
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Higgins shows that speech can be regarded as a
science and used as a tool.
Quote #THE NOTE TAKER.
Simply phonetics. The science of speech. That's my
profession; also my hobby. Happy is the man who
can make a living by his hobby! You can spot an
Irishman or a Yorkshireman by his brogue. I can
place any man within six miles. I can place him
within two miles in London. Sometimes within two
streets. (1.118)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Act of Speech
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However, he invests speech with spiritual and
cultural implications; English should be respected, he
argues, is important because it is the language of
great artists, and a gift from God.
Quote #THE NOTE TAKER. A woman who utters
such depressing and disgusting sounds has no
right to be anywhere—no right to live. Remember
that you are a human being with a soul and the
divine gift of articulate speech: that your native
language is the language of Shakespear and
Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning
like a bilious pigeon. (1.125)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Ambivalence
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Again, Higgins displays a sort of ambivalence
about language. He treats it as a tool for social
advancement,
a suitable subject for scientific
Quote #THE NOTE TAKER. You see this creature with her
kerb and
stone English:
the Englishfor
that will
keep herexpression.
in the
inquiry,
a medium
artistic
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. I could even get her a place as lady's
maid or shop assistant, which requires better English.
That's the sort of thing I do for commercial millionaires.
And on the profits of it I do genuine scientific work in
phonetics, and a little as a poet on Miltonic lines.
(1.129)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Status
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Higgins's understanding of language leads him to
treat certain people less as human beings than as
test subjects
Quote #HIGGINS [confidently] Oh no: I think not. If there's any trouble
he shall have it with me, not I with him. And we are sure to get something
interesting out of him.
PICKERING. About the girl?
HIGGINS. No. I mean his dialect. (2.206-9)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Misinterpretation
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Here, Shaw demonstrates how easily language can
be misinterpreted.
What
would
seem
like
normal
Quote #[To Freddy, who is in convulsions of
speech on
the corner
of Tottenham
suppressed
laughter] Here!
what are you Court Road
at?
becomessniggering
novel
and humorous in a new context.
FREDDY. The new small talk. You do it so awfully
well.
LIZA. If I was doing it proper, what was you
laughing at? [To Higgins] Have I said anything I
oughtn't? (3.122)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Influences
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Just as he does in Act 1, Higgins associates the act
of speech with the soul, the uniquely human spirit.
Here, however, he also seems to make little
distinction between the physical parts used in the
Quote #HIGGINS. As if I ever stop
act of speaking
and
the
thinking
about
the soul.
girl and her
confounded vowels and consonants.
I'm worn out, thinking about her, and
watching her lips and her teeth and
her tongue, not to mention her soul,
which is the quaintest of the lot.
(3.221)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference | Unifying Force
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Throughout Pygmalion, "correct" language is
portrayed as a unifying force. Here, Eliza
demonstrates that it can also be divisive.
Quote #LIZA. I can't. I could have done it once; but now I can't go
back to it. Last night, when I was wandering about, a girl spoke to
me; and I tried to get back into the old way with her; but it was no
use. You told me, you know, that when a child is brought to a foreign
country, it picks up the language in a few weeks, and forgets its own.
Well, I am a child in your country. I have forgotten my own language,
and can speak nothing but yours. That's the real break-off with the
corner of Tottenham Court Road. Leaving Wimpole Street finishes it.
(5.152)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference |Emotional Link
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Although she has been taught to speak properly,
Eliza's "old ways" seem to linger on some deeper
level, associated with emotion rather than intellect.
Quote #PICKERING. He's incorrigible, Eliza. You
won't relapse, will you?
LIZA. No: Not now. Never again. I have learnt my
lesson. I don't believe I could utter one of the old
sounds if I tried. [Doolittle touches her on her left
shoulder. She drops her work, losing her selfpossession utterly at the spectacle of her father's
splendor] A—a—a—a—a—ah—ow—ooh!
(5.156-57)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference| Association
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It seems strange that Higgins should say this, given
that he associates the soul so closely with speech.
Quote #HIGGINS. And I have grown accustomed to your voice
and appearance. I like them, rather.
LIZA. Well, you have both of them on your gramophone and in
your book of photographs. When you feel lonely without me,
you can turn the machine on. It's got no feelings to hurt.
HIGGINS. I can't turn your soul on. Leave me those feelings; and
you can take away the voice and the face. They are not you.
(5.209-11)
1. Theme of Language and Communication
Dramatic Reference| Rebel
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By using incorrect English, by rebelling against the
standards of English grammar, Eliza is able to rebel
against Higgins as well.
Quote #LIZA [looking fiercely round at him] I wouldn't marry YOU if you
asked me; and you're nearer my age than what he is.
HIGGINS [gently] Than he is: not "than what he is."
LIZA [losing her temper and rising] I'll talk as I like. You're not my teacher
now. (5.232-34)
Theme of Language and Communication
Questions
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Why does Eliza start speaking in her old manner
when she gets emotional? What does this say
about her training? Or about Higgins's abilities as
a teacher?
Theme of Language and Communication
Questions
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Higgins doesn't always use the kindest words
when addressing Eliza. Given that language is so
important to him, can we believe it when he says
he treats all men in the same way?
Theme of Language and Communication
Questions
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At Mrs. Higgins's party, Freddy and Clara confuse
Eliza's normal way of speaking for "the new
small talk." What does this say about the way
language works in different contexts?
Review Lecture 22
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Plot Overview (Summary)
Themes
Language & Communication
Transformation
Identity
Appearance
Manipulation
Society and Class
Women and Femininity
Dreams, Hopes and Plans
Middle Class Morality
AGENDA Lecture 23
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Themes of Pygmalion (Conti…)
3. Theme of Identity
4. Theme of Appearance
5. Theme of Manipulation