Transcript Lecture 28.ppt

DRAMA II
Modern Drama
Lecture 28
SYNOPSIS
1. Plot Type and Analysis: Development and
Structure
 Suspense
 Denouement
 Conclusion
1. Literary Devices in Pygmalion
2. Settings
3. Pygmalion Genre
4. Tone
5. Writing Style
6. Title, Beginning and Ending
2
Pygmalion Genre &
Tone
3
Drama,
Realism
• Shaw has a lot to say here: heavy stuff about
language, society, and the soul. Lucky for us, in this
case he likes to show, not tell. (Well, for the most
part.
• He usually liked writing long introductions to his
plays.) We get long speeches from Higgins about how
language is what makes us human, about the great
significance of his work with Eliza, and sometimes it
seems like Shaw is simply using him as a mouthpiece.
• But we get enough perspectives on other issues –
Alfred Doolittle on the undeserving poor, Mrs.
Higgins on the place of women in society – and
enough heated arguments to raise doubts about the
truth of Higgins's statements.
4
Drama,
Realism
• Until we get to the fourth act, the play seems like it's
headed toward the usual sort of Hollywood ending.
• Eliza's going to be transformed into an intelligent,
elegant, eloquent, and eligible young woman,
grumpy old Higgins is going to learn a lesson or two
about manners and compassion, somebody will get
married, blah, blah, blah. "Not so fast," says Shaw.
• Instead we get two more acts full of arguing and
passive-aggressive behavior with no real end in sight.
We do get a marriage, in the end, but it's not your
neat little fairy tale kind. Doolittle's not really much
for sticking with a single woman. He wouldn't even
be thinking about it if it weren't for that whole
"middle class morality" thing.
5
Drama,
Realism
• In the end, Higgins seems to be the only one who's
sure how things will turn out. Eliza will come back,
he tells his mother, but we have no real way of
knowing if she will.
• As it turns out, the play's central question isn't, "Can
you pass off a flower girl as a duchess?" but, "What
can you do with her once you do?"
• As attractive and, perhaps, truthful as Higgins's talk
about the soul and language is, Shaw forces us to put
it to the test. "The great secret," Higgins tells Eliza, "is
not having good manners or bad manners, but
having the same manner for all human souls" (5.197).
• We have to wonder, though: can this apply to the real
world, or is this nothing more than a fantasy?
6
Tone
Didactic,
Witty
• As we've said more than once, Shaw wants to get us
thinking about a lot of important stuff. Luckily, he's
not into lecturing.
• Think of him as a zany, loveable teacher: he wants
you to learn something and have fun doing it. (On
second thought, that sounds a lot like your friends
here at Shmoop.) The play's scenario seems so simple
– poor girl becomes duchess thanks to brilliant,
eccentric teacher – that, by the time Shaw starts
asking the Big Issues, we're so invested in the
characters that resistance is futile.
• The whole thing is a bit like Higgins himself.
Sometimes Pygmalion can be hard to deal with, but
in the end it's so charming that you can't help but like
it.
7
Pygmalion Writing Style
Straightforward,
Witty
• Though Henry Higgins claims to be a regular John
Milton, Shaw doesn't let him get too poetic.
• He has too many important topics to tackle, and he
can't be bothered with heavy symbolism,
complicated metaphors, and big words.
• Above all, Shaw wants his characters to speak,
whether with Eliza's almost incomprehensible
accent, Doolittle's strange charm, or Higgins's cynical
reason; he wants us to understand the variety of ways
English can be spoken. And so we get Higgins
imitating Eliza – "Cheer ap, Keptin; n' haw ya flahr
orf a pore gel" – and what Higgins calls Doolittle's
"native woodnotes wild."
• Each is distinct on a grammatical level, and, when
performed, is delivered with a different accent.
8
Pygmalion Writing Style
Straightforward,
Witty
• Remember how at the beginning Higgins is able
to tell the people where they come from? Well,
even if we, the audience can't pick out the
different accents, it's the director's job to sort that
out.
• Tough, huh? It's a good thing Shaw also has no
problem with telling us what characters are like
right off the bat.
• He lets us know from the very beginning that
Higgins is a bit of a baby – it's in his character
description – and we get plenty of confirmation
later on.
9
What’s
Up
With
the
Title?
 Shaw wrote Pygmalion in 1912, but he took its
name from something way, way older: an Ancient
Greek myth. The most famous of its many
versions can be found in the Roman poet Ovid's
Metamorphoses.
10
What’s Up With the Title?
• In the myth, Pygmalion, a sculptor from Cyprus, hates women, and
especially hates the idea of getting married. Still, he gets tired of lying
in bed alone at night, and decides to carve a beautiful woman out of
ivory, a woman so beautiful that he can't help but fall in love with her.
Which is exactly what he does.
• After making the sculpture, he can't help himself, and he kisses her
and starts dressing her up and doing anything he can to make her seem
more human.
• None of that helps to turn her into a human being, but he can't let her
go. So, when the feast of Venus rolls around, he prays and begs and
pleads with the goddess Venus to please turn this statue into a real live
woman.
• Venus, sympathetic, or maybe just sick of Pygmalion's whining, grants
his wish. When Pygmalion tries kissing the sculpture again, she starts
turning warm and fleshy, and soon enough she is a real live woman.
Pygmalion and his statue/woman get married, have a kid, and live
happily ever after.
11
What’s
Up
With
the
Title?
• Pygmalion (Shaw's play) isn't a simple retelling of
the myth, but it's pretty clear who's who here:
Henry Higgins is the sculptor, Eliza Doolittle his
creation. Shaw adds a lot more to the mix – stuff
about British society, and women – and it's
science, not Venus, doing the transforming, but
the basics are the same. Just remember: there's a
reason it's called Pygmalion and not My Fair
Lady.
• It's about the relationship between Henry Higgins
and Eliza Doolittle, but we have to pay attention
to the old sculptor as much as we have to watch
the beautiful statue coming to life.
12
What’s
Up
With
the
Ending?
• OK, this one's tough: the play ends with big
argument between Henry Higgins and Eliza
Doolittle. We're not talking about a little quarrel
here, but a heck of a fight. Eliza's already made
Higgins plenty angry by leaving his house, and then
proceeding to act all cheery and nice the next day.
• She's already given Pickering most of the credit for
her transformation from flower girl to lady, and now,
to top it all off, she's refusing to come back and live
with Higgins.
• You see, Eliza doesn't know what to do with herself
now that she's got an upper class accent, but no
money, and no place to go.
13
What’s
Up
With
the
Ending?
• Higgins doesn't seem too fazed by this. He tells
her that, no, he doesn't mean to treat her poorly.
He treats everyone poorly. It's just his way of
being fair.
• Now, it's easy to be cynical and write Higgins off
as a jerk. He does call Eliza a liar, a fool, an idiot,
and (worst of all) a "damned impudent slut"
(5.263); oh, and he almost strangles her too.
• But it's hard not to buy into what he's saying, at
least a little bit, since he has such a beautiful way
of putting things.
14
What’s
Up
With
the
Ending?
• Eliza, herself, doesn't buy a lot of what he's saying.
She doesn't seem convinced by the whole "I treat
everyone like garbage" excuse.
• She's insulted by Higgins's offer to arrange a marriage
with somebody rich. She's so annoyed by the whole
thing that she starts making threats of her own. She
tells Higgins that she'll marry Freddy if she has to
(Higgins doesn't want his "masterpiece" wasted on
such a lout).
• She even threatens to use her knowledge against him,
to teach one of Higgins's competitors the methods
she learned or – and this really ticks him off – to go
into business for herself.
15
What’s
Up With the Ending?
• Strangulation nearly ensues before Higgins has a
great realization. By finally learning to treat him
poorly, Higgins believes that Eliza has finally become
his equal.
• Again, this all seems a bit off, and Eliza herself isn't
convinced. And why should she be? Hasn't Higgins
been having these little realizations the whole time?
(Recall his reaction to her arrival at Wimpole Street:
"Oh, not this one again.
• Throw her out. No, wait, she'll be a wonderful little
guinea pig. Let's have some fun, Pickering.") She has
plenty of reasons not to trust him. Would you listen
to someone talk like that if he or she had just tried to
wring your neck? We know we wouldn't. She's got all
these memories swirling around in her head now.
16
What’s
Up
With
the
Ending?
• Eliza turns around to leave, telling Higgins "I
shall not see you again. Good-bye" (5.270).
Higgins isn't one to give up, however. He calls
after her and tells her to pick up some groceries
and fresh clothes. Higgins's mother, who's just
come in to get Eliza, thinks he's crazy, but
Higgins himself is sure. "She'll buy em all right
enough," he tells his mother, "Good-bye."
17
What’s
Up With the Ending?

Now, it seems like everything's up in the air at this point,
right? Higgins is sure Eliza will come back but, well, he's
been wrong before.
 Eliza seems to doubt the sincerity of Higgins's arguments,
but on the other hand, he can be pretty persuasive. She,
herself, has threatened to do a lot of things, like marry
Freddy. But, come on, Freddy's a pretty big doofus.
 So, it's kind of a cliffhanger. Eliza is still left in a difficult
position: she can't go back to selling flowers, but she
doesn't want to sell herself, to marry into money.
 And Higgins won't meet her halfway…at least not yet. Is
there romance hiding somewhere? And if not, why not?
18
What’s
Up
With
the
Ending?
• Not according to Shaw. He wrote a "Sequel" to
Pygmalion and, like most sequels, it's not nearly
as good as the original. It's just a really long
explanation of what happens.
• It "need not be shewn in action," he says. Shaw
just wants us to know that everybody reading the
play is silly and sentimental, and, no, Higgins
and Eliza aren't reunited.
• Instead, she marries Freddy and they open a
flower shop and they pretty much live happily
ever after. We here at say forget about the sequel
and go with your gut. You can do better than that.
19
Characters
PYGMALION
20
Henry Higgins
 Higgins is what you might call a bundle of
contradictions. He's a woman-hating mama's boy; an
incredibly talented, educated whiny little baby of a
man; a personable misanthrope; a loveable jerk. Shaw
says it best in his initial description of Higgins:
His manner varies from genial bullying when he is in
good humor to stormy petulance when anything goes
wrong; but he is so entirely frank and void of malice
that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable
moments. (2.05)
21
Henry Higgins
 The first time we meet Higgins he's acting as a combination
street magician/peacemaker. He calms down Eliza, then
proceeds to show off his skills by telling people where
they're from just by listening to the sound of their voice.
 Oh, and he can mimic them too. Right from the beginning
we can tell he's a bit of a braggart and a bit of a preacher –
he can't help but tell Pickering all about his trade, his life
philosophy, and his ability to turn flower girls into
duchesses – but as far as first impressions go, he makes a
pretty good one.
 He comes off as one heck of a cool cat.
22
Henry Higgins
 By the end of the second act, things have become more
complicated. Turns out he treats women like trash
sometimes, and his motives for taking on Pickering's
bet seem less than sincere.
 He begins bossing Eliza around rather quickly, telling
her what to do, manipulating her with big promises
and chocolate – he is quite suave, you have to give him
that.
 He even pays Eliza's father so that he can take her into
custody. All of this happens before he calls her an idiot
and a slut and almost assaults her…twice.
23
Henry Higgins
 Higgins's actions spring from some unexplained distaste
for young women, who he tells his mother are "all idiots"
(3.23).
 Oh, and he has this weird thing for women that remind
him of his mom. At various points in the play he compares
women to blocks of wood, calls Eliza garbage, asks to have
her wrapped in brown paper like a package, and refers to
her as "his masterpiece."
 Both his mother and his maid, Mrs. Pearce, point out how
unfair this all is, how, in Mrs. Pearce's words, "you can't
take a girl up like that as if you were picking up a pebble on
the beach" (2.101).
24
Henry Higgins
 Though he can be a pigheaded jerk, Higgins is
definitely not a fool. He knows he's a jerk, and he's
even come up with a justification for his behavior.
After Eliza accuses him of treating her unfairly, he tells
her,
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. (5.197)
25
Henry Higgins
 This is the best example of Higgins's high-minded,
philosophical side. Sounds pretty convincing, right?
 Thing is, sometimes it's hard to tell if he's really being
sincere or if he's just trying to get out of a tough spot. He
does, however, have a penchant for talking about the soul
of man, about the importance of language, and social
equality.
 Given Shaw's socialist leanings (he was a member of the
British socialist group, The Fabian Society, and wrote on
and debated various social issues – learn more here) it's
hard to dismiss everything Higgins says as meaningless
claptrap.
26
Henry Higgins
 Higgins's fervor can get him into trouble, however. He
spends so much time "inventing new Elizas" with
Pickering that he seems to sometimes forget that she's
a human being (3.230).
 He forgets to congratulate her for her bet-winning
performance. He gets so angry he nearly hurts her, and
he ultimately puts her into a very tricky positio
27
Henry Higgins
 Talking all this into consideration, it's hard to pass
judgment on Higgins. He's always likeable, sure. He's the
play's voice of reason, the preacher and poet, but he's also a
slovenly, absent-minded troublemaker. He is the engine
that drives the play. He's not Mr. Perfect, but he has heart.
 He's the closest thing we get to Shaw, but don't make the
mistake of substituting one for the other. Higgins is like
Shaw in some ways, but he is not Shaw. He is Pygmalion,
the character, and it's safe to say that he's also Pygmalion,
the play. Without him, it simply couldn't be.
28
Eliza Doolittle
 Eliza comes very close to being a walking cliché. She's
the poor girl from the streets who turns out to be a
brilliant and beautiful young woman. She's smart,
independent, and feisty.
 This sounds like a recipe for a cookie-cutter
inspirational heroine, but, man, does Eliza have
charm. For one thing, you can't hate a girl who howls
every time she gets angry. And boy does she howl.
29
Eliza Doolittle
 We're talking "Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo!" (1.127). It
should be said that a lot of the time Eliza functions as
comic relief. Her howls, her indignation, her frequent
exclamations of "Garn!" and "I'm a good girl, I am,"
and most notably her performance at Mrs. Higgins's
party are all designed to make us laugh.
30
Eliza Doolittle
 Throughout it all, however, we know that she's trying her hardest to
achieve her goals. We feel for her when we realize that Higgins and
Pickering are getting a little carried away with their experiments.
 By the time we get to Act 4, we're behind Eliza and, when Higgins
ignores her, man, are we angry. By then she's gotten over all the things
that made us laugh. She doesn't speak with a thick accent; her
grammar is correct; she moves with poise and confidence.
 We here don't usually throwing slippers or shoes of any kind, but we
understand when Eliza throws a pair at Higgins. Over the course of the
play Eliza is transformed from a poor flower girl into a sophisticated
young woman, but, perhaps more importantly, she stops being the butt
of jokes and becomes a real three-dimensional character, someone for
whom we can really feel.
31
Eliza Doolittle
 Toward the end of the play we find out that she's not
100% confident – she starts again with the darn
howling – and that she's not all sweetness and light.
 She shows Higgins that she's proud and she's shrewd,
and tells him that she'd rather go into competition
with him than be married off to some rich guy.
 Like Higgins says, she is his equal, but she doesn't
want to go his way or live his life.
32
Eliza Doolittle
 On a thematic level, Eliza serves to show us how
messed up society is.
 Her transformation is a testament to the power of
education and language.
 Her difficulties demonstrate how little "the system"
appreciates her kind of intelligence. She's an
inspiration and a warning, and she's anything but a
cliché.
33
Cockney the Trick: a nasal tone quality
 Standard American
 Cockney
 [t] as in “little”
 Becomes a glottal stop [?],
 Stressed [i] as in “bee”
 Unstressed [i] as in “silly”
and “country”
 [aU] as in “out”
“li’l”
 Becomes [eI] as in “paid”
 Becomes [I] as in “bit” and
“little”
 Becomes [æ + ƏU]
34
MY FAIR LADY
Transcribe in groups of 4 or 5
 “I ain’t done nothing wrong by speaking to the
gentleman. I’ve a right to sell flowers if I keep off
the curb. I’m a respectable girl: so help me, I never
spoke to him except to ask him to buy a flower off
me.”
 “What did you take down my words for? How do I
know you took me down right? You just show me
what you’ve wrote about me. What’s that? That
ain’t proper writing. I can’t read it.”
35
Mr. Alfred Doolittle
• Alfred Doolittle is a smooth-talking garbage man, a
serial monogamist (although he's not always really
married), a drunk, and a deadbeat dad.
• He's got a lot to say about "middle class morality" and
complicated theories about the deserving and
undeserving poor.
• He has principles, too, but they're not exactly
conventional: he has no trouble milking five pounds
from Higgins, but he doesn't want anymore than that.
He wants just enough money to have a few drinks and
some fun.
Mr. Alfred Doolittle
• In order to understand Doolittle, you have to understand
how he speaks. This exchange is notable:
DOOLITTLE ["most musical, most melancholy"] I'll tell you,
Governor, if you'll only let me get a word in. I'm willing to
tell you. I'm wanting to tell you. I'm waiting to tell you.
HIGGINS. Pickering: this chap has a certain natural gift of
rhetoric. Observe the rhythm of his native woodnotes wild.
"I'm willing to tell you: I'm wanting to tell you: I'm waiting
to tell you." Sentimental rhetoric! That's the Welsh strain in
him. It also accounts for his mendacity and dishonesty.
(2.232-3)
Mr. Alfred Doolittle
• He is the sum of his mysterious speaking ability. You can
describe what Doolittle's saying with all sorts of fancy
Greek words, but it's enough to note how he repeats those
three phrases that Higgins singles out, and how his speech
is sort of singsong-y.
• Whether or not we believe what Doolittle's talking about
doesn't matter, it sounds nice.
• These skills get Doolittle into trouble when Higgins
nominates him for some such speaking position…and he
gets it, along with a generous income.
• He can't handle all the money; he doesn't want to be
"touched" – asked to spare some change – in the same way
he touched Higgins.
Mr. Alfred Doolittle
• Doolittle demonstrates how powerful and potentially
dangerous words can be. Lucky for us, his intentions
are (mostly) honorable.
• He's the character most prone to lecturing – yes, even
more so than Higgins – and though his theories may
not be entirely logical, his little sermons do raise some
issues regarding class relations.
• Think of him this way: he's a stereotype of a drunken
poor guy…with an oratorical twist.
Colonel Pickering
• Colonel Pickering is the closest thing
Pygmalion has to a father figure. He's a
genial old chap, an expert in Sanskrit, and
an all-around nice guy.
• He and Higgins hit it off right away, and
without his suggestion, the whole bet would
have never happened. Eliza credits
Pickering's gentlemanly ways for starting
her transformation from flower girl to
duchess, for truly making her feel like a lady.
Colonel Pickering
 Pickering really is the epitome of the sidekick. He
serves a counterpoint for Higgins, someone Higgins
can bounce remarks off.
 His presence also allows for the humorous, effusive bit
of Eliza worship at the end of Act 3 (3.226-244).
Ultimately, Pickering adds a little more spirit and little
more kindness into the mix.
Mrs. Higgins
• Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higgins's mother, was once a young,
intelligent independent woman with progressive ideas.
When we meet her, she's older, but she's no less intelligent,
independent, or progressive – well, maybe a little less
progressive.
• In many ways, she's a traditional mother figure: she doesn't
take any of her son's nonsense, and she does ask him why
he hasn't married.
• At the same time, she knows a thing or two about being a
woman in turn-of-the-century London, and she fears for
Eliza's fate.
• After watching Eliza's performance at her little party, Mrs.
Higgins tells it like it is to her son: Eliza's certainly a fine
example of your art, she says, but you're just going to leave
her in an awkward position. Eliza won't be able to support
herself with the kind of skills you're giving her.
Mrs. Higgins
• Mrs. Higgins's primary function is to raise these big
issues, and to warn Higgins of the eventual,
unavoidable consequences of his actions.
• By giving her a sharp wit and a bit of a motherly streak,
Shaw makes Mrs. Higgins more than simply a talking
head.
• There's a reason why Eliza runs off to Mrs. Higgins's
place when she's had enough of Higgins: she's just the
kind of cool older lady you want to run to when you
need some good advice.
Mrs. Pearce
• Mrs. Pearce is a housekeeper. She's also, like Pickering and
Mrs. Higgins, a voice of reason. Heck, if Pickering is the
play's father figure, then Mrs.
• Pearce is its mother figure (which makes Mrs. Higgins the,
uh, alternative mother figure, we guess).
• Mrs. Pearce watches out for Eliza from the very beginning;
like Mrs. Higgins, she's used to dealing with Henry
Higgins, and she knows he can get carried away with his
little projects.
• After she shows Eliza to the bathroom, she tells Higgins in
no uncertain terms: this scheme is ridiculous. She wants to
make sure Eliza doesn't get hurt.
Mrs. Pearce
• Now, you may be wondering why Shaw has all these so-
called voices of reasons. Isn't one enough? Well, no. Think
of it this way: Pickering represents the fatherly,
gentlemanly voice.
• Mrs. Higgins represents the once hip young woman voice.
Mrs. Pearce represents the traditional, motherly, lowerclass (we're talking socioeconomic class, here) voice.
• She has another perspective on the problems of being a
woman, one more closely related to Eliza's original
situation in life, and it comes as no surprise that she wants
to protect the girl.
Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill
• We can cover these two women at the same time. They're
always together, after all. (You can read more about Clara in
the "Character Roles" section.) And they really just
represent two stages of what Shaw calls "genteel poverty."
• They're a mother/daughter team of reasonably wealthy
ladies. They start the plot going when they ask Eliza if and
how she knows Freddy.
• They represent everything that Eliza is not: they're clean,
well-dressed, and well-spoken. In the third act, we find out
via Mrs. Eynsford Hill that the family isn't doing so well,
and that Clara really doesn't get it.
• They're on the decline while Eliza's on her way up, and
they're all headed for the same, uncomfortable middle
ground.
Freddy
• Freddy is the Romantic Interest. In another play, he might
have a big part. In this play, he barely has a part at all.
There's not much romance to be found. Freddy's not
exactly a heartthrob, though.
• When we first meet him he's running around looking for a
cab…which he never finds.
• In Act 3, he mistakes Eliza's normal Cockney speech – the
stuff about influenza and "doing in" – for "small talk."
• He thinks she's the bee's knees, and quickly falls in love
with her. He wants to walk through the park with
Eliza…but she'll have no such thing. Still, he leaves the
party – and the play – in high spirits.
Freddy
 If anything, Freddy shows us how unconventional
Pygmalion really is.
 There's not much room for your standard love affair in
there, not with all the heavy stuff.
 He's another bit of comic relief, and, as we see in the
last act, blackmail material for Eliza.
Questions to discuss
PYGMALION
49
Pygmalion Questions
 Could Pygmalion be set in the modern day, at a time when
there are, generally, more options and opportunities for
women?
 We never see any complete families in Pygmalion. We see
Eliza's father, but her stepmother is only mentioned in
passing. Mrs. Higgins plays a large role, but her husband is
never mentioned. The same goes for the Eynsford Hill
family. What's Shaw trying to tell us here?
 Does Alfred Doolittle's theory about the "undeserving
poor" have any merit? Is he just a good speaker, or is he
simply addressing a problem that most people ignore?
Pygmalion Questions
 Could Pygmalion take place in a different country, a country with a
different language? Or is it a play specifically about England and
English?
 Why does Shaw end the play when he does? Is there any reason why
Higgins and his mother are the only two people left on stage?
 Mrs. Higgins mentions that her son only falls in love with older women.
Henry himself claims that it's just a matter of habit, that he just can't
be bothered with young women. Is Higgins simply too involved with
himself and his work, or is there some deeper reason for his disinterest?
Pygmalion Questions
 Early on in the book, Higgins mentions that English is "the
language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible" (1.125).
While he's right with the first two, the Bible definitely
wasn't first written in English. What does this say about
Higgins?
 Higgins never gives us his definition of the "soul," but he
sure loves to talk about it. Does he really even know what
he's talking about?
 Higgins claims that he treats everyone equally, that he does
not change his behavior under different circumstances.
That said, does Higgins himself change over the course of
the play?
Pygmalion Questions
 Shaw originally wanted to include in the play scenes in
which Eliza pretends to be a duchess. Instead, we only
get to hear Pickering and Higgins discuss them. Does
this change the way we think about the "bet"? Are we
more likely to forget about Eliza's amazing feat, as
Higgins and Pickering do as a result?
Pygmalion Questions
 It has been said that Pygmalion is not a play about
turning a flower girl into a duchess, but one about
turning a woman into a human being. Do you
agree?
Pygmalion Questions
 When Eliza Doolittle threatens Higgins that she will take his phonetic
findings to his rival in order to support herself, art imitates life, and
Shaw's literature echoes a significant episode from his own youth. As a
boy, Shaw's mother was an accomplished singer who dedicated herself
to the perfection of "The Method," her teacher George Vandeleur Lee's
yoga-like approach to voice training. She went so far as to leave her
husband to follow her teacher to London.
 However, upon realizing that Lee was concerned only about his
appearances and the status of his street address, she left him and
brought up her daughters by setting up shop herself, teaching "The
Method" as if it were her own. Shaw could not have helped but be
impressed and influenced by this courageous move on the part of his
mother to strike out on her own and to create an independent life for
herself.
Pygmalion Questions
 Thus, though Pygmalion shows a lot of sympathy for the flower girl
who wants a higher station in life, it is even more concerned with the
unloved, neglected woman who decides to make herself heard once
and for all.
 The plays determination to have Eliza grow into a full human being
with her own mind and will also explains why the play makes
seemingly inexplicable structural moves like leaving out the climax,
and carrying on for a further two acts after the climax. In other words,
the superficial climax is not the real climax at all, and Shaw's project is
deeper than that of a fairy godmother.
Pygmalion Questions
 What is the Pygmalion myth? In what significant ways,
and with what effect, has Shaw transformed that myth
in his play?
Pygmalion Questions
 "The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good
manners or any other 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." It is no small
coincidence that the author of Higgins' Universal Alphabet
is the same man to blur social distinctions, thereby
suggesting that social standing is a matter of nurture, not
nature. Examine carefully Higgins' attitude towards his
fellow men. Can this be taken as an admirable brand of
socialism? Or does he fail as a compassionate being in his
absolutism?
Pygmalion Questions
 Is "A Romance in Five Acts" an accurate description of
the play Pygmalion? How does the play conform (or
not) to the traditional form of a romance (for example:
boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy meets girl's
father/evil twin/ex-fiance, boy learns to love girl
despite everything, boy and girl live happily ever
after...)? What do you think Shaw is trying to achieve
in highlighting the concept of the romance in the title?
(Hint: You might want to look closely at the written
sequel to the play, in which Shaw gives some very
strong opinions about romances.)
Pygmalion Questions
 If you were to create a sixth act to Pygmalion, who would
Eliza marry? Or does she marry at all? Use the lines and
behavior of the characters throughout the first five acts to
support the outcome of your finale.
 If possible, try to watch the film version of Pygmalion
(1938, screenplay by Shaw), and even the Audrey Hepburn
film of the musical My Fair Lady (1956). Consider what has
been changed, removed, or enhanced in the move from the
stage to the screen, and from a talking play to a musical.
What does each subsequent adaptation reveal about
popular expectations of a romance, versus the original
intentions of the playwright? In your opinion, which of
these works is the best? Why?