"Pygmalion" is a play by "George Bernad Shaw" named after a Greek mythological figure. It is a five act play about a lower class poor flower girl and high English class people. It was first presented on stage to the public in 1913.
About Author
G.B Shaw was born on 26 July, 1856 and died on 2 November, 1950. He was an Irish playwright, critic and political activist. His influence on western theater culture and politics extended from the 1880 to his death and beyond.
He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as "Man and Superman" (1902), "Pygmalion" (1912) and "Saint Joan" (1923). Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation and in 1925 was awarded the "Nobel Prize" in literature. Shaw published a collected edition of his plays in 1934, comprising forty - two works.
Plot Summary
"Pygmalion" is a comedy about a phonetics expert, Henry Higgins, who as a kind of social experiment attempts to make a lady out of an uneducated Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle.
The play starts when on a summer evening, in London's Convent Garden, a group of some people are gathering under the portico of St. Paul's Church to protect himself from the rain. Where a high class mother and daughter named Mrs. Eynsford and Miss Clara are waiting for her son Freddy to return with a cab but he couldn't find at the first attempt and collides with a young flower girl while returning. Flower girl, Eliza Doolittle begins to sell her flowers to a gentleman named Colonel Pickering. There is also a person in gathering who notes every incident. Flower girl thinks, he is a police man and tells him that she is a good girl. Later he introduces himself to Pickering as a phonetics expert and tells that he can identify everyone by their dialect.
In the next morning, the flower girl goes to Higgins to take lessons of phonetic so that she could speak in a more gentle way and find a job in a flower shop. She offers to pay for lessons but Higgins mocks at her payment then Pickering says that he will pay for her lessons and bets with Higgins to change Eliza's dialect and manners so that he could pass her as a duchess in an Ambassador's garden party. Mrs. Pearce, Higgins' housekeeper takes Eliza with her to change her getup first. To know about his daughter, Eliza's father, Mr. Doolittle comes to demand money from Higgins so that Higgins could keep his daughter for his bet with Pickering. Higgins gives him five pounds and get rid of him. While returning, Mr. Doolittle collides with his daughter and doesn't recognize as her getup was changed.
Sometimes later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's house to see improvement in Eliza's dialect during a meeting with his mother's guests, Freddy Eynsford - Hill and his mother and sister, Clara. They are the same people, who were introduced in the beginning of the play. Eliza meets them and talks but no one recognizes her that she is the very flower girl, who collides with Freddy in the beginning of the play. Freddy gets attracted with Eliza during the meeting. At the end of their talk, Higgins considers that Eliza is not ready to present in Ambassador's garden party now.
After some months of Eliza's lessons on dialect, finally, Higgins takes Eliza in Ambassador's garden party and this time Higgins gets success in his experiment and wins his bet with Pickering. After returning from party, both Higgins and Pickering begin to praise their work and forget Eliza's contribution in their success. When Eliza knows that there was a bet between Higgins and Pickering and they were experimenting on her, she becomes angry and throws Higgins' slippers at him and says that now what will happen of her after the end of this experiment. Higgins tells that they didn't do anything wrong with her and her future is also safe.
The next morning, Higgins rushes to his mother's house to find out Eliza, because she was disappeared. Higgins begins to call police but then Higgins' mother calls Eliza, who was upstairs in her house. Higgins asks Eliza to come home with him but she denies by saying that Higgins doesn't behave her with love and respect. Higgins' mother also tells her son that now Eliza is independent and can take her decisions. Meanwhile, Eliza' father, Mr. Doolittle enters to assure Higgins of ruining his life because he told a wealthy man that Mr. Doolittle was England's most original moralist. Mr. Doolittle invites Eliza and others for his second wedding. Eliza enters and agrees to come in her father's wedding.
When all prepare to leave for wedding, Higgins again asks Eliza to return home and to marry Pickering or in any other high class family but she refuses and says that Freddy writes her love letters so she will marry him. She refuses to return home also and says that he doesn't behave with her politely then Higgins confesses her that he behaves same with everyone either she is a flower girl or a duchess. Eliza asks for some respect and independence and says him to be polite with her but he replies that he can't change his behavior for anyone. Eliza says to Higgins that she wants to live independent and now will teach phonetics to improve others dialect, Higgins impresses with Eliza's thought and then she leaves Higgins to go in wedding. Thus, the play ends with Eliza's departure.
The Tittle of the play Pygmalion
The tittle of the play "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw is drawn from an ancient Greek Legend. According to this legend, Pygmalion was a sculpture, who disliked women and didn't see any reason to ever get married.
Nevertheless, Pygmalion grew lonely and decided to create an ivory sculpture of a beautiful woman. This sculpture was so beautiful that Pygmalion fell in love with it. He named the statue Galatea. One day, he made a sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She took pity on him and made the statue come alive as a real woman. Pygmalion married Galatea and they had a son, Paphos. They remained devoted worshipers of Aphrodite and the family was favored by her.
Shaw's Pygmalion therefore reflects this legend and the little pays homage to its massage. At the beginning of the play, Professior Henry Higgins has negative views of women, just like Pygmalion. He believed that women are a "damned nuisance", for instance, who "upsets everything" when they enter a man's life.
Similarly, by receiving elocution lessons from Professor Higgins, Eliza becomes a symbol of Pygmalion's sculpture. At the start of the play, Eliza is a flower girl but, by the end, speaks as well as any duchess. She is indeed a creation of Professor Higgins just like Pygmalion's beautiful sculpture. Professor Higgins treats Eliza as though he were Pygmalion and she were Galatea, attempting to mold her into the image of the perfect aristocratic woman.
Therefore, we can understand that why the play's tittle is "Pygmalion", because it's related to ancient Greek legend Pygmalion and his self made sculpture, Galatea. Who are compared to Higgins and Eliza in the play.
About Author
G.B Shaw was born on 26 July, 1856 and died on 2 November, 1950. He was an Irish playwright, critic and political activist. His influence on western theater culture and politics extended from the 1880 to his death and beyond.
He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as "Man and Superman" (1902), "Pygmalion" (1912) and "Saint Joan" (1923). Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation and in 1925 was awarded the "Nobel Prize" in literature. Shaw published a collected edition of his plays in 1934, comprising forty - two works.
Plot Summary
"Pygmalion" is a comedy about a phonetics expert, Henry Higgins, who as a kind of social experiment attempts to make a lady out of an uneducated Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle.
The play starts when on a summer evening, in London's Convent Garden, a group of some people are gathering under the portico of St. Paul's Church to protect himself from the rain. Where a high class mother and daughter named Mrs. Eynsford and Miss Clara are waiting for her son Freddy to return with a cab but he couldn't find at the first attempt and collides with a young flower girl while returning. Flower girl, Eliza Doolittle begins to sell her flowers to a gentleman named Colonel Pickering. There is also a person in gathering who notes every incident. Flower girl thinks, he is a police man and tells him that she is a good girl. Later he introduces himself to Pickering as a phonetics expert and tells that he can identify everyone by their dialect.
In the next morning, the flower girl goes to Higgins to take lessons of phonetic so that she could speak in a more gentle way and find a job in a flower shop. She offers to pay for lessons but Higgins mocks at her payment then Pickering says that he will pay for her lessons and bets with Higgins to change Eliza's dialect and manners so that he could pass her as a duchess in an Ambassador's garden party. Mrs. Pearce, Higgins' housekeeper takes Eliza with her to change her getup first. To know about his daughter, Eliza's father, Mr. Doolittle comes to demand money from Higgins so that Higgins could keep his daughter for his bet with Pickering. Higgins gives him five pounds and get rid of him. While returning, Mr. Doolittle collides with his daughter and doesn't recognize as her getup was changed.
Sometimes later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's house to see improvement in Eliza's dialect during a meeting with his mother's guests, Freddy Eynsford - Hill and his mother and sister, Clara. They are the same people, who were introduced in the beginning of the play. Eliza meets them and talks but no one recognizes her that she is the very flower girl, who collides with Freddy in the beginning of the play. Freddy gets attracted with Eliza during the meeting. At the end of their talk, Higgins considers that Eliza is not ready to present in Ambassador's garden party now.
After some months of Eliza's lessons on dialect, finally, Higgins takes Eliza in Ambassador's garden party and this time Higgins gets success in his experiment and wins his bet with Pickering. After returning from party, both Higgins and Pickering begin to praise their work and forget Eliza's contribution in their success. When Eliza knows that there was a bet between Higgins and Pickering and they were experimenting on her, she becomes angry and throws Higgins' slippers at him and says that now what will happen of her after the end of this experiment. Higgins tells that they didn't do anything wrong with her and her future is also safe.
The next morning, Higgins rushes to his mother's house to find out Eliza, because she was disappeared. Higgins begins to call police but then Higgins' mother calls Eliza, who was upstairs in her house. Higgins asks Eliza to come home with him but she denies by saying that Higgins doesn't behave her with love and respect. Higgins' mother also tells her son that now Eliza is independent and can take her decisions. Meanwhile, Eliza' father, Mr. Doolittle enters to assure Higgins of ruining his life because he told a wealthy man that Mr. Doolittle was England's most original moralist. Mr. Doolittle invites Eliza and others for his second wedding. Eliza enters and agrees to come in her father's wedding.
When all prepare to leave for wedding, Higgins again asks Eliza to return home and to marry Pickering or in any other high class family but she refuses and says that Freddy writes her love letters so she will marry him. She refuses to return home also and says that he doesn't behave with her politely then Higgins confesses her that he behaves same with everyone either she is a flower girl or a duchess. Eliza asks for some respect and independence and says him to be polite with her but he replies that he can't change his behavior for anyone. Eliza says to Higgins that she wants to live independent and now will teach phonetics to improve others dialect, Higgins impresses with Eliza's thought and then she leaves Higgins to go in wedding. Thus, the play ends with Eliza's departure.
The Tittle of the play Pygmalion
The tittle of the play "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw is drawn from an ancient Greek Legend. According to this legend, Pygmalion was a sculpture, who disliked women and didn't see any reason to ever get married.
Nevertheless, Pygmalion grew lonely and decided to create an ivory sculpture of a beautiful woman. This sculpture was so beautiful that Pygmalion fell in love with it. He named the statue Galatea. One day, he made a sacrifice to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She took pity on him and made the statue come alive as a real woman. Pygmalion married Galatea and they had a son, Paphos. They remained devoted worshipers of Aphrodite and the family was favored by her.
Shaw's Pygmalion therefore reflects this legend and the little pays homage to its massage. At the beginning of the play, Professior Henry Higgins has negative views of women, just like Pygmalion. He believed that women are a "damned nuisance", for instance, who "upsets everything" when they enter a man's life.
Similarly, by receiving elocution lessons from Professor Higgins, Eliza becomes a symbol of Pygmalion's sculpture. At the start of the play, Eliza is a flower girl but, by the end, speaks as well as any duchess. She is indeed a creation of Professor Higgins just like Pygmalion's beautiful sculpture. Professor Higgins treats Eliza as though he were Pygmalion and she were Galatea, attempting to mold her into the image of the perfect aristocratic woman.
Therefore, we can understand that why the play's tittle is "Pygmalion", because it's related to ancient Greek legend Pygmalion and his self made sculpture, Galatea. Who are compared to Higgins and Eliza in the play.
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