2. Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856 and came to London at the age of twenty. At
first, he dedicated his life in dramatic criticism. He was so admiring of Henrik
Ibsen‟s works, that he wrote in 1891 The Quintessence of Ibsenism (one of his most
famous critical works). He was an active supporter of social justice and women‟s
rights movement and, in 1884, he joined the Fabian Society, an organization promoting
socialism. His affection to these social struggles made him write an essay called „The
Intelligent Woman‟s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism‟. All Shaw‟s plays have a
Life preface telling about the theme the author wants to convey to. The most Important
plays by Shaw are „Man and Superman‟ (1903),„Pygmalion‟ (1913) and „Back to
Methuselah‟. In 1925 Shaw won the Nobel Prize. He died in 1950.
3. Shaw‟s masterpiece is “Pygmalion” whose title is inspired by “Metamorphoses” by Ovid, a
..inspirati
Greek legend telling about a sculptor who scorns a statue of a woman and falls in love with it;
Aphrodite (the goodness of love) transforms the sculpture into a real woman and, at the end,
the artist marries his creation.
George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is the story of Henry Higgins, a master
phonetician, and his mischievous plot to pass a common flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a duchess
at the Embassy Ball. Higgins, to reach his goal, has to teach the language and behavior used in
the high society. The play looks at middle class morality and upper-class superficiality, and
on
reflects the social evils of nineteenth-century England, and attests that all people are worthy
of respect and dignity.
.
4. ‘You have no idea’,
Higgins tells his mother,
‘how frightfully
interesting it is to take a
human being and change
her into a quite different
human being by creating a
It’s filling up the new speech for her.
deepest gulf that
separates class from class
and soul from soul.’ This
has—particularly, perhaps,
in England—its social truth
and comic potentiality.
5. HIGGINS on the one hand can be described as a rude, careless and impolite character,
..Charact but at the same time likeable because of his fascination and dedication to his work. His
rudeness may be revealed when he says about Eliza: "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 or
ers articulate speech: that your native language is the
language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and
don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon."
Higgins‟s mother holds a great fascination for him, she speaks properly, has good manners
and is the only woman Higgins adores. In general, he appears small-minded and doesn't
reflect about problems Eliza might be confronted with.
6. ELIZA, on the other hand, is willing to learn and does her best to
please Higgins. When she becomes aware of Higgins' goals she eventually
gets disappointing and angry. She feels as the subject of the experiment,
while Higgins, never reflecting about her feelings, treats her in an
impersonal way and can't understand her.
Eliza‟s father is a dustman, he play a little role which is pretty
important, in fact he is the most important moral character.
The first impression we get of Eliza’s is a poor flower girl that has a very
strong, whiny personality. "I ain't done nothing wrong by speaking to the
gentleman. I've a right to sell flowers if I keep off the kerb." This is our first view
of Eliza standing up for her self and not being outspoken. This foreshadows a girl
that would not be good in a relationship because in the time this book is set, a
woman was to obey the man and let him do the big talk.
7.
8. The protagonist of Pygmalion is the character of Henry Higgins,
an eccentric professor of phonetics. The story begins when the
flower girl tries in all ways of selling flowers to passersby, and
attracts the attention of Henry Higgins, a man who begins to
take notes on her. a passerby warns the girl who becomes
hysterical. The next morning the flower girl decides to go to
Higgins’ and take lessons. Higgins initially shocked, makes a bet
with Colonel Pickering, a leading scholar of Indian dialects, to
be able to teach the good pronunciation to the little flower
girl, Eliza Doolittle, who talks awfully cockney, and that Eliza
will learn so well that he could manage to make her pass for a
duchess. Professor Higgins decides that she will help his mother
in her house. While there Eliza meets Freddy Eynsford-Hill who
is fascinated by her. Higgins introduces her to a party at the
Embassy passing it off successfully for a Romanian princess: he
won the bet. Eliza, however, no longer wants to be treated like
a guinea pig and tells him she will leave and marry Freddy: an
end deliberately and polemically anti-romantic.
9. Shaw‟s Pygmalion became the basis of the musical My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The show's
1956 Broadway production was a smash hit, setting a new record for the longest run of any major theatre production in history. It was
followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals.
10. Aphorisms
Who among us knows what to do? And knowing this,
you would be willing to do it?
Pygmalion, 1912
The secret of being miserable is
to have enough time to worry
if it is happy or not
Misalliance , 1910
The people who complain about their status
they always blame the circumstances.
People that go on in this world are those that are
busyand trying circumstances they want
and if they can not find them, create them.
Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1894
