Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Summative blog

amberansley92 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:34:47 +0000

I enjoyed this play very much. The characters were well developed and I loved the character of Eliza, she was very personable. It left you wanting Eliza and Higgins to get married. It was well written, though he did not use apostrophes in conjunctions at all. Over all it was excellent and I can see why it is a classic, I loved it as much as I do the movie version, My Fair Lady. I am a big fan of Cinderella stories.

amberansley92 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:16:30 +0000

There was a scene in the play in which Professor Higgins is experimenting to see how Eliza will do around others of high society and if she can fool them. She does an excellent job of this except for a few times. Once when she refers to her aunt’s death, she asserts that Eliza’s family “done her in.” The visitors however do not understand this phrase so Higgins quickly plays it off as being the new small talk. They believe him and think Eliza to be very up to date. The daughter even leaves saying “such bloody nonsense” believing that to be fashionable small talk as well. This was interesting because it really could have been ”the new small talk”, I say lots of things that my mom doesn’t know or used a different word. For example she says going steady when I say going out.

amberansley92 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:04:19 +0000

I found the title to be very interesting. It is in reference to the Greek myth. Most readers will assume that Eliza and Henry Higgins will marry after the story is over, and when you read it you want them to get together, but Shaw never clearly states that they love each other. George Bernard Shaw always got irritated when audience members that had seen the play wanted him to end it with the two main characters in love. In the original movie they actually changed the ending so that Henry and Eliza are together. However Shaw’s reaction proves that he clearly wanted them to stay separate as the ‘creator’ and the ‘creation’. Why then did he name it after a story in which the sculptor falls in love with the statue?

I wonder if it was because he wrote it so that his lover the actress could play Eliza but he did not want her to act as though she loved another on stage and possibly kiss the actor playing Higgins.

amberansley92 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:31:42 +0000

I found it very interesting that this play was the classic Cinderella story that everyone always enjoys. It is the story of an average girl being completely transformed into a high class lady. Of course this is accompanied by the part that everyone always loves, where she gets all dressed up at the end in a beautiful gown with diamond jewelry. There are many stories and movies today that have this same aspect such as Pretty Woman and Princess Diaries and many, many others.

Literary Devices

amberansley92 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:09:48 +0000

The Title Pygmalion is symbolism; it is in reference to the Greek myth of the sculptor falling in love with his creation. It is symbolic towards the relationship between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle.

When Higgins first agrees to teach Eliza and have her stay there with him, Mrs. Pearce (the housekeeper) is unhappy with this and asks him what his plan is for her after he has made her into a lady. This is the same point his mother, Mrs. Higgins, brings up later. Both of these are foreshadowing because later, after she is indeed transformed into a lady, Eliza herself questions what is to happen to her.

In the beginning of the play upon seeing Eliza on the street Professor Higgins says, “Well sir, in three months I could pass that flower girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party.” This also is foreshadowing because he later does just that.

Publication Information

amberansley92 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:51:44 +0000

Pygmalion was published in 1916. It was performed at His Majesty’s Theatre in London and there it was well received except for the repetition of the word bloody (this was the first cursing in a play performed there ever). In 1938 it was made into a movie in which it followed the play exactly. In 1964 it was adapted by Warner Brothers into the more widely known movie My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn. This was actually directed by Jack Warner himself. This however followed the play extremely closely with the exceptions of a few extra lines here and there and some added scenes. These differences are seen by the title being changed to My Fair Lady as opposed to Pygmalion.

amberansley92 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:14:09 +0000

“Remember that is your handkerchief and that is your sleeve. Don’t mistake one for the other if you wish to be a lady in a shop.”

I found this quote to be very funny because I can relate to it. Every week my sister and I go horseback riding, and when we do she carries a handkerchief with her to pat her face when she sweats. I always tease her and call her a pansy for using her handkerchief when she has a perfectly good sleeve. She says it is ladylike that way but my response is always that she is on the back of a horse, be a real cowgirl!

About the Author

amberansley92 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:07:31 +0000

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856. His education included attendance at a private school,Wesleyan Connexional School and Dublin’s model school. Shaw’s childhood was rather unhappy his father was an alcoholic and his mother left the family when he was young. After he completed his education, Shaw moved to London to live with his mother. He needed to learn a trade so, he apprenticed himself. In 1889, he married a wealthy woman, named Charlotte Payne-Townshed. She died shortly after the wedding. He wrote many plays but he is best known for the play, Pygmalion. He wrote the play for his very good friend, Mrs. Patrick Campbell. His intention was to have Mrs. Campbell, a widowed actress, to act the part of Eliza. Shaw died on November 2, 1950, in his lifetime he completed over 50 plays. Pygmalion was performed on Broadway, it was first released as a movie in 1936, the most memorable movie release was by Warner Brothers, My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza.

A clip from the movie adaptaion “My Fair Lady”

amberansley92 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:07:07 +0000

amberansley92 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:06:13 +0000

Pygmalion- (Greek mythology) a sculptor created a marble statue of a woman and fell in love with it. Aphrodite answered his prayers and brought her to life.

Shaw chose a suitable title because in the story Henry Higgins transforms a simple flower girl on the street into a high society starlet. After she becomes a lady this “confirmed old bachelor” finds that he needs her to stay with him and the reader can infer that he truly loves her.