Pygmalion by G. B. Shaw II Summary and Analysis

 

Pygmalion

by G. B. Shaw

INTRODUCTION:

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an eminent Irish playwright and critic who wrote more than 60 plays. He is considered as a transitional dramatist as he published most of his works at the end of Victorian age and in the beginning of Modern age. He is considered one of the most influential and important playwrights of the modern era.

Shaw is known for his Problem Plays. He is acclaimed for his use of satire, and his plays often challenged conventional ideas about love, marriage, and morality.

Some of Shaw's most famous plays are - "Pygmalion", "Man and Superman", "Saint Joan", "Mrs. Warren's Profession", "Pygmalion"

His play “Pygmalion” (1913) has been adapted for a movie "My Fair Lady". The play tells the story of a phonetics professor who transforms a Cockney flower girl into a refined lady, and explores issues of class system, education, and identity.

MAJOR CHARACTERS:

1.   Eliza Doolittle is a flower-girl, uneducated, lower class, flower-girl also called Liza, Eliza, and Miss Doolittle. She is the subject of Professor Higgins and Pickering's experiment and bet.

2.   Professor Higgins is a brilliant linguist, who studies phonetics and documents different dialects and ways of speaking.

3.   Colonel Pickering is a gentleman, a colonel and an academician who studies Indian dialects.

SUMMARY:

·      ‘Pygmalion’ is a play based on a mythical story in which an artist hates all women and he makes a sculpture of his own ideal woman and falls in love with that beautiful sculpture.

·      The play ‘Pygmalion’ is about a flower girl named Eliza Doolittle who speaks with a Cockney accent. This accent is heavy, a bit hard to understand, and considered lower class.

·      Professor Higgins makes a bet with Colonel Pickering that he can transform a working-class woman into a lady by teaching her how to speak and act like a member of the upper class.

THEME:

The main theme of ‘Pygmalion’ is that one should not be judged by his/her social class. Those of a higher social class may not always be good people, and those of lower social class can have many virtues.

Most important thing is how we treat ourselves, how we respect ourselves. Language is just a medium. Mark Eliza’s words:

"You see (...) the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins because he always treats me as a flower girl and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me like a lady, and always will.

Click to watch a video on Problem Play.