ROVA MAYE A.

TRANI WF: 1-2:30PM WFW

November 09, 2015 Prof. Isa Lorenzo

title

Pygmalion- the first time I heard it, I immediately thought of a certain character in Greek

mythology that is related to this. Pygmalion was a talented sculptor who has successfully carved

the “perfect” woman from ivory. He was deemed to be not interested in women at first but fell in

love with his own creation because it was too fair and realistic. He then made a wish to

Aphrodite (the goddess of love) that he would someday have a bride just like his statue. As he

went home and kissed his own creation, the sculpture came to life and was named Galatea. Of

course, the play isn’t about this. The parallelism I see here is where Professor Henry Higgins is

somewhat like Pygmalion and his creation is Eliza Doolittle in which both of them are the

protagonists of this play.

I did as was suggested and after reading the script by Bernard Shaw for the first time, I

tried to do a little casting myself. For the professor, I was able to think of James McAvoy and

other actors as well. But after reading the script for the second time, I imagined that James

McAvoy would have a more “feel” to it. I ultimately decided for Anne Hathaway as to be Eliza

Doolittle and Hugh Laurie as Colonel Pickering. I can’t imagine anyone for Mrs. Higgins except

for Maggie Smith and I could only think of Evanna Lynch for Carla Eynsford-Hill.

Henry Higgins had somewhat said in this play that “life is nothing but a series of follies”.

It is highly accurate as life is a series of a number of plots and moments, etc. Here, H. Higgins
has taken up a folly in which it is his little project/experiment where he took Eliza from the

slums of Drury Lane and began teaching her with the language of the highest circle in their

social class. H. Higgins is prideful of his profession and he becomes quite sensitive when his

skills are gone unnoticed. He is very careless of his actions and does not care of other people’s

feelings. He even disregards his manners to the extent that it would disturb his own mother and

Col. Pickering. He also would do a 180-degree turn from his original character in order to get

what he wants and is very persistent about it. He does not like to think himself being angry and

impatient although he usually is. His idea of a “perfect” woman as was stated in the script is his

own mother.

Eliza is a very sensitive girl who is very vocal about her emotions. She easily wallows in

self-pity. She has a certain amount of self-respect from the start of the play which disappears

most of the time when she adheres to the rules of social class. However, she knows the gravity of

respect and is polite most of the time. She is a girl who knows to think a head of her future. But it

this has been troubling me a bit, where did she learn respect if both of her parents weren’t the

best example? In the end it is said that Eliza is affectionate and this is shown by how she doesn’t

like Higgins cold manner of treating other people despite of their closeness. Not only does Eliza

have a good set of “ears” but she is also very smart for the fact that she herself has decided to

adapt to the world and not wait for the world to help her in her current condition. She goes to the

extent of changing her manner of speech and adapting to another language. She is a realist and is

very strong as to have remained to her convictions and still wanting to chase a dream.

Col. Pickering