UNIT IV

PYGMALION - George Bernard Shaw

Pygmalion
Pygmalion has become by far Shaw's most famous play, mostly through its film adaptation in
1938. Shaw was intimately involved with the making of the film. He wrote the screenplay and
was the first man to win both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award.
Shaw wrote the part of Eliza Dolittle for a beautiful actress named Mrs. Patrick Campbell, with
whom it was rumored that he was having an affair. This rumor later turned out not to be true, and
some critics read the disappointed love affair between Higgins and Eliza as reflecting Shaw's
own romantic frustrations including a long, celibate marriage.
Shaw once proclaimed: "The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their
children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds
like." Much of Pygmalion is wrapped up with the class identification that comes with having an
accent in British society. As a socialist with strong convictions, Shaw used the stage to expose
hypocrisies surrounding marriage, language, and convention. Shaw's preoccupation with
language in this play may also have had something to do with the fact that the most frequent
criticism of his earlier plays was that his characters engaged in witty banter that lacked depth. By
making language the center of this play, Shaw highlights the significance of something that his
critics, despite their criticisms, were tending to downplay.

Pygmalion Summary
In Covent Garden, the Eynsford Hills wait for a cab in the rain. When Freddy goes to hail one, he
knocks Liza's flowers out of her basket. She accepts money from Freddy's mother, then Colonel
Pickering. A bystander warns her that a man is writing down what she is saying, and she
confronts him, saying that she has done nothing wrong. Higgins amazes the crowd by imitating
her accent and guessing where they all come from. Pickering and Higgins meet and agree to have
dinner, and Higgins fills Liza's basket with money before he leaves. Liza leaves in a cab.
The next day, Liza intrudes upon Pickering and Higgins in Higgins's home. She wants English
lessons, and Pickering bets that Higgins could not pass her off as a lady at the ambassador's ball
in a month's time. Mrs. Pearce takes Liza away to bathe her and dress her more appropriately,
and Liza's father arrives and demands some payment. Higgins likes him and gives him five
pounds.
A few months later, Mr. Higgins is writing letters at home when she is interrupted by her son,
who shocks her by telling her that he is bringing a flower-girl to his house. The Eynsford Hills
arrive for a visit, as does Eliza--with her newly elegant accent and manner. Freddy is infatuated
right away. Eliza makes the mistake of swearing and describing her aunt's alcoholism, and she is
hustled away by Higgins. Clara thinks that swearing is the new fashion and shocks her mother by
saying "bloody" on the way out. Mrs. Higgins scolds Pickering and her son for not considering
what is to be done with Eliza after the experiment.
At midnight at Higgins's house, Eliza enters looking exhausted. Higgins ignores her, looking for
his slippers and crowing over her success at fooling everyone as his own. Eliza begins to look
furious. When Higgins asks where his slippers are, Eliza throws them at his face. She explains
that she does not know what to do with herself now that Higgins has transformed her. He
suggests that she marry, to which she responds that she used to be something better than a
prostitute when she sold flowers. She throws the ring that he gave her into the fireplace, and he
loses his temper at her and leaves the room. She looks for the ring in the ashes.

Mrs. Higgins is in her drawing room when her son comes and tells her that Eliza has run away.
Doolittle arrives and announces that after he spoke with Higgins, Higgins recommended him as a
speaker to an American millionaire who died and left him everything. Doolittle is now middle-
class and hating every minute of it; his mistress is forcing him to marry her that afternoon. Eliza
comes downstairs (she ran away to Mrs. Higgins's house), and Higgins looks flabbergasted.
Doolittle invites Pickering and Mrs. Higgins to the wedding, and they leave Eliza and Higgins
alone to talk. Eliza says that she does not want to be treated like a pair of slippers--and Freddy
writes her love letters every day. When she threatens to become a phonetics teacher herself and
use Higgins's methods, he says that he likes the new, stronger version of Eliza. He wants to live
with her and Pickering as "three bachelors."

Mrs. Higgins returns dressed for the wedding, and she takes Eliza with her. Higgins asks her to
run his errands for him, including that of buying some cheese and ham. She says a final goodbye
to him, and he seems confident that she will follow his command.

The onstage drama ends, and Shaw narrates, in an epilogue, that Eliza recognizes Higgins as
predestined to be a bachelor; she marries Freddy instead. With a gift from Colonel Pickering,
Eliza opens a flower shop. The only person truly bothered by this state of affairs is Clara, who
decides that the marriage will not help her own marriage prospects. But then she begins to read
H.G. Wells and travel in the circles of his fans, and she is convinced to begin working in a
furniture shop herself in the hopes that she might meet Wells (because the woman who owns the
shop is also a fan of his). Freddy is not very practical, and he and Eliza must take classes in
bookkeeping to make their business a success. They do reach success, and they live a fairly
comfortable life.

Pygmalion Character List

Liza
A poor girl who was thrown out by her parents as soon as she was old enough to make a living
selling flowers on the street.

Eliza Doolittle
The same person as Liza; what she begins to be called when she acquires a genteel accent and set
of manners under Higgins's tutelage.

Henry Higgins
A professor of phonetics who takes on Liza as a pupil as a dare, or as an experiment.

Colonial Pickering
An Englishman who has served in India and written in the field of linguistics there; a perfect
gentleman who always treats Liza with utmost kindness.
Mrs. Higgins
Henry's mother, who disapproves of her son's wild ways and who takes Liza under her wing.
Mrs. Pearce
Higgins's housekeeper; an extremely proper and class-aware lady, she heartily disapproves of the
experiment.

Freddy
A poor, genteel young man who falls in love with Eliza.

Clara
Freddy's sister, who regards Higgins as marriageable.

Mrs. Eynsford Hill

Freddy's and Clara's mother.

Mr. Doolittle
Liza's father, who amuses Higgins very much; he comes into a fortune after the death of an
American millionaire to whom Higgins had recommended him.

Pygmalion Themes
Class
The social hierarchy is an unavoidable reality in Britain, and it is interesting to watch it play out
in the work of a socialist playwright. Shaw includes members of all social classes from the
lowest (Liza) to the servant class (Mrs. Pearce) to the middle class (Doolittle after his
inheritance) to the genteel poor (the Eynsford Hills) to the upper class (Pickering and the
Higginses). The general sense is that class structures are rigid and should not be tampered with,
so the example of Liza's class mobility is most shocking. The issue of language is tied up in class
quite closely; the fact that Higgins is able to identify where people were born by their accents is
telling. British class and identity are very much tied up in their land and their birthplace, so it
becomes hard to be socially mobile if your accent marks you as coming from a certain location.

Gentility and Manners

Good manners (or any manners at all) were mostly associated with the upper class at this time.
Shaw's position on manners is somewhat unclear; as a socialist, one would think that he would
have no time for them because they are a marker of class divisions. Yet, Higgins's pattern of
treating everyone like dirt while just as democratic as Pickering's of treating everyone like a duke
or duchess is less satisfactory than Pickering's. It is a poignant moment at the end of Pygmalion
when Liza thanks Pickering for teaching her manners and pointedly comments that otherwise she
would have had no way of learning them.

Marriage and Prostitution

These institutions are very much related in Shaw's plays, especially in Mrs. Warren's profession.
From his unusual standpoint of being committed to a celibate marriage, Shaw apparently feels
free to denounce marriage as an exchange of sexuality for money similar to prostitution (even
though this was not happening in his own marriage). Ironically, while her father expresses no
regrets when he is led to believe that Liza will take up this profession, it is she who denounces it.
She declares that she was less degraded as a flower-seller than as a "genteel" lady trying to make
an appropriate marriage because as a flower-seller, at least, she wasn't selling her body.

Myths of Creation
Of all Shaw's plays, Pygmalion has the most references to Greek and Roman mythology. Higgins
represents Pygmalion, a Greek sculptor who lived alone because he hated women. Pygmalion
created a sculpture of a perfect woman and fell in love with it; after he prayed, Aphrodite
brought it to life for him. This statue is named Galatea, and it is represented in Shaw's play by
Liza. Unlike the myth, Shaw's play does not end in a marriage between the pair, and Liza is
infuriated with Higgins's suggestion that her success is his success and that he has made her what
she is. She has worked to recreate her identity as well.

Language
In this play and in British society at large, language is closely tied with class. From a person's
accent, one can determine where the person comes from and usually what the person's
socioeconomic background is. Because accents are not very malleable, poor people are marked
as poor for life. Higgins's teachings are somewhat radical in that they disrupt this social marker,
allowing for greater social mobility.

Professionalism
At the time that this play was written, the idea of female professionals was somewhat new. Aside
from the profession of prostitution, women were generally housewives before this period, and
there is some residual resistance to the idea of normally male professions being entered by
females in the play. Moreover, Pickering is initially horrified by the idea of Eliza opening a
flower shop, since being involved in a trade was a mark of belonging to the lower class.
Pickering is shaken similarly after his experience of watching Eliza fool everyone at a garden
and dinner party, saying that she played her part almost too well. The idea of a professional
female socialite is somehow threatening to him.

Gender Solidarity or Antagonism

Although British society is supposed to break down along class lines, Shaw makes a point of
highlighting gender loyalties in this play. Although Mrs. Higgins initially is horrified by the idea
that her son might bring a flower-girl into her home, she quickly grows sympathetic to Liza. As a
woman, she is the first to express a concern for what will be done with the girl after the
experiment--the idea that her training makes her highly unmarriageable by anyone anywhere on
the social scale. When Liza runs away from Wimpole St., she instinctively knows that Mrs.
Higgins will take good care of her. Higgins's mother sides with Liza before even her son, not
revealing that Liza is in the house while Higgins is dialing the police.
In contrast, relations between people of opposite genders are generally portrayed by Shaw as
antagonistic. Higgins and his mother have a troubled relationship, as do the professor and Mrs.
Pearce. Freddy and Liza get along better perhaps only due to his more passive, feminine
demeanor.

Pygmalion Summary of Act I

It is raining in Covent Garden at 11:15 p.m. Clara complains that Freddy has not found a cab yet.
Freddy returns to his mother and sister and explains that there are no cabs to be found. They
chide him, and as he runs off to try again to find a cab, he knocks into Liza, a flower girl, spilling
her flowers into the mud. Freddy's mother gives her sixpence when she complains that her
flowers are ruined. Colonel Pickering comes onstage, and Liza tries to sell him a flower. He
gives her three half pence. A bystander advises Liza to give Pickering a flower for it, because
there is a man behind a pillar taking down every word that she says.
Liza becomes hysterical, claiming that she has done nothing wrong. She thinks that he is an
informant for the police. The man, Higgins, shows Liza what he has written--which is not a
record of possible misdeeds. When she complains that she cannot read it, he reads it out to her,
reproducing what she has said in her exact accent.

Higgins amuses the small crowd that has gathered when he listens to what they say and guesses
their hometowns with exactitude. Higgins whistles for a taxi for Clara and her mother, and they
exit.

Liza picks her flowers out of the mud while Higgins explains to Pickering that he is able to guess
where people are from because he, studies phonetics. To make money, he gives lessons to
millionaires to improve their English, which allows them to be accepted in higher social milieus.
When Higgins finds out that Pickering has been in India and is the writer of [I]Spoken Sanskrit],
he exclaims that he was planning to travel to India to meet the man. Pickering is equally excited
when he realizes that he has happened upon the creator of "Higgins's Universal Alphabet"--for he
has traveled from India to meet Higgins.

They arrange to have dinner together. Liza makes a last-ditch effort to sell Pickering some
flowers, claiming that she is short for her rent. Having recorded what she was saying, Higgins
points out that she cannot be short for her rent because she said she had change for half a crown.
(His record traps her in her own words after all.) Liza flings her basket at him in desperation.
Higgins hears a church bell tolling and generously fills her basket with money anyway, before
leaving with Pickering.

Freddy arrives in a cab, looking for his mother and sister. He does not know what to do with the
cab when he realizes that they have left already, but Liza wants to take the cab home. The
cabman looks doubtful at her ragged appearance, but she shows him her money before she gets
in.

Analysis

Besides introducing the major characters of the play, this act introduces socioeconomic class as a
central theme of Pygmalion. As a socialist, Shaw was particularly concerned with exploring and
exposing the power divide between the poor and the rich. By setting the play in London, Shaw
chooses to deal with a society that is particularly stratified. British class-consciousness is based
not only on economic power, as it is in many other societies, but also on history (historic class
differences). The play highlights British people's recognition of accents to differentiate among
themselves not only geographically (a Welsh accent is distinct from a Scottish accent, which is
distinct from a Surrey accent), but also to distinguish (on another but related dimension of
accents) the various social classes.
Higgins's ability to pinpoint the location of origin of members of the crowd means not only that
he can tell what part of England, or even what neighborhood of London, they are from, but also
that he can probably guess fairly easily their socioeconomic status. In the early twentieth century,
social mobility in Britain was slim to none, so the fact that Pickering's accent is audibly a
Cambridge one (tying him to a very upper-class university) means that he is upper-class and
likely to remain so. Conversely, Liza was born into Lisson Grove and, correspondingly, grew up
speaking with what was considered a terrible accent. She is thus likely to remain poor not only
because her family was poor, but also because everyone else can tell that she had a poor
upbringing from the way that she speaks.

Nevertheless, Higgins's system of teaching better English serves to undermine the system in
which his keen awareness of language so easily has allowed him to participate. Higgins, like
Shaw, sees the strict hierarchy of British society as mutable after all. Higgins's alphabet is a new
type of shorthand which more accurately conveys the exact sound of the speaker's voice. So,
while normal shorthand conveys the content of a conversation, Higgins's form also records the
intonation and accent of a speaker's voice. Even the name of his system of shorthand writing,
"Higgins's Universal Alphabet," not only indicates that it reproduces all the sounds of language,
but also implies that he believes that everyone should have access to elevated language.

Pygmalion Summary of Act II

The next day at 11:00 a.m., Higgins and Pickering are at Higgins's place on Wimpole Street.
Higgins has just shown Pickering his Universal Alphabet, and they are about to break for lunch
when Mrs. Pearce shows Liza in. She has cleaned up somewhat and wants it to be known that
she arrived in a cab. She wants to take language lessons from Higgins, and she offers to pay him
back some of the money that he threw into her basket the night before in exchange. She also
implies that he was drunk when he gave her the money. Ultimately, she wants to work in a
flower shop, which requires that her accent become more genteel.
The idea of teaching someone like Liza grows on Higgins, especially after Pickering bets him he
could not pass her off as a lady at the Ambassador's Ball in six months. Pickering offers to pay
the full costs of the experiment, having Liza live in the house to become a full-time pupil. Mrs.
Pearce protests that the arrangement would be improper. She urges Liza to go home to her
parents, but Liza replies that her parents turned her out of their home once she was old enough to
make a living. Pickering protests that the girl might have some feelings, but Higgins claims that
she has none at all.

Liza attempts to leave, but Higgins offers her a chocolate. As a claim of good faith and to settle
her fear that it is poisoned, he cuts it in half, eats one half, and gives her the other. He says that if
she is a successful student, he will give her some money to start life as a shop lady. She accepts.
She is hustled away by Mrs. Pearce to be given a bath.

Pickering asks Higgins if he is to be trusted around women, and Higgins expresses incredulity at
the idea of being attracted to Liza. Pickering feels assured of his honorable intentions. Mrs.
Pearce reenters the room and makes Higgins promise to act as a role model for Liza by not
swearing. The training is to be about culture and manners rather than language alone.
Liza's father, Alfred Doolittle, arrives at the house. Higgins amazes Alfred by immediately
guessing that his mother was Welsh. Undeterred, Alfred claims that he wants his daughter back.
Higgins says that she is upstairs and that her father may have her at once. Alfred, taken aback,
says that Higgins is taking advantage of him. Higgins claims the reverse, arguing that Alfred is
trying to blackmail him. Higgins says that Alfred sent Liza there on purpose. Alfred claims that
he has not even asked for money yet, saying that he only found out where Liza was because she
took the son of her landlady for a ride in the cab on the way over to Higgins's house. He stayed
around hoping to get a ride home, and she sent him to get her luggage when she decided to stay
at Higgins's house. The boy reported to Alfred that she only wanted her luggage, but not to
bother with any clothes. Alfred says that this report naturally made him anxious as a father.

Higgins, seeing that Alfred has brought his daughter her luggage, asks him why he would do that
if he wanted to bring Liza back home. In not too subtle language, Alfred says that he does not
mind if Liza becomes Higgins's prostitute so long as he gets some money out of it, too. He asks
for five pounds. He adds that his life is very hard because he is one of the "undeserving poor."

Higgins, who finds this character delightful, offers him ten pounds, but Alfred takes only five,
saying that ten is too much and might make him feel so prudent that he would want to save the
money. Five pounds is just enough for a spree for himself and his "missus." Pickering says that
he should marry his missus. Alfred replies that he is willing, but the missus likes being
unmarried because it means that he has to be nicer to her and give her presents.

Liza enters wearing a stylish Japanese kimono, now that she is clean from her bath. She asks her
father if he recognizes her, and Pickering and Higgins express surprise that she has cleaned up so
well. Higgins invites Alfred to come back, saying that he would like his brother the clergyman to
talk with him. Alfred makes a quick escape, however, and Higgins explains to Eliza that he said
that so that her father would not return anytime soon.

Mrs. Pearce announces that the new clothes have come for Eliza to try on, and she rushes out
excitedly. Pickering and Higgins remark about how difficult their job will be.

Analysis

Despite the somewhat pathetic figure that she cuts initially, Liza's goal is admirable. She longs
for that which is precisely so difficult in British society: self-improvement. In this act, Mrs.
Pearce is the foil for Liza; she represents propriety and morality. Mrs. Pearce is duly shocked at
Liza's wish to attain a higher social class. The American motif of success and class mobility
through individual hard work is not part of Mrs. Pearce's cultural inheritance.
Shaw is at pains in this act to show that Eliza does not enter into the deal willingly. Rather, she is
manipulated into participating in the experiment by Higgins's chocolates, plus his promises to
her that she will get married or own a flower shop if she does what he says. His offer is one that
she can hardly refuse in order to get what she wants. Shaw, who is often read as a feminist
playwright, sets Eliza up as a victim of the two older, better educated men, who take up Eliza's
case as a challenge rather than a humanitarian endeavor. This situation gives emotional weight to
her later anger against them.
The appearance of Eliza's father in this act is quite important, because we realize just how rough
a background Eliza comes from. She is an illegitimate child whose father is a dustman willing to
pimp his daughter. Doolittle, whose name is a pun on the fact that he hardly works, defines
himself explicitly as a member of the undeserving poor. Despite the humor that arises when
Doolittle explains that he is no less deserving than a widow who collects from a number of
different funds for the death of the same husband, the man's joke holds a grain of truth. As a
socialist, Shaw was concerned with all of the poor, not just the working or bereaved poor.

Pygmalion Summary of Act III

A few months later, Higgins's mother (Mr. Higgins) is writing letters in her drawing room when
she is interrupted by her son. She scolds him for turning up during her "at-home day," the day
when she receives guests. Mrs. Higgins claims that her son scares off her guests.
Higgins explains his bet with Pickering over Eliza and says that she is coming to the house to try
out her accent. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill are shown in, and they are the same mother and
daughter who were waiting for a cab at the beginning of the play. Higgins recognizes them, but
he cannot figure out where he has seen them before. Freddy also arrives. Miss Eynsford Hill tries
to flirt with Mr. Higgins, but he rails at the company (including himself) for having no
knowledge of science, philosophy, or poetry--merely knowing how to act in society.
Eliza is shown in, exquisitely dressed, and she makes quite an impression. In fact, Freddy falls in
love with her. Mr. Higgins realizes that they all met on that day at Covent Garden, but nobody
else makes the connection. Eliza, who has been warned to limit her conversation to the weather
and to people's health, talks about an aunt of hers who supposedly died of influenza but who was
perhaps killed so that the killer might steal her new straw hat. Mr. Higgins grows alarmed, and
Eliza leaves, but the Eynsford Hills think that by talking about coarse subjects and swearing,
Eliza was using a new, fashionable type of slang. Pickering tries to support this assumption by
declaring that he can no longer distinguish high society from a ship's forecastle now that people
swear so often. Clara declares the "new slang" charming--and to her mother's horror, she herself
uses the British curse word "bloody."
Mrs. Higgins invites the smitten Freddy back to spend more time with Eliza. The Eynsford Hills
exit. Mrs. Higgins scolds the men, declaring that their project with Eliza, while clever, cannot
work because no skill in pronunciation or fancy dresses can change the subject matter of what
Eliza talks about. The content will trump the style; she will always give herself away. Like Mrs.
Pearce, she also disapproves of the fact that Eliza lives in the house with the two men. Moreover,
she complains that Pickering and Higgins are treating her like a "live doll."
The men protest that they take Eliza very seriously and are quite taken with her talents, including
the fact that she has a wonderful ear and has taught herself to play the piano. Mrs. Higgins
reminds them of the problem they have not yet faced--what to do with Eliza after the experiment
is over--and the men reply that they will set her up in some sort of genteel occupation. They exit,
talking about how they will take Eliza to a Shakespeare exhibition and then have her mimic all of
the people there when they get home. Mrs. Higgins resumes writing letters and exclaims,
"men!!" with exasperation.

Analysis
In this act we witness the transformation of Liza the flower-girl into Eliza the society lady. The
change caused by repackaging her in new clothing and providing her with a new accent is so
complete that she goes unrecognized by people who have seen her in her former state. Even the
rough content of her conversation does not reveal her class, despite the concerns of the people
who know to look out for such content.
The fact that Freddy becomes instantly smitten with her emphasizes the concept of infatuation on
the basis of external characteristics. He barely noticed her when she was a flower-girl, but the
change in her looks and her talk has made her infinitely more attractive to him. These
characteristics make her seem to be of a class much higher than before. The location makes a
difference, too; what would a girl like Liza be doing in such a respectable home? Furthermore,
the fact that the other characters play her as a cultured woman makes it harder for the visitors to
become suspicious.

Act III also brings a sobering touch of realism back to the play. Standing alone, the bet between
Pickering and Higgins seems amusing, worthwhile on humanitarian grounds, and intellectually
and practically challenging. Taken in the context of society more generally, a stance which Mrs.
Higgins emphasizes, the process is potentially dangerous. The primary function of genteel ladies
at this time was to secure a safe and lucrative marriage for themselves, a fact of which we are
reminded as Clara eyes Higgins. She views him as marriageable not because she loves him, but
because she has calculated that she would be a "good catch" monetarily and in terms of his
position in society. Eliza has already been made dangerous, however, because she exists outside
of this market. Because of her background and lack of pedigree, she is unmarriageable, no matter
how charming she may seem. Changing her accent and manner of dress ultimately will cause
confusion because it will come out that she is taking part in a slice of society of which she cannot
become fully a part-Freddy will only be disappointed. Mrs. Higgins puts it bluntly when she
complains that Higgins has given Eliza the "manners and habits which disqualify a fine lady
from earning her living without giving her a fine lady's income." The change of setting from the
isolated Wimpole Street laboratory into a "society house" makes this shift even starker. Eliza is
becoming too good for her old society, and she is not yet good enough for her new society. This
gap in the experiment is troublesome, and something must be done about it. It is not clear,
however, that the men are fully aware of the problem or that they have a viable solution.

Pygmalion Summary of Act IV

At midnight on Wimpole Street, Eliza enters looking pale and tired, almost tragic. Pickering and
Higgins ignore Eliza, talking about where Higgins's slippers are and whether there is any mail.
They have been to a garden party, a dinner party, and the opera, and Eliza was extremely
successful, fooling everyone. Higgins expresses his contempt for society and says that he is glad
that the experiment is over, since he was beginning to grow tired of it. Pickering says that it is
almost scary how good at it all Eliza is-she is better than the society ladies. Eliza, who has gone
to find Higgins's slippers, begins to look angry, then murderous. Higgins leaves, asking Eliza to
turn off the light and to ask Mrs. Pearce to make coffee in the morning.
Higgins returns, looking for his slippers again, and Eliza throws them at him. Eliza angrily
explains that she does not know what to do with herself, now that she has won the bet. Higgins
says that she is overreacting. He tells her that after she sleeps, she will feel better. He adds that
she is quite attractive, so maybe she could marry after all-perhaps his mother could find someone
genteel for her to marry. Eliza responds that she was above selling herself when she was a
working-class woman; she merely sold flowers instead of her body. Higgins replies that her
moral judgment against marriage is unfair.

Eliza asks whether her clothes belong to her or Pickering, since he is the one who bought them.
Higgins replies that of course they belong to her. When she protests that she did not want to be
accused of stealing them, he is hurt. (She has not forgotten her roots in poverty.) He says that
that her comment shows a want of feeling. Eliza pushes her advantage, asking him to take the
hired jewels to his room so that they will be safe. Higgins exclaims that he would shove them
down her throat if only he would not have to return them to the jeweler. Eliza also gives Higgins
back a ring that he bought her, a piece of jewelry that was not borrowed. He angrily throws it
into the fireplace and says that she has "wounded him to the heart."

Eliza is glad to get "a little of her own back." Higgins tries to regain his dignity, saying that he
has lost his temper for the first time in a long time. He leaves the room in a controlled manner,
but he slams the door on the way out. Eliza smiles, imitates his accent in a wild manner, and gets
down on her knees to look in the ashes for the ring.

Analysis

In this pivotal act, the relationship between Eliza and Higgins finally explodes. It is revealed that
there has been a deeper feeling between them, and the fact that he has given her a ring certainly
suggests a promise of marriage. This act also expresses Shaw's deepest condemnation of society,
which is fleshed out more fully in Mrs. Warren's profession; that is, he puts in Eliza's words the
idea that societal marriage is nothing better than the exchange of sex for money like what one
sees among prostitutes. Eliza, if not also Shaw, views the upper-class marriage market as more
degraded than her previous profession of selling flowers. From a class perspective, at least, her
opinion expresses Shaw's deep socialism, supporting the claim that the working classes can and
often do have more dignity than the hypocritical segments of the upper class.

Act Four also reveals an interesting power dynamic between Eliza and Higgins. Eliza most
greatly resents the fact that Higgins views her success as his own, and she is infuriated by his
idea that (like the mythological Pygmalion) he is the agent who created her. She views this claim
as presumptuous and dehumanizing. Although by questioning Higgins about the jewelry she
reminds him of the gap in class between them, she succeeds in making him angry. The ability to
affect someone who holds himself maddeningly superior to her heartens her-she is glad to get
"some of her own back" in this way. The relationship between the two now includes Eliza's
pleasure at being able to hurt Higgins.

Eliza's actions at the end of the act remind the audience of the very real dilemma facing Eliza:
what is she to do-stay or go? She mimics Higgins, pleased that she has effectively gotten him
angry, but she then begins to search, almost compulsively, for the ring that she has just
discarded. This juxtaposition demonstrates that she still has feelings for Higgins, being not yet
ready to throw away the sentimental token that he gave her. Searching for the ring also suggests
an economic prudence on Eliza's part; her future is very unclear.

Pygmalion Summary of Act V

Mrs. Higgins is in her drawing room when her parlor-maid enters and informs her that Pickering
and Higgins are downstairs calling the police. Mrs. Higgins sends the parlor-maid upstairs to
inform Eliza that the men are here and that she should not come until she is called. Higgins
enters and explains that he is frantic that Eliza has left-he cannot find anything and now has
nobody to remind him of his appointments. Mrs. Higgins scolds her son for calling the police as
if Eliza were a lost parcel.
The parlor-maid announces Mr. Dolittle, who enters in a fancy waistcoat. Doolittle claims that
Higgins has ruined his happiness. Higgins says that this is impossible because he only gave him
a small amount of money, and because he has had only two conversations with him since the first
one. Doolittle explains that Higgins wrote a letter to a man named Ezra D. Wannafeller, saying
that Doolittle was the most original moralist in England, and the man died and left his millions to
Doolittle-partially to show that the Americans do not regard class in the same way that the
English do. Doolittle says that he is miserable after being made a gentleman: everybody asks him
for money, and he does not have the nerve to forsake his new wealth and station.
Mrs. Higgins says that at least he now can provide for his daughter. Higgins objects to this idea,
saying that he bought her for five pounds. Mrs. Higgins reveals that Eliza is upstairs, having
come upset very early in the morning. Mrs. Higgins censures them for not admiring Eliza or
telling her she did a good job.

When Eliza comes down, she looks self-possessed and very much at home. She uses the genteel
accents that Higgins has taught her. Higgins is furious and claims that he has made her what she
is. Pickering assures Eliza that he does not think of her as just an experiment, and she expresses
her gratitude to him for everything, especially for teaching manners to her. She adds pointedly
says that Higgins could not have taught her such manners.

Eliza says that the difference between a lady and a flower-girl is not in anything that she does but
in how she is treated. Pickering always treated her like a lady, whereas Higgins has treated her
like dirt. Higgins claims in response that he treats everyone like dirt.

Doolittle tells his daughter that he is marrying her mother. Doolittle is nervous, and he asks
Pickering to come to help see him through the wedding. Mrs. Higgins decides to go as well,
leaving Higgins and Eliza alone. Eliza says that she will not come back because Higgins only
wants her to pick up his slippers and the like. Higgins says that he cannot change his own
manners, but at least he is democratic: again, he says he treats everyone as if they were of the
lower class. Eliza says that she shall not be passed over and that she can do without Higgins.
Higgins says that he needs to determine if he can do without her, since he has grown accustomed
to having her around. Eliza claims that he should not have taught her anything because it only
leads to trouble, but Higgins claims that all creation leads to trouble.

Eliza says that she is holding out for something more, adding that Freddy is infatuated with her
and writes her letters every day. She says that she participated in the experiment because she had
come to care for Higgins, and all she wanted was a little kindness. She had not forgotten the
social and economic gaps between them. Higgins idealizes the lower-class life, saying that you
work until you are inhuman, then you squabble or make love or drink until you fall asleep. He
also says that Eliza needs too much attention. She says that to assert her independence she will
marry Freddy or become a teacher of phonetics. He finds her spirit to be attractive and says that
she is no longer a woman but a tower of strength. He suggests that she live with him and Colonel
Pickering, the three of them together as bachelors.
Mrs. Higgins returns dressed for the wedding, and she takes Eliza with her. Higgins asks her to
run his errands for him, including one to buy some cheese and ham. She says a final goodbye to
him, and he seems confident that she will follow his command.

The onstage drama ends, and Shaw adds, in an epilogue, that Eliza recognizes Higgins as
predestined to be a bachelor-and that she marries Freddy instead. (This was somewhat of a
scandal, but the fact that Eliza's father had become a social success made it less hard on the
Eynsford Hills.) With a gift from Colonel Pickering, Eliza opens up a flower shop. The only
person truly bothered by this state of affairs is Clara, who figures that the marriage will not help
her own marriage prospects. But Clara began to read H.G. Wells and travel in the circles of his
fans, and she decides to begin working in a furniture shop herself in the hopes that she might
meet Wells (because the woman who owns the shop is also a fan of his). Freddy is not very
practical, and he and Eliza have to take classes in bookkeeping to make their business a success.
But they do make it a success, and they live a fairly comfortable life.

Analysis

The mythological themes that give the title to this play are at their strongest in this act. The
audience learns conclusively that Higgins truly views himself as Eliza's creator.

Shaw sets up a strange, almost Freudian symmetry between Higgins and his mother on the one
hand and Eliza and her father on the other. Higgins gives one of his reasons for never marrying
as his too great respect for his mother. Her love of beauty, art, and philosophy has led her son to
value Milton's poetry and his own universal alphabet more highly than he could a relationship
with a woman. From Eliza's perspective, Higgins seems too much like her father in that neither
of them really needs her. Eliza genuinely cares about Higgins and is stung by the idea that he
needs her no more than he needs his slippers. This represents the same sort of nonchalance with
which Doolittle sells his only daughter in Act II for a five-pound note. Paternal relations and
romantic relations, should be stronger than this. But Higgins's respect for his mother seems to
interfere with his own life.

Shaw's description of the final state of affairs shows an interesting perspective on love. Freddy
was infatuated with Eliza and remains so, but it is unclear what her feelings are towards him. She
certainly likes him, but she continues to feel the most passionately (mostly in anger) about
Higgins. She wishes that she could get him on a "desert island" just to see him make love like
any other man-but this remains a private fantasy which Shaw dismisses as ultimately
unimportant. The social mores of the characters tend to favor balanced and practical love over
passionate, romantic love.

Despite the fact that Shaw moved away from Ireland at a young age, he is a quintessentially Irish
writer. (See, for instance, John Bull's Other Island Show.) Read in the light of the imperial
relationship between England and Ireland, Eliza's final declaration of independence might have a
political connotation, especially since language and location have been intertwined from the
beginning. The fact that the English forced their language on the Gaelic-speaking Irish, after
invading Ireland, has particular bearing on this play, where we witness a male forcibly teaching a
female to speak. (One might consider the possibility of similar themes of colonization and
intrusion that involve reshaping language in Shakespeare's (otherwise very different play) The
Tempest and, much later, Beckett's Endgame.) Like Shakespeare's Caliban, Eliza may see a
significant benefit of her newly-acquired language as the ability to curse her "master" with
fluency. And Ireland (like many countries) is feminized in the Irish popular imagination,
represented by female names like Erin and "Kathleen Ni Houlihan," while in colonial narratives
the conqueror is usually portrayed as male. Pygmalion was produced only four years before the
1916 Easter Uprising, and Eliza's demand for self-determination, after rising into her own social
maturity, may reflect the Irish nationalist cause.

Pygmalion Precursors to Pygmalion

Shaw's play, as its title indicates, owes much to previous sources, mostly mythology. Pygmalion
was a character in the tenth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. A sculptor from Cyprus who did not
enjoy the company of women, the man Pygmalion created an idealized female form out of ivory
and then fell in love with the statue. He began to bring it presents as he would a lover, and he
prayed to Aphrodite-the goddess of love-to meet a woman like his statue. Instead, Aphrodite
brought his statue to life. Pygmalion named her Galatea, married her, and had a son named
Paphos.
This myth differs from Shaw's interpretation in several regards. Most importantly, Eliza (as
Galatea) was already a living person before Higgins (as Pygmalion) "created" her. Higgins
certainly shapes Eliza's demeanor, her voice, and the way she looks, but he does not fashion her
out of marble. Higgins gives Eliza a new human life in the way that Aphrodite did, while it was
Eliza's father who "created" Eliza's material reality. Moreover (and quite rightly), Eliza is
indignant when Higgins claims that her success at winning his bet is his own. When she realizes
that she no longer fits into any stratum of society, Eliza curses Higgins for "creating" her at all.
The largest difference between the play and the myth is the ending. In Shaw's play, the stand-in
for Galatea does not choose to marry the stand-in for Pygmalion. In the prologue, Shaw explains
that "Galatea never does quite like Pygmalion: His relation to her is too god-like to be altogether
agreeable." In ancient myth, it was not so bad to have a relationship with a god, but this is not the
kind of thing Eliza wants.

Shaw's Pygmalion has one other major source, the tale of King Cophetua. King Cophetua was
an apocryphal monarch who was not interested in women until he met a beggar-woman. He fell
in love with her and elevated her to be his queen. The Cophetua complex names an attraction to
lower-class women, a tendency which Higgins exhibits in his interactions with Eliza. (The
broader rags-to-riches theme is common in Western literature; compare the film Pretty Woman.)
Higgins assures Pickering that his students are "sacred," because he has always found them so
before. But he finds himself attracted to Eliza, who is quite different from the millionaires he
taught before. Part of this difference is in the power dynamic which is so central to Higgins'
relationship to Eliza. Like Pygmalion and King Cophetua, if he were to choose Eliza as his
consort, he would be in a position of great power in the relationship.
Pygmalion | Character Analysis
Higgins
In addition to being an authority on phonetics, Henry Higgins is the author of Higgins's
Universal Alphabet. He is described as "a robust, vital, appetizing sort of man of forty or
thereabouts" and is "of the energetic, scientific type, heartily, even violently interested in
everything that can be studied as a scientific subject." He is also "careless about himself and
other people, including their feelings." This trait becomes most evident in his treatment of Eliza.
Yet his "genial bullying" and "stormy petulance" are balanced by a forthright manner and lack of
any malice, so that "he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments." Throughout the
play, his complex temperament serves as a catalyst for events, beginning with his ill-mannered
eavesdropping on Eliza and boorish comments about her English in Act 1. His continued
inability to see and treat Eliza as anything more than a lowly flower girl forces her to take a stand
for independence and self-respect. While Higgins remains fundamentally unchanged by the end
of the play, he gains a new perspective on Eliza and holds her in higher regard and with more
respect.

Eliza
Eliza Doolittle, also called Liza, is a girl perhaps 18 or 20 years old. Her initial appearance as a
flower girl is quite unattractive: dirty, shabbily dressed, and in need of a dentist. Her Cockney
accent and "kerbstone English" place her in London's lower class, yet her intelligence and
ambition allow her to aspire to something finer. The flower girl who presents herself at Higgins's
laboratory is a "deplorable figure," making her transformation to a lady who can pass for a
duchess all the more awesome. Yet, as Eliza points out to Pickering, her fine speech and manners
are acquired skills, nothing more. Learning them was "just like learning to dance in the
fashionable way." The real transformation comes with being treated like a lady and, from there,
gaining self-respect. By the end of the play, Eliza emerges as a poised, independent woman who
knows her own worth and intends to make her own way in the world.

Pickering
In addition to his expertise in language, Colonel Pickering is the "author of Spoken Sanskrit" and
is a master of Indian dialects. He is an "elderly gentleman of the amiable military type," and
throughout the play, he demonstrates a generous and courteous nature, particularly noticeable in
his treatment of Eliza—both as a flower girl and a lady. In fact, it is Pickering who kindles
Eliza's feeling of self-respect when, on the day she first comes to Wimpole Street, he calls her
"Miss Doolittle." Thereafter, he shows her in "a hundred little things" that she is "something
better than a scullery maid" and to him, she will always be a lady. For his part in the experiment,
Pickering pays for Eliza's lessons and clothes. He also provides a counterbalance to Higgins's
chronic insensitivity. He is sincerely alarmed when Eliza, driven by anger and hurt, leaves the
professor's home and indicates that she will not be returning. His final words to her before
accompanying Alfred Doolittle to the former dustman's wedding are, "Do stay with us, Eliza."

Doolittle
Alfred Doolittle is described as "elderly, but vigorous dustman." A happy member of the
undeserving poor, he "seems equally free from fear or conscience" and exhibits skill at
wheedling money out of others. "He has a remarkably expressive voice" and, as Higgins
discovers, no morals at all—he is willing to turn his daughter over to Higgins, no questions
asked, for five pounds. During the course of the play, Doolittle comes into money and, as a
result, is vaulted into middle-class status. Lacking the courage to reject the money, he finds
himself forced to align with the higher standards of middle-class morality, which includes
marrying his live-in missus. In misery he laments that "happier men than me will call for my dust
... and I'll look on helpless, and envy them."

Mrs. Higgins
Mrs. Higgins is a gracious member of the upper class. Her affection for Higgins does not shield
her from irritation at his lack of manners, and she is adept at putting him in his place. Intelligent
and perceptive, she soon discerns the problems that her son's experiment will cause for Eliza, and
sympathizes with the girl. As the conflict between Eliza and Higgins erupts, it is to Mrs. Higgins
that Eliza turns for help.

Freddy
Freddy is a young man of 20, a member of the upper class, good-natured though somewhat
weak, and a true gentleman. He is infatuated with Eliza, writes to her daily, and is happiest just
spending time on the street where she lives. At the end of the play, Eliza suggests that she might
marry Freddy, though he has no money to support them both and seems unfit for work. But he is
devoted to her, can offer the kindness that she needs, and, unlike Higgins, he won't try to make
something out of her.

Mrs. Pearce
Mrs. Pearce has been Higgins's housekeeper for some time—long enough to know his singular
ways and, without fear, to reproach him when needed for his lack of social graces. She has a
strong sense of propriety, and takes it upon herself to be sure that Eliza is cared for properly
while in the house. A bond between them grows, and Mrs. Pearce frequently pushes Higgins to
show consideration for Eliza and to think about her future.
Pygmalion | Plot Summary
Pygmalion opens on a summer night in the London marketplace Covent Garden. A sudden
downpour has pedestrians sprinting for shelter or taxis. Beneath the portico of St. Paul's Church,
several people have gathered, including a young Cockney flower girl, an older gentleman of
military bearing, and a man taking notes on the flower girl's speech.
The flower girl assumes the note taker is a policeman. Terrified, she protests her innocence of
any wrongdoing. Soon it becomes clear that the man is only interested in phonetically noting her
"kerbstone" English—"English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days." He boasts
that he could teach her to speak like a duchess in three months. It turns out that he is the famous
phonetician Henry Higgins. The elderly gentleman is Colonel Pickering, an admirer and fellow
speech expert. Higgins invites Pickering to come around the next day to his home on Wimpole
Street. Then, flinging a generous collection of coins at the flower girl, Higgins departs for supper
with the colonel.
The next morning, the flower girl—Eliza Doolittle—boldly shows up at Higgins's home. She
explains that she wants to be a lady in a flower shop, and she offers to pay him to teach her to
"talk more genteel." Pickering, who is present, says he will cover all expenses if, in six months,
Higgins can pass Eliza off as a lady. Intrigued, Higgins accepts the terms of the bet. Mr.
Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, urges Higgins to consider the girl's future: "What is to
become of her when you've finished your teaching?" she asks. "You must look ahead a little."
While Higgins's housekeeper bathes Eliza and orders new clothes, another visitor arrives: Alfred
Doolittle—Eliza's ne'er-do-well father. A poor dustman (garbage man), he has no paternal
interest in Eliza beyond handing her over to Higgins for five pounds. His callousness is slightly
diminished by the fact that he believes Higgins's motives are honorable. Higgins gives him "a
fiver," and Doolittle departs.
Some months later, Higgins takes Eliza on a surprise visit to his mother, an intelligent and
dignified lady. While the girl's pronunciation is quite good, she needs to learn what to say, and
Higgins hopes his mother can help. Also at the get-together are Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, a
mother and daughter encountered earlier in Covent Garden, as well as Pickering and Freddy.
Though Eliza now looks and acts the part of a fine lady, her vocabulary and unfortunate choice
of topics gives away her humble beginnings. With some difficulty, Higgins covers her gaffes,
and Freddy is smitten with the lovely Eliza.
Later, Mrs. Higgins scolds her son and Pickering both for "playing with your live doll" without
considering what will happen to Eliza when the experiment is over. She points out that Eliza will
have the refinements of a lady, which inevitably will bar her from earning a living. Untroubled
by this prospect the two depart, and Mrs. Higgins cries out in frustration, "Oh, men! men!!
men!!!"
Months later, after Eliza has further honed her skills, Higgins and Pickering put Eliza's
accomplishments to the test, and she performs flawlessly. Back at the Wimpole Street laboratory,
Higgins and Pickering bask in the victory, with no thought of Eliza. Higgins declares "Thank
God it's over," so now he can go to bed "without dreading tomorrow." Directing Eliza to turn off
the lights, Higgins starts upstairs, but then returns to get his slippers and finds Eliza weeping
with rage. She flings the slippers at him and asserts that they mean more to him than she does;
she has won his bet for him, and now he will toss her back into the gutter. The stormy scene that
ensues ends with Higgins stalking out and slamming the door. In his anger and hurt, he is
oblivious to the fact that Eliza intends to leave.
The next morning, Higgins and Pickering visit Mrs. Higgins to tell her that Eliza is missing.
Shortly, the parlor maid announces that a gentleman is waiting to speak to Mr. Higgins. His
name is Mr. Doolittle. Higgins learns, to his astonishment, that an offhand mention of Doolittle
in a letter to a rich American has made the former dustman very well off. Far from pleased by
this turn of luck, Doolittle accuses Higgins of robbing him of his freedom and happiness. Now he
is trapped by middle-class morality and on his way to get married, like a respectable citizen.

In this, Mrs. Higgins sees good fortune for Eliza, who now will have someone to support her.
She reveals that the young lady is upstairs and defends Eliza's choice to leave him and Pickering.
The two have behaved heartlessly and selfishly toward her.

A calm, composed Eliza comes downstairs and greets the men. She thanks Pickering for treating
her with respect from the very beginning. To Higgins she explains that he will always treat her
like a common flower girl, though now she has it in her power to be his equal. No, she will not
come back.

Higgins is pleased with Eliza's unexpected transformation from whimpering girl to self-assured
woman, and tells her so. All the same, as she leaves with Mrs. Higgins to see her father wed,
Higgins cannot resist instructing her to buy some gloves and a tie for him. Eliza replies, "Buy
them yourself," and sweeps out. Complacently, Higgins chuckles, certain that "she'll buy em all
right enough."

Pygmalion | Act 1 | Summary

Pygmalion is written in five acts. Unlike plays written with scenes that have multiple settings,
the play has only three settings: Covent Garden, Henry Higgins's apartment, and Mrs. Higgins's
apartment.
In Covent Garden, a district of London, a sudden torrent of rain sends people hurrying for shelter
under the portico of St. Paul's Church. Among them are a finely dressed lady and her daughter,
who have been to the theater and are now desperate to find a taxi to take them home. Another is
a man with a notebook in which he is busily writing. The lady's son, Freddy, rushes in bearing
the bad news that no cabs are available. Impatiently, his mother sends him back out to try again.
As he sets off he runs into a dirty and disheveled girl selling flowers and sends her flower basket
flying. With a swift apology he dashes out into the rain, leaving her to pick up her scattered
flowers. Despite the objections of the lady's daughter, Clara, the lady pays the girl for two
bunches of ruined violets.
Moments later, an elderly gentleman dressed in evening clothes hurries in out of the rain. He
pauses near the flower girl, who tries to sell him some flowers. He hasn't enough loose change to
pay for any but gives the girl three hapence, or half pennies, and walks off. A bystander warns
the girl to give the gentleman a flower in exchange as there is another man eavesdropping and
taking down her every word. He may be a detective. Panicked that she will be accused of
soliciting for prostitution, the girl hysterically confronts the note taker, who dismisses her fear,
saying, "Oh, shut up, shut up. Do I look like a policeman?" However, a general hubbub among
the bystanders erupts in defense of the frightened girl. Things turn a bit hostile when the note
taker begins identifying where various speakers come from, based on their speech. The people
don't like the sense of being played with or patronized. The tension eases when the note taker
turns his trick on the elderly gentleman, and then on the lady and her daughter. The note taker
brags to the elderly gentleman that he could make a duchess of the flower girl by teaching her to
speak properly. Meanwhile, the rain stops, and soon the bystanders, including the two ladies,
have dispersed.

Only the elderly gentleman, note taker, and flower girl remain. It turns out the men share a
common interest in language and have been intending to seek each other out. The elderly
gentleman is Colonel Pickering, a student of Indian dialects and the author of Spoken Sanscrit.
The gentleman is Professor Henry Higgins, author of Higgins's Universal Alphabet. Higgins
invites Pickering around to his home at 27A Wimpole Street the next day, and the two men
depart for a chat over some supper. At the pricking of his conscience, Higgins tosses a handful of
coins in the flower girl's basket as he leaves. It's a fortune by her standards, and when poor
Freddy pulls up in a taxi for his mother and sister (who have taken the bus), she takes it off his
hands and goes home in style.

Analysis
Act 1 serves three main purposes: to introduce the play's three main characters, establish the
central premise of the play, and provide social context for the events that will unfold.
The first main character introduced is the flower girl, later revealed to be Eliza Doolittle. Shaw 's
description of her and her first nearly unintelligible words to Freddy's mother paint the picture of
a girl doomed to a life of struggle by her appearance, manners, and way of speaking. Translated,
her statement to the mother that begins, "Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y'de-ooty
bawmz a mather ..." means "Oh, he's your son, is he? Well, if you'd done your duty by him as a
mother should, he'd know better than you to spoil a poor girl's flowers and then run away without
paying. Will you pay me for them?" Her Cockney accent attracts the attention of the note taker
(Professor Henry Higgins), and he writes down her exchange with the gentleman, later identified
as Colonel Pickering. Pickering, of course, turns out to be a language expert like Higgins. In this
way, language draws the three characters into a lasting relationship that is basic to the plot.
Language, in fact, is the unifying thread in a network of characters that emerge as the act
progresses. Gathered beneath the portico of St. Paul's Church while sheltering from the rain, an
array of London citizenry represents the different levels of Victorian society, from the high class
of Higgins and Pickering to the low class of Eliza. The mother and daughter (Clara) represent the
genteel poor—those born into wealth but who have fallen on hard times. The bystanders
represent classes in between—those who work in service or at a trade and those who have the
potential for upward mobility.

The origins of all the characters can all be identified by their patterns of speech. For example,
Eliza's Cockney accent places her home in Lisson Grove, a former slum area in central London
—not "fit for a pig to live in," according to Eliza—urbanized during the mid-19th century and
remaining poor into the 20th century. Higgins identifies the bystander as coming from the
seaside village of Selsey, and the sarcastic bystander's speech patterns place him in the trade and
manufacturing center of Hoxton. Shaw uses the characters, especially Eliza, to establish the main
premise of the play: the role of language in determining a person's place in society. Shaw asks,
can an expert in speech teach a common girl speaking "kerbstone English" to pass as a member
of the elite class?

Higgins specializes in helping people hide their places of origin by teaching them to speak
properly. As he says, it "is an age of upstarts," and society is changing. Industrialization and
capitalism have created the possibility of upward mobility. Yet, Victorian class standards still
prevail, and speaking properly is key. As Higgins says, men who begin in Kentish Town—a
working-class district of London—and end in upper-crust Park Lane "want to drop Kentish
Town; but they give themselves away every time they open their mouths." Just as he claims to
help them, he says that he could pass Eliza off as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party if
given just three months with her. This plants the seed in Eliza's mind that leads her to Higgins's
home in Act 2; it also foreshadows her later triumph at the ambassador's party.
Clothing is also an important feature in this act and throughout the play. Eliza's dirty, shabby
clothes, worn boots, and soot-blackened hat are clear indications of her impoverished state. In
contrast, the fine evening clothes of Pickering, Freddy, the mother, and Clara place them in the
upper classes. When Higgins is first mistaken for a policeman or informer, the bystander points
out, "It's all right: he's a gentleman: look at his boots." As the play progresses, Eliza's clothing
will reflect various stages of her transformation into a lady.
In the 1941 published play, Shaw added scenes inspired by the film adaptation of Pygmalion,
which starred Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. The first one appears at the end of Act 1 when
Eliza takes a taxi to her lodgings. Shaw describes the damp, dreary room decorated with pictures
torn from newspapers—a hint that Eliza dreams of something better for herself. When the light
of the gas lamp goes out, she is torn between spending another penny for light or going to bed.
At the time that Shaw wrote Pygmalion, people paid for the gas supply for a room or house as
needed by depositing a coin in a meter. Eliza's "gnawing sense of the need for economy" wins
and she crawls into bed, sleeping in her clothes to keep away the cold. In this scene, Shaw shows
the deprivation that Eliza endures and will attempt to escape.

Pygmalion | Act 2 | Summary

The morning after the gathering under the portico of St. Paul's
Church, Pickering visits Higgins at his home and laboratory on Wimpole Street. As the professor
winds up an exhaustive demonstration of the various devices he uses to study speech, his
housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, announces the arrival of a young woman. She is "quite a common
girl," has a dreadful accent, and insists on seeing Higgins. Thinking this may offer an
opportunity for further demonstrations, Higgins tells Mrs. Pearce to send the young woman in.
Immediately he recognizes the flower girl from the night before and, having no further use for
her, tells her to go away. But the flower girl, whose name is Eliza, stops him with the revelation
that she has come for speech lessons, "and to pay for em, too." Eliza aspires to become a lady in
a flower shop "stead of selling at the corner of Tottenham Court Road. But they won't take me
unless I can talk more genteel." She reminds Higgins of his claim that he could teach her, and
offers him a shilling an hour to do so—quite a substantial sum for a person with her income. The
challenge intrigues Higgins. Pickering says he'll pay for the lessons if Higgins succeeds, and
count him the greatest teacher alive. Higgins accepts the wager, vowing to "make a duchess of
this draggletailed guttersnipe" in six months. Then he instructs Mrs. Pearce to find a room for
Eliza to stay in and to give her a bath, burn her clothes, and order new garments.
Mrs. Pearce chides Higgins for thinking he can "take a girl up like that as if you were picking up
a pebble on the beach." She advises Eliza to go home to her parents, but Eliza says they have
turned her out to earn her own living. Mrs. Pearce sternly asks Higgins on what terms Eliza will
stay in the house and what will become of her when the experiment is done. Impatient with such
details, Higgins leaves them to Mrs. Pearce to settle with Eliza.
While Eliza bathes, "elderly but vigorous dustman" who claims to be Eliza's father visits Higgins
and Pickering. He is Alfred Doolittle, a callous, unprincipled scoundrel who has come to touch
Higgins for money in exchange for Eliza. Higgins is struck by Doolittle's natural gift of rhetoric
and shocked by the man's lack of morals. But Doolittle unabashedly explains that he is too poor
to afford them, and he assures Higgins that the money will be well spent: "There won't be a
penny of it left by Monday ... Just one good spree for myself and the missus." As he leaves five
pounds richer, he encounters a young "Japanese lady" in a blue kimono. Begging her pardon, he
is astonished to discover that it's Eliza. She has cleaned up quite nicely. With a last word of
advice to Higgins to take a strap to her if he wants her mind improved, Doolittle departs.
Eliza is darkly pleased to see him go and has no desire to see him again. Moments later, her new
clothes arrive, and with a howl of delight she rushes from the room to try them on. Higgins and
Pickering can see they have "taken on a stiff job."

Analysis

Act 2 sets up the experiment that will raise Eliza from low- to upper-class status. It also reveals
the personal reasons Eliza, Higgins, and Pickering have for taking on the daring task. Two
additional characters are introduced—Mrs. Pearce and Alfred Doolittle—who will play minor,
though influential, roles in Eliza's story.
As described, Higgins's laboratory was intended to be a drawing room—a room in a large private
house in which guests can be received and entertained. The fact that Higgins has turned it into a
laboratory symbolizes his disregard for convention as well as conventional behavior or
expectations. In general, the room reflects the character of an intellectual, social nonconformist
who has the enthusiasm for his field of study and the required skill to gamble on transforming a
flower girl into a lady. There are spots of comfort, like the easy chair near the fire and the dessert
dish heaped with fruits and sweets. Otherwise, everything is useful and handy, set up for
Higgins's tastes, interests, and pursuits. Even the art on the walls echoes his scientific nature,
featuring subdued architectural engravings and portraits in steel or copper. There are no
paintings, which reflects his preference for austerity over Victorian art's vibrant colors.

When Eliza presents herself to Higgins, she has attempted to clean herself up and dress for the
occasion. There is verbal irony in her exchange with Higgins when he calls her "so deliciously
low—so horribly dirty." Knowing no better, Eliza wails in reply, "I ain't dirty: I washed my face
and hands afore I come, I did." However, there is nothing to laugh at when Eliza reveals her
reason for wanting lessons. She is nothing but a Cockney flower girl yet she dares to tell two
gentlemen—one of whom has shown her little respect—that she dreams of being a lady in a
flower shop someday. It is a bold, courageous leap that could have cruelly ended in crushed
hopes. The willingness to take a risk is one of Eliza's strengths. Other strengths were glimpsed
earlier in Act 1, such as her inherent self-respect ("My character is the same to me as any lady's")
and a strong sense of propriety ("I'm a good girl, I am").
Higgins takes on the challenge of turning Eliza into a lady without thought to what it will mean
to Eliza. The prospect fascinates him, and he considers it one of life's "inspired follies" that
should not be missed. Pickering is similarly interested, though from the beginning he views Eliza
as a person and treats her kindly. Throughout the play, he will act as a foil for Higgins—his
respectful demeanor and consideration for Eliza counterbalancing Higgins's rudeness and
insensitivity.
Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, does her part in protecting Eliza from Higgins—at first,
pressing him to be reasonable and to send Eliza back to her parents. Discovering that Eliza is on
her own, Mrs. Pearce then asks Higgins to consider what's to become of her when he completes
his teaching. She knows Higgins is not cruel in his thoughtlessness and is equally reckless about
outcomes for himself. "When you get what you call interested in people's accents," she says,
"you never think or care what may happen to them or you." She assumes a motherly sternness as
she takes Eliza in hand, gets her scrubbed and cleaned, and presents her to Higgins and
Pickering. This relationship will continue to strengthen as the play progresses.
The introduction of Eliza's father, Alfred Doolittle, provides insight into Eliza's rough upbringing
and her father's perspective on being one of the "undeserving poor." Doolittle has no interest in
Eliza's welfare beyond the money he can wheedle out of Higgins. "What's a five-pound note to
you?" he asks Higgins. "And what's Eliza to me?" While Eliza wants to better herself, Doolittle
has no desire to better himself. He explains, "Undeserving poverty is my line. Taking one station
in society with another ... it's the only one that has any ginger in it, to my taste." There is little
love lost between daughter and father, and Eliza states after Doolittle leaves, "I don't want never
to see him again, I don't. He's a disgrace to me."
As in the previous act, Shaw carefully describes clothing and appearances. Doolittle's dustman
(garbage man) garb and "professional flavor of dust" leave no doubt as to his social status.
Eliza's appearance after her bath represents the first step in her transformation. The dirty flower
girl is gone, replaced with "a dainty and exquisitely clean young Japanese lady in a simple blue
cotton kimono" that even her father does not recognize—until, of course, she speaks.
Two optional scenes are included in the 1941 version of Act 2. The first is the bath scene, which
is only alluded to in the original text. Here, Eliza expresses genuine dread of taking a bath,
certain that it will be the death of her. The idea of the bath also offends her sense of decency, as
she will have to remove her clothes. When Mrs. Pearce tells her that she will be expected to
remove her clothes nightly and wear a proper nightdress, Eliza's fear that she will "lie awake
shivering half the night" provides a glimpse into the deprivation that she has dealt with. "But you
don't know what the cold is to me," she says, "how I dread it."

The second optional scene, placed at the end of Act 2, presents Eliza's first speech lesson.
Though it ends in tears of frustration, Eliza shows that she has a quick ear and the talent to learn.

Pygmalion | Act 3 | Summary

The story moves to the drawing room at the home of Higgin's mother. Elegantly furnished, it
reflects a woman of wealth and refinement. It is Mrs. Higgins's day for receiving visitors, and
she is not pleased when her son bursts in without warning. He lacks social graces and tends to
insult her guests. Higgins further surprises her with news that he has asked a common flower girl
whom he has taught to speak properly to come see her. However, as he explains, while her
pronunciation is quite good, she still needs to learn what to talk about. He hopes his mother can
help. The extent of the problem soon becomes humorously clear.
Mrs. Higgins's other guests arrive, and among them is Mrs. Eynsford Hill, the genteel lady
from Act 1 who purchased the flowers spoiled by her son, Freddy. He, too, is present, as are her
daughter, Clara, and Pickering—the last to arrive before Eliza makes her entrance. Elegantly
dressed, the former flower girl creates an impression of exceptional beauty and sophistication
while she perfectly articulates her greetings. As Mrs. Higgins later comments, Eliza is "a triumph
of [her son's] art and of her dressmaker's." Nevertheless, in a scene that is both hilarious and
nerve-racking, Eliza soon slips into an unsuitable family tale of a "pinched" straw hat, a
suspected murder, and some hard gin drinking. With a bit of quick thinking, Higgins passes it all
off as "the new small talk," and Eliza tells the tale so charmingly that the Eynsford Hills suspect
nothing. Freddy, in fact, is captivated by her loveliness and odd ways. As she leaves, he takes her
to the door and inquires if she intends to walk home. Her reply, "Not bloody likely. I am going in
a taxi," is shocking but fails to destroy the overall delightful impression she has made.
Once alone with Higgins and Pickering, Mrs. Higgins passes judgment on the whole affair,
telling them that Eliza is not presentable and gives herself away "in every sentence she utters."
Learning more about the experiment, she chides both men for treating Eliza like a live doll—a
thing to be dressed and taught to speak but with no feelings or future. The results of teaching
Eliza to look and sound like a fine lady will likely leave her caught between two worlds—one in
which she still needs to earn a living, the other in which her new status disqualifies her from
doing so. Both men miss the point completely, vaguely assuring Mrs. Higgins that "we'll do
what's right." Then they leave with plans to take Eliza to a Shakespeare exhibition. Alone with
her frustration over the obtuseness of the two, Mrs. Higgins cries out, "Oh, men! men!! men!!!"
In later editions of the play, an important "optional scene" follows, influenced by the
screenplay Shaw wrote for the film adaptation of Pygmalion. The setting is a party one summer
evening at an embassy in London, where Higgins puts Eliza's education to the final test. The
greatest obstacle to her success is Nepommuck, a Hungarian interpreter and Higgins's former
student who may expose her as an aristocratic impostor. Nepommuck does accuse her of being a
fraud, but for speaking English too perfectly. He determines she is a Hungarian princess. The
experiment proves a success, and Higgins wins the wager with Pickering.

Analysis
The key developments in Act 3 are the introduction of Mrs. Higgins, Eliza 's first appearance in
London society, and the outcome of that incident.
Just as Higgins's laboratory expresses his character, Mrs. Higgins 's drawing room reflects an
educated, free-thinking woman of wealth, sophistication, refined taste, and modern leanings. Her
home is situated in Chelsea, an artist's quarter in London. The Morris wallpaper, curtains, and
similar decor show her interest in a popular decorative and fine arts movement of the time: the
Arts and Crafts Movement. The movement developed from a concern over the effects of
industrialization and set standards for home decor that aligned with emerging ideals of beauty.
Designer and artist William Morris was a leading figure in this movement. Mrs. Higgins further
proclaims her modernity with open spaces and uncluttered surfaces, rejecting the fussy Victorian
style that left nothing unadorned. Her taste in artwork is refined, and her portrait is in the
romantic style of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose work led to a
widespread recognition of the need for beauty in everyday life.
Mrs. Higgins's home is the perfect setting for Eliza. In her clothing and mannerisms, the Flower
Girl has made great strides. Even her speech is perfectly articulated. However, her choice of
topic hardly matches either her exquisite appearance or language, especially her use of bloody, a
word considered obscene in Shaw's time. It should have given her away, yet it does not. In this
way, Shaw demonstrates the foolishness of making judgments based on appearances.
In the encounter with the Eynsford Hills, Clara is a foil for Eliza. As a lady of the upper class,
Clara has the education and refinement that Eliza desires. She has always been clean and well
dressed and is at home in society. Eliza, in contrast, is rising from the ignorance and squalor of
poverty. She knows what it is to be dirty, cold, and ill dressed. Clara represents everything to
which Eliza aspires and, in the meeting, is the benchmark against which her progress will be
measured. However, both women are wearing a mask and putting on a show. Clara is aware of
her family's decline in wealth and exhibits "the bravado of genteel poverty." Eliza knows where
she comes from and does her best to imitate a lady.

In this act, new relationships form, which will have far-reaching effects as the play continues.
The first is one of sympathy between Mrs. Higgins and Eliza. Despite her modern leanings, Mrs.
Higgins is a product of the Victorian Era, which confines women to strictly defined roles in
society. She conforms to her role and sees the dangers for Eliza. Though some women are
demanding increased political and legal rights and greater economic opportunities, Mrs. Higgins
recognizes that those opportunities may not be available to Eliza—her son and Pickering are
jeopardizing the girl's future. Her sympathy for Eliza is established when Higgins carelessly
replies, "There's no good bothering now. The thing's done."
A second relationship forms between Freddy and Eliza. He is smitten with her beauty and
unconventional ways. Later, his adoration will be a source of comfort for Eliza and of irritation
for Higgins.
The optional scene at the end of Act 3 in the 1941 version of Pygmalion provides a deeper
insight into Higgins's character. Curious and clever Nepommuck divines—incorrectly—that
Eliza is a Hungarian princess, proving Higgins's premise that acquiring proper speech will breach
social barriers. However, Higgins is disappointed that it was so easy to fool his former student
and the elites at the party. Instead of reveling in the victory, he says to Eliza and Pickering, "Let
us get out of this. I have had enough of chattering to these fools."

Pygmalion | Act 4 | Summary

It's midnight, and Eliza, Higgins, and Pickering are returning to Wimpole Street after the
exhausting but highly successful final test of Eliza's skills. Higgins scornfully remarks, "Oh
Lord! What an evening! What a crew! What a silly tomfoolery!" Then, complaining that he
cannot find his slippers, he takes no notice when Eliza finds and places them before him and
continues to sound off about the party, saying, "Thank God it's over!" Oblivious to Eliza's
growing resentment, he labels the whole experiment as a "bore" and "simple purgatory," and
then states that he "can go to bed at last without dreading tomorrow." Eliza holds her temper
until Higgins and Pickering leave the room, and then bursts into tears of rage.
Moments later, Higgins returns, once more searching for his slippers, and she throws them at him
with all her strength. She has won his bet for him, and now he has no more use for her. "What's
to become of me?" she demands. Higgins attempts to persuade her that she is simply tired and
suffering a case of nerves; a good night's sleep will make things right. After all, she is now free
and can do what she likes. Gradually, he understands that she has no idea what she is fit for or
what will become of her. Clumsily, he suggests that she could find a rich man to marry who will
take care of her—a solution Eliza rejects: "We were above that at the corner of Tottenham
Court ... I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself."

Refusing to take the problem seriously, Higgins starts off for bed. He stops when Eliza quietly
asks, "Do my clothes belong to me or to Colonel Pickering?" She wants to know what she can
take with her and doesn't "want to be accused of stealing." He is shocked, then further angered
when she hands him the jewels, he rented for her along with a ring that he bought her, telling him
she doesn't want it anymore. Dashing the ring into the fireplace, he stalks out and slams the door.

In another important "optional scene" Eliza changes clothes and leaves the house. Outside, she
comes upon Freddy gazing up at her window. Love-struck, he spends most of his nights there on
the street. Hungry for comfort, Eliza falls into his arms and responds to his passionate kisses—
until first one, then another constable tells them to move along. They end up in a taxi with a plan
to drive around all night. In the morning, Eliza will visit Mrs. Higgins and ask her advice on
what she should do.

Analysis
In this act, the evening's success is the culmination of all Eliza and Higgins have worked to
achieve. Yet, the turning point in the play occurs after the victory. Eliza's contribution to the
evening's triumph—her months of tireless study and fine performance—go unacknowledged by
Higgins and barely touched upon by Pickering. The professor still sees Eliza as little more than a
means to an end, a way of proving his theory about language and his genius as a teacher. In Act
1, Pickering asks, "Does it occur to you, Higgins, that the girl has some feelings?" Higgins
replies, "Oh no, I don't think so. Not any feelings that we need bother about." Clearly, nothing
has changed for Higgins. Eliza now feels the sting of his words deeply when he acts as if the
experiment has been a bore and the outcome somewhat meaningless. When Pickering
compliments him, saying, "There's always something professional about doing a thing
superlatively well," Higgins answers, "Yes: that's what drives me mad: the silly people don't
know their own silly business." In other words, they were easy to fool and no thanks to Eliza.
The crisis comes when Eliza gives vent to her anger and frustration, finally standing up to
Higgins in the face of his insensitivity. Fear floods her at the thought that, having no further use
for her, he will abandon her, throwing her into the street—just as her father and stepmother had
done. She has had a taste of life as a lady and acquired all the necessary attributes. Her dreams
have grown beyond merely working in a flower shop. As Mrs. Higgins had predicted in Act 3,
she now has "the manners and habits that disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living" and
has no means of supporting herself.
Higgins dismisses her fear, suggests that now she could marry well, and advises her to take a
good look in a mirror—"you won't feel so cheap," meaning, worthless. Throughout the
experiment, Higgins has viewed Eliza as his creation, and the changes he has imposed are
superficial: language, clothing, and manners. Therefore, in his perception Eliza is what he can
see and hear, and he assumes this is all that matters to her as well. In Act 3, he speaks to his
mother about the human soul, saying that proper speech can fill up "the deepest gulf that
separates class from class and soul from soul." Even so, Higgins has not yet seen that Eliza
possesses this feature.

In the 1913 version of the play, Higgins takes the ring Eliza returns to him along with her rented
jewelry and throws the ring violently into the fireplace. The scene ends with Eliza "on her knees
on the hearthrug," searching through the ashes for the ring—an image suggestive of the fairy tale
character Cinderella. In the 1941 version, this scene leads into the optional scene with Freddy.
Eliza retrieves the ring and puts it on the dessert stand where she knows Higgins will find it,
being so fond of sweets. She then goes upstairs, changes her clothes, and leaves. Outside, when
Freddy sees her, he properly addresses her as "Miss Doolittle." Judging herself by Higgins's
behavior, Eliza rebukes him, saying, "Don't you call me Miss Doolittle, do you hear? Liza's good
enough for me." She "knows" she is only a low-class flower girl masquerading as a lady.
Nevertheless, Freddy's affection is comforting and the tonic she needs.

Pygmalion | Act 5 | Summary

The next day, Mrs. Higgins is in her drawing room when the parlor-maid announces that Higgins
and Pickering are downstairs phoning the police about Eliza's disappearance. Mrs. Higgins sends
the parlor-maid upstairs, where Eliza has taken shelter, to ask that she stay there until she is sent
for. Mrs. Higgins then chastises her son and Pickering for their thoughtless treatment of the girl,
but the arrival of Doolittle cuts the scolding short. He enters dressed in the height of fashion for a
bridegroom and in a highly agitated state. Without greetings, he accosts Higgins with the heated
accusation, "See here! Do you see this? You done this." Doolittle then explains that Higgins's
offhand remark in a letter to a rich gentleman has delivered him into the hands of "middle class
morality." The gentleman died and left the dustman a generous yearly pension. Now his happy
days are over as one of the undeserving poor, and everyone wants to "touch" him for money, just
as he used to do. In addition, his live-in missus now wants to get married.
Seeing a solution to Eliza's financial future in her father's newfound wealth, Mrs. Higgins reveals
that the girl is upstairs. Explaining how she came to be there, Mrs. Higgins again reproaches her
son and Pickering for their callous conduct the night before. Then sending for Eliza, she asks
Doolittle to wait on the balcony until Eliza is ready for the shock of his news.

Eliza enters, looking coolly self-possessed, and politely greets the two men. She then thanks
Pickering for always treating her well and showing her respect. "The difference between a lady
and a flower girl," she explains, "is not how she behaves, but how she's treated ... I can be a lady
to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will." Higgins's arrogant, ill-mannered
reaction to this prompts Doolittle to make his presence known to Eliza. After an awkward
moment, he and Eliza are guardedly reunited, and she agrees to come along to see him married.

For a few moments before leaving, Eliza and Higgins are left alone. Higgins tries to convince her
that he did not treat her any differently than anyone else, that he treats everybody rudely. Then
he softens a bit and tells her that he will miss her if she leaves. Knowing Higgins will never
change and refusing to be trapped by sentimentality, Eliza suggests that she may
marry Freddy and support them both by teaching phonetics, possibly as an assistant to
Nepommuck. Outraged, Higgins grabs her and threatens to wring her neck if she does. Yet he
suddenly sees something in Eliza that he has overlooked until now: No longer a sniveling flower
girl, Eliza is a woman, "a tower of strength: a consort battleship." He likes her like this. Even so,
as the play closes, Eliza seems set on a path away from Higgins. In contrast, the professor
remains cheerfully confident that she will return to Wimpole Street and continue to be part of his
life.
Analysis
A play's resolution, or denouement, usually ties up all the loose plot threads and answers any
lingering questions. However, Shaw breaks with tradition and leaves the question of Eliza's
future unanswered. Higgins and Eliza talk about the possibilities—marriage to Freddy,
reconciliation and return to Higgins, a return to her father—but nothing is conclusive. Eliza
declares her independence from Higgins, says good-bye for the last time, and sweeps out of the
room. Even so, there is no guarantee that she intends never to see him again, and Higgins himself
is confident that she will return. The resolution, then, is left up to the audience and depends on
their interpretation of events, what they learned about the characters, and their own romantic
tendencies.
The final act also raises a fresh question: Is Eliza better off now that she is a lady? Shaw
uses Doolittle's reappearance as a wealthy gentleman to clarify the question, but not the answer.
In contrast to Eliza, Doolittle's rise in social status is not wished for. He was happy as a member
of "the undeserving poor" and, still a dustman at heart, mourns the loss of freedom to live as he
likes. Unhappy in his newfound wealth, he feels like a victim of middle-class morality, forced to
act respectably and responsibly. At the same time, he lacks the courage to reject the generous
inheritance, feeling caught between "the Skilly of the workhouse and the Char Bydis of the
middle class." He is referencing a story from Homer's The Odyssey in which a narrow sea
passage is guarded on one side by Scylla, a sea monster, and on the other by Charybdis, a deadly
whirlpool.
Unlike her father, Eliza wants to be a lady, and views returning to the ways of a flower girl as a
"relapse into the gutter." She has lost the knack for her old ways and has grown beyond her
dream of selling flowers in a shop. Her only path is forward, but she faces new limitations based
on her elite status. So, despite new advantages, is the lady better off than the flower girl?

Shaw also uses Act 5 to explore the essential qualities of a lady and of change. Underscoring the
power of language, Eliza attributes her true transformation to Pickering always calling her "Miss
Doolittle" and treating her like a lady. His respect creates a frame of reference—a possibility that
she can fulfill. While acquiring good manners and fine speech, she also assimilates this new
perception of herself. Higgins cannot see Eliza as anything but a flower girl until she establishes
herself as his equal: self-assured and independent. At this point, the transformation is real and
complete. Eliza, in her soul, truly "owns" her status as a lady, and not even Higgins, her creator,
can take that away.

Pygmalion | Symbols
Flower Shop
The flower shop represents the dream that drives Eliza to Higgins's laboratory in Act 2: "I want
to be a lady in a flower shop stead of selling at the corner of Tottenham Court Road," she tells
Higgins and Pickering. "But they won't take me unless I can talk more genteel." It is the dream
for which she is willing to transform herself. Later, when she has achieved her goal and has the
speech and manners of a lady, she anxiously asks Higgins, "What am I fit for? What have you
left me fit for?" Her situation is as Mrs. Higgins predicted in Act 3: Eliza has been given "the
manners and habits that disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living." Though Higgins
suggests that the old idea of a florist's shop might be the answer, Eliza may have outgrown that
particular dream and will have to rethink her future.
Clothing
Throughout the play, clothing reflects the social status of characters. For example, Higgins 's
slippers represent his class as well as his disregard for Eliza. As a symbol, clothing represents
Eliza's metamorphosis from flower girl to lady, and Doolittle's rise from dustman to gentleman.
When Eliza is introduced in Act 1, she is "not at all an attractive person." Her sailor hat of black
straw is coated in London soot. She wears a long, worn black coat and a brown skirt with a
coarse apron. She has worn-down boots, and in general she is quite dirty. In Act 2, as a step
toward her transformation, Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, burns Eliza's old clothes and
orders her a new wardrobe. By Act 4, Eliza the lady presents a stark contrast to Eliza the flower
girl. On the night of her triumph, she is clothed in an "opera cloak, brilliant evening dress, and
diamonds, with fan, flowers, and all accessories." Her clothing reflects her thorough and willing
transformation, inside and out.
Eliza's dustman father, Doolittle, illustrates that a change of clothing may alter other people's
perceptions, but those looks can be deceiving. When he makes an entrance in Act 2, he is "clad
in the costume of his profession" and "has a professional flavor of dust about him." He is happy
and proud to be one of "the undeserving poor." By Act 5, his unlooked-for rise in wealth is
apparent when he arrives at the home of Mrs. Higgins wearing a "fashionable frock-coat, with
white waistcoat and grey trousers ... dazzling silk hat, and patent leather shoes." He appears
every inch a gentleman and is announced as such by the parlor-maid. However, his new look is
misleading. While his social standing has risen, his only gentlemanly attributes are those that
have been forced upon him as "middle class morality claims its victim."

Mirror
In Act 2, Eliza is given a bath for the first time in memory. Shocked that the procedure requires
removing all her clothes, she is even more shocked to find a mirror in the bathroom. She doesn't
know "which way to look" and finally hangs a towel over it. However, this represents the
moment when Eliza unguardedly "sees" herself as she is—dirty, disheveled, and far from
ladylike in her personal habits. The bath proves to be a treat, and the positive effects are
immediately evident. Cloaked in a blue cotton kimono, she emerges looking like "a dainty and
exquisitely clean young Japanese lady." Her own father, who has come to see what Higgins is up
to, fails to recognize her at first, and then comments, "Well, I never thought she'd clean up as
good looking as that, Governor. She's a credit to me, ain't she?" Eliza's glimpse in the mirror
reveals to her the need for a change, and the results of the bath prove that change is possible.
Thus, the mirror symbolizes self-awareness and identity.
Pygmalion | Themes
In the preface to Pygmalion, Shaw states that plays should always be instructive. Subsequently,
this play asks socially conscious questions and explores problematic themes.

Language as a Class Barrier

Shaw laments the fact that the English do not sufficiently value the power of their language.
Through the character of Higgins in Act 1, he reminds the audience that articulate speech is a
divine gift, and the eloquent words of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible form the basis of
their native tongue. The defining nature of language is illustrated when Higgins accurately
pinpoints the geographic origins of various people among those sheltering from the rain. He then
declares that the flower girl Eliza's kerbstone English will "keep her in the gutter." Yet by
teaching her better English, he could pass her off as a duchess. This boast serves as the catalyst
for all that follows in the play as Shaw attempts to show that social placement is not innate and,
hand in hand with language, may be acquired.
There is danger in the experiment to teach Eliza to speak well. As pointed out by Mrs.
Higgins in Act 3, Eliza will be stranded between two worlds when she has "the manners and
habits that disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living without giving her a fine lady's
income." Shaw emphasizes the rigid hierarchy of English society through a variety of characters
from different socioeconomic levels. Eliza, with her Cockney dialect, is associated with the
lowest social rank. In contrast, Higgins and Pickering represent the elite. Between the two levels
are Mrs. Pearce, a member of the servant class; Doolittle, representing the middle class
(following his inheritance); and the Eynsford Hills, standing in for the genteel poor—those
whose higher living standards have been reduced by hard times.
The power of language to break through social barriers is fully realized in Eliza's triumphant
performance at the ambassador's party. She is perceived to be a duchess. Yet victory has its
price. In Act 5, she tells Higgins that she is like a child who has come to a foreign country who
"picks up the language in a few weeks, and forgets its own." She can speak nothing but his
language now, which cuts her off from her former life. Feeling abandoned by Higgins and faced
with an uncertain future, she says, "Oh! if I only COULD go back to my flower basket! I should
be independent of both you and father and all the world!" But language has irreversibly placed
her in society's higher echelon, and she must—and will—find a new way to strike out on her
own.

Transformation
Shaw explores the theme of transformation by showing how a poor flower girl becomes a lovely,
self-reliant lady, both superficially and at heart. Her metamorphosis begins with an idea planted
by Higgins when he tells Pickering in Act I that he could teach "this creature" to speak like a
duchess. It takes a further step when she is given a bath in Act 2, cleaning her up so well that
even her father does not recognize her. By the time she visits Higgins's mother in Act 3, the
transformation is well on its way. As Mrs. Higgins tells her son, "She's a triumph of your art and
of her dressmaker's."
Nevertheless, the changes so far are only external. Like "visible Speech"—the notation system
Higgins uses for visualizing the production of speech—they are merely the sight and sound
of Eliza. Higgins himself sees her in superficial terms as a pupil: "a block of wood," something
to be shaped, an experiment. He works to "create" Eliza, like the Greek sculptor Pygmalion
created his sculpture, and several times Higgins refers to her as a "creature"—an allusion to
Mary Shelley's (1797–1851) 1818 novel Frankenstein and "the creature" created by Dr.
Frankenstein.
The professor does not realize that a deeper, more important transformation is taking place—
something he cannot take credit for. It is the awakening of Eliza's soul. From the beginning, the
qualities required lie within her, like uncultivated seeds. For example, in Act 1, while she
appears rough, ill-mannered, and saucy, she displays a crude sense of dignity when she thinks
Higgins is a policeman who may accuse her of soliciting for prostitution. Defensively, she
asserts, "He's no right to take away my character. My character is the same to me as any lady's."
A quality of courage comes to light when Eliza seeks out Higgins and lays before him her fragile
dream to become a lady. She then pursues that goal with diligence. However, it is after the
ambassador's party that Eliza becomes a lady in more than speech and manners. In response to
Higgins's insensitive treatment, she takes a stand for her own self-worth and dignity and then
leaves him. She understands that this aspect of her metamorphosis was sparked by Pickering.
In Act 5, she asks the colonel, "But do you know what began my real education? ... Your calling
me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street. That was the beginning of self-
respect for me." She further explains, "The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how
she behaves, but how she is treated."
All three facets of Eliza's transformation—sight, sound, and soul—come together when, at last,
she breaks free of Higgins, her creator. Like Pygmalion's ivory sculpture, she is brought to
passionate life. No longer a "squashed cabbage" or even a duchess, she becomes an independent
woman. It is important to note that Shaw is pointedly contrasting Eliza to Pygmalion's idealized
statue. In Ovid's version of the story, Pygmalion and Galatea, the statue now brought to life,
marry and live happily ever after. But Galatea is nothing more than a blushing bride with little
agency. Shaw rejects this version to show the foolishness of a man who would fashion a human
being in this simplistic way.

Appearance and Identity

In Act 1 of Pygmalion, Henry Higgins is thought to be a policeman, though one bystander points
out, "It's all right: he's a gentleman: look at his boots." Throughout the play, appearances identify
the social status of characters. How they speak, how they dress, their money (or lack of it), and
their manners and morality all serve as indicators. Yet the signs are superficial, often
contradicting reality, as in the case of Henry Higgins who has all the trappings of a gentleman
and few of the expected social graces. And as Eliza demonstrates most clearly, it is the reality
beneath appearances that matters. While exploring the relationship between appearances and a
person's identity, Shaw suggests that the outward show can be a reflection, a mask, or a means of
changing identity.
Pickering offers an example of the mirror-like nature of appearances. He appears as a well-
dressed gentleman of military bearing. In keeping with this upper-class facade, he is kind and
well-mannered to everyone, without consideration of social standing. For example, in Act 1, his
speech and conduct do not change whether he is speaking to Clara and her mother, the flower
girl, or Higgins. Another example of this theme is the behavior of Eliza's father, Doolittle, as he
is introduced in Act 2. His crude speech and manners, dustman's clothing, poor financial state,
and questionable morality are all indicators of his station in life as a happy member of the
"undeserving poor." He has no use for middle-class morals, spends his life "touching" others for
money, and at this point he has never pretended to be other than what he seems.
However, appearances can be deceiving and mask the true essence of a person. In Act 1, Eliza is
a dirty, disheveled flower girl who butchers the English language while wheedling a few coins
from pedestrians in exchange for flowers. Nothing about her appearance suggests the intelligence
she possesses, her desire to be a lady, or her potential. Only her protestations of "I'm a good girl,
I am" and distress at the idea of losing her character hint at hidden qualities that later emerge. In
the reverse, her father, once he comes into money, is taken for a gentleman by his fine clothes
and his adopted middle-class ways.

At the same time, appearances can be a vehicle for changing identity. This idea is demonstrated
in Eliza's transformation as well as her dilemma once she becomes a lady. Under the guidance of
Higgins and Pickering, she evolves in speech and dress, etiquette, and expectations. However,
she discovers that she no longer fits into her former situation. That self is lost to her. Her identity
—who she is and where she fits in the world—must adjust. The fundamental nature of identity is
expressed well by Higgins, who recognizes, perhaps too late, that what lies beneath the beautiful
language and clothes—the essence of Eliza—is what matters to him. In Act 5, when he tells her
he has become accustomed to her voice and appearance, she retorts, "You have both of them on
your gramophone and in your book of photographs. When you feel lonely without me, you can
turn the machine on. It's got no feelings to hurt." Higgins replies, "I can't turn your soul on."

Femininity

Victorian values strictly defined the status and functions for women and established firm
boundaries for femininity among social classes. In Pygmalion, Shaw illustrates these class
boundaries and roles through various characters. At the bottom tier of the hierarchy is the flower
girl, Eliza, a member of the working-class poor. Mrs. Pearce, Higgins 's housekeeper, represents
the servant class. Doolittle 's wife-to-be—once the dustman comes into money—represents the
middle class that has achieved a higher standard of living through work. Mrs. and Miss
Eynsford-Hills, members of the genteel poor, do not work. Occupying the top tier is Mrs.
Higgins, an upper-class lady of some wealth who has raised a family and keeps a home. Shaw
aims to show in Pygmalion that such boundaries, with their fixed roles and definitions of
femininity, are artificial and can be breached.
Victorian society envisioned the ideal woman as inhabiting a separate sphere from a man: the
home, an oasis to which the man escaped from the moral taint of the business world. As wife and
mother of his children, she was calm, cheerful, efficient, and morally superior (the "angel of the
house"), and certainly did not aspire to life outside the home. Marriage and motherhood were her
means of securing financial security. Shaw envisions a new ideal in Pygmalion: a free-spirited,
educated, self-reliant, and career-minded woman. Higgins's mother provides the model upon
which the final creation—Eliza—is based. Mrs. Higgins is intelligent, cultured, educated, and
independent. Higgins himself says, "My idea of a lovable woman is something as like you as
possible" (Act 3). She sympathizes with Eliza as the subject of her son's experiment and
eventually becomes her champion. However, it is too late for her to more fully break the social
mold. She runs her household as expected and upholds the customs of the day. The next step
must be taken by a younger woman.

In Eliza, Shaw creates a fresh ideal—a woman with all the attributes of Higgins's mother but
with the time, spirit, and ambition to go her own way. Like the mythic artist Pygmalion who
sculpts the ideal woman, Higgins and Pickering fashion Eliza into the perfect lady—refined, self-
reliant, and with all the potential this implies. Nevertheless, the question remains: Can she break
through the reigning Victorian definition of femininity set for middle- and upper-class women?
Or has she exchanged one set of limitations—those of a working-class flower girl—for another?
She still must have a means of financial survival.
It seems that society has left her three options—to marry Higgins, Pickering, or Freddy. Yet
in Act 5, Eliza herself conceives of a fourth. She, indeed, may marry Freddy, but now she has a
career choice—the capability to teach what she has learned. By exercising this choice, she can
breach established boundaries and define for herself a new femininity.

Pygmalion | Motifs
Pygmalion and Galatea
The basis for Shaw's Pygmalion is a Greek myth retold by Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE) in
his masterwork Metamorphoses. Young Pygmalion sees women as so morally flawed that he
rejects all thoughts of marriage and resolves to live alone. Nevertheless, he uses his great skill as
a sculptor to carve out of ivory a woman so perfect that he falls in love with her. In fact, she is so
beautifully fashioned that she nearly seems to live and breathe, and as time passes, Pygmalion's
adoration grows.
One day, at the festival of Venus—the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality—Pygmalion offers
a prayer that he might be given a wife like his ivory virgin. The goddess hears and understands
what the young man dares not ask: that his creation may become his wife. Venus grants the
sculptor's heart's desire. Upon returning home, he kisses the statue and finds that he is touching
not cold ivory but warm, yielding flesh. Venus has given life to the sculpture, and her name is
Galatea.

Like Pygmalion, Higgins becomes Eliza's creator, using the power of language to create a lady
from a "draggletailed guttersnipe." Like the "scores of American millionairesses" whom he has
taught to speak, Eliza is nothing more than a "block of wood" from which he will carve a
duchess. In the final stage of her transformation, a surge of passion brings Eliza to life, and she
becomes aware that she is an independent being, separate from her creator, and able to stand on
her own. At the very last, Higgins is left behind in his mother's drawing room as Eliza "sweeps
out"—no longer an immobile creature but an individual able to make her own way. Shaw's
ending is markedly different from Ovid's. In Shaw's Pygmalion, Higgins (who, unlike his ancient
counterpart does not get to keep his Galatea) is exposed as foolishly misguided. In this way,
Shaw seems to reject the Ovidian version. It's worth noting that Ovid also reveals an ironic
attitude toward many of his characters (Ovid makes the deluded and bitter Orpheus, after he
loses Eurydice, the fictional narrator of Pygmalion's story), but Ovid doesn't make his
disapproval explicit as Shaw does. For Ovid, Pygmalion might be silly and rigid, but he gets
exactly what he wants.

George Bernard Shaw | Biography

George Bernard Shaw, born on July 26, 1856, was a leading dramatist of his time. In addition to
his contributions as a playwright, he was a music and theater critic, a novelist, and an outspoken
social reformer.

Shaw was born in Dublin as the third and last child of George Carr and Lucinda Elizabeth Gurly
Shaw. He suffered what he described as "a devil of a childhood." His father was a civil servant
turned unsuccessful corn merchant, as well as an alcoholic—all of which reduced the family to
living in genteel poverty. His mother—the daughter of a well-to-do family—found escape from
the family difficulties in music. A professional singer and student of the conductor George
Vandeleur Lee, she eventually followed him to London to pursue her own career and improve
her situation. These life events encouraged Shaw to be a life-long teetotaler (person who does not
drink alcohol), imbued him with a strong interest in music, and kindled his sensitivity to the
plight of women in Victorian society.
In 1876, Shaw joined his mother and Vandeleur Lee in London. He expanded his knowledge of
music to include literature. He read voraciously, attended socialist lectures and debates, and
pursued a career in journalism and writing. His first attempts to write prose—a string of five
novels—were rejected by publishers. However, he did land a job as a freelance critic for an
influential daily paper, the Pall Mall Gazette. The liberal political leanings of the paper were in
line with Shaw's growing interest in socialism. His articles and critiques of art, music, and
theater written for this and other publications brought him at last to the attention of London
literary society.
Shaw's interest in socialism had a profound effect on his writing. In 1884, he joined the recently
established Fabian Society, a British socialist organization intent on advancing the principles of
non-Marxist evolutionary socialism. He became one of its leading members and regularly wrote
and lectured on socialist topics. Often, he focused on themes of marriage, education, politics,
class struggle, and religion. As a self-professed socialist, Shaw was a vigorous proponent of
gender equality. He believed that all people have a purpose in life and that women were being
denied the chances to play their critical roles in society. He actively supported efforts to alter the
marriage laws, eliminate patriarchy, establish female suffrage, and recast gender roles. Shaw felt
that "unless woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her husband, to her children, to
society, to the law, and to everyone but herself, she cannot emancipate herself." As a playwright,
his portrayal of remarkable, clever, and powerful women departed from the 19th-century
stereotype of the male-dominated, sweetly fragile, self-sacrificing female. Pygmalion clearly
demonstrates this departure from the norms of the day.
Shaw's career as a playwright began in 1891 when he met J.T. Grein, the director of The
Independent Theatre—a new, progressive venue for "the theatre of ideas" inspired by the
realistic "problem plays" of Henrik Ibsen. Grein offered to read Shaw's play, Widowers'
House. He accepted it almost immediately, and it was first publicly performed in 1892. Over the
next six years, Shaw completed a collection of dramas called Plays Pleasant and
Unpleasant. Each attacked with varied ferocity the social evils of the day. His writing successes
continued to the eve of World War I, when Pygmalion opened in Vienna in 1913 and in London
in 1914. It was a hit. However, with the outbreak of war, Shaw's plain-spoken antiwar views and
pamphlets created uproar. He was shunned by friends and ostracized by the public. Nevertheless,
he continued writing plays, and by 1923, with the production of Saint Joan, he succeeded in
reviving his career. In 1925, Shaw was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Pygmalion remains one of Shaw's most famous plays. It was adapted to film in 1938, earning
Shaw an Academy Award for screenwriting. Continuing its rise to fame, a musical adaptation—
My Fair Lady—opened on Broadway in 1956 and ran for more than nine years. A film version of
the musical hit the movie screen in 1964 and earned eight Academy Awards.
Shaw continued writing until his death on November 2, 1950, at age 94. At the time, he was
working on yet another play.