Summary Study guide Pygmalion - English Home Language
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12th Grade
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Pygmalion
The sources provide a comprehensive overview of George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion," focusing on its characters, themes, plot, and literary devices. The primary focus is on the complex relationship between Henry Higgins, a phonetics expert, and Eliza Doolittle, a working-class flower girl, as Hi...
, Overview
Who was George Bernard Shaw?
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and poet, born in
Dublin in 1856. At the age of 20 Shaw moved to London, England
to work as a writer and wrote reviews for theatres and music.
During his life Shaw wrote plays and novels and was involved in
political movements happening at the turn of the century. At the
age of 94 in 1950 Shaw passed away after receiving injuries from
falling from a tree. George Bernard Shaw wrote lots of plays and
they usually had a political message or social commentary. For
example Pygmalion is considered a feminist play as it shows Eliza
working to better herself and eventually move on from needing
Henry Higgins.
Quick Facts
• Born 26th July 1856
• Died 2nd November 1950
• Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature 1925
• Awarded an Academy Award in 1938 for the screenplay
adaptation of Pygmalion: My Fair Lady
• Preferred to go as Bernard Shaw rather than George
Bernard Shaw 3
What is Pygmalion? A brief Synopsis:
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,Pygmalion is a play by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. The
play tells the story of Eliza Doolittle and how she wants to move up
in society from the working class to being an upper class woman.
She approaches Henry Higgins, a phonetics professor, who takes her
on as a pupil but only to win a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering.
The play goes on to show Eliza’s change from low class wretch to
upper class lady and eventually breaking away from Higgins to live
her own life.
Key Facts
• Full Title: Pygmalion
• When Written: 1912
• Where Written: London
• When Published: 1912
• Literary Period: Victorian period
• Genre: Drama, comedy, comedy of manners
• Setting: London
• Climax: In act four, after winning the bet concerning Eliza,
Higgins says he has been bored with his experiment, and
treats Eliza poorly. Infuriated, Eliza throws Higgins' slippers at
him and argues and fights with him.
• Antagonist: While Eliza and Higgins argue with each other,
they both cooperate in order to fool London's high society.
The rigid hierarchy of social classes in Victorian England can
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, be seen as the antagonist against which all the characters
struggle, as they deal with issues of class and wealth.
• But what does Pygmalion mean?
Pygmalion was a legendary figure of Cyprus, who worked as a
sculptor. After seeing the daughters of Propoetus (another
mythological figure) prostituting, Pygmalion decided that he was not
interested in women, but instead went to create a woman figure.
After he finished, he was so taken with its beauty and realism, that
he fell in love with it. When Aphrodite's festival day came, he wished
for a bride that would be the likeness of his sculpture. Returning back
home, he gave a kiss to the statue, and found out that it turned into
a woman; the goddess of love made his wish come true.
• Similarities Between Myth and Play
Both contain elements of Metamorphosis. Higgins and Pygmalion both
detest women and go about making the perfect woman. With his
title, Shaw implies that Eliza is a kind of Galatea, molded by Pickering
and Higgins into the ideal lady of Victorian society.
• Plot
Pygmalion, romance in five acts by George Bernard Shaw, produced
in German in 1913 in Vienna. It was performed in England in 1914.
The play is a humane comedy about love and the English class
system. Higgins, a phonetician (A person specialized in the study of
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