George Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion
George Bernard Shaw
Pygmalion
Pygmalion is a play set in London at the beginning of the 20th century. The play is about Eliza Doolittle, an illiterate flower girl, who is taken off the street by Professor Higgins to become a lady. The story begins on a rainy night in Covent Garden where Mr. Higgins meets Colonel Pickering (both men are experts on linguistics) and also Eliza Doolittle. Higgins bets Pickering that he could transform this flower girl into a well spoken woman, one that could be passed off as a duchess at an ambassador´s reception.
The following day, Eliza comes to Mr. Higgins´ laboratory because she desires to speak genteel English so as to become a lady in a flower shop. Pickering starts to be interested in this experiment and says he will pay for the lessons. Higgins accepts Pickering´s offer and asks Mrs. Pearce, Higgins’s housekeeper, to burn all Eliza´s clothes and help Eliza bath.
The first lesson begins the next day and the young girl is enthusiastic and keen on learning. She improves very quickly even though Higgins keeps telling her she is not trying enough. After several weeks of the training, Higgins decides to try her out somewhere among people who will tell the difference if Eliza makes an accent mistake. Fortunately, she does not make one and so she can come to the ambassador´s reception, where she performs perfectly. Higgins wins his bet but still treats Eliza in an unfriendly way. Eliza realizes that she has only been a bet for Higgins and gets frustrated when they all come home from the reception. Consequently, she shouts at him and decides to leave him in order to stay at Higgins´s mother´s house. The next morning, Higgins and Pickering visit Higgins´s mother to search for Eliza. Finally, Eliza announces her plans to marry a guy named Freddy and to be independent on Higgins.
Eliza Doolittle – a young uneducated girl who sells flowers on the street
Professor Henry Higgins – a professor of phonetics, a forty-year-old bachelor
Pygmalion
Pygmalion is a play set in London at the beginning of the 20th century. The play is about Eliza Doolittle, an illiterate flower girl, who is taken off the street by Professor Higgins to become a lady. The story begins on a rainy night in Covent Garden where Mr. Higgins meets Colonel Pickering (both men are experts on linguistics) and also Eliza Doolittle. Higgins bets Pickering that he could transform this flower girl into a well spoken woman, one that could be passed off as a duchess at an ambassador´s reception.
The following day, Eliza comes to Mr. Higgins´ laboratory because she desires to speak genteel English so as to become a lady in a flower shop. Pickering starts to be interested in this experiment and says he will pay for the lessons. Higgins accepts Pickering´s offer and asks Mrs. Pearce, Higgins’s housekeeper, to burn all Eliza´s clothes and help Eliza bath.
The first lesson begins the next day and the young girl is enthusiastic and keen on learning. She improves very quickly even though Higgins keeps telling her she is not trying enough. After several weeks of the training, Higgins decides to try her out somewhere among people who will tell the difference if Eliza makes an accent mistake. Fortunately, she does not make one and so she can come to the ambassador´s reception, where she performs perfectly. Higgins wins his bet but still treats Eliza in an unfriendly way. Eliza realizes that she has only been a bet for Higgins and gets frustrated when they all come home from the reception. Consequently, she shouts at him and decides to leave him in order to stay at Higgins´s mother´s house. The next morning, Higgins and Pickering visit Higgins´s mother to search for Eliza. Finally, Eliza announces her plans to marry a guy named Freddy and to be independent on Higgins.
Eliza Doolittle – a young uneducated girl who sells flowers on the street
Professor Henry Higgins – a professor of phonetics, a forty-year-old bachelor