PYGMALION THEMES
Class- Shaw criticises the upper classes and shows MannersLanguageTransformationAppearances-
ACT ONE QUOTES
Quotes “She is no doubt as clean as she can afford to be; but compared to the ladies she is very dirty.”
Analysis Highlights the massive gap between the classes.
Bystander: You take us for dirt under your feet, don't you?
The bystander who says that the note taker is a gentleman reveals how the upper classes often look down on the lower classes. The importance of language. Also: social classes are heavily influenced by appearance and simply changing the way she talks will allow her to pass herself off as one of the upper classes. Demonstrates how classes aren’t as rigid and set in stone as they seem.
The note taker: You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party
GENERAL In this act most of the characters are introduced, even if not by name. This act is a slice of society (upper classes: the gentleman, the middle classes: Eynsford Hills, possibly some bystanders, lower classes: Eliza. Their interactions show the distinct social divides that exist- the politeness that is shown towards the gentleman etc.
ACT TWO QUOTES
Quotes Mrs. Pearce: You mustn't speak to the gentleman like that.
Doolittle: What is middle class morality? Just an excuse for never giving me anything. Higgins: Pickering: if we listen to this man another minute, we shall have no convictions left Pickering: does it occur to you, that the girl has some feelings?
Analysis Mrs Pearce probably falls in the middle class. She scolds Eliza for talking to Higgins and Pickering in a way which she does not think in suitable. This demonstrates her adherence to the strict rules that guard society in regards to how they should interact.
Direct comment on the lack of morals in the lower classes. Higgins is shown to be very engrossed in his work. He doesn’t care about anyone unless they help him with his work.
GENERAL This act is mainly for characterisation. Despite the play being called “A Romance in Five Acts”, Higgins is not presented as a particularly romantic hero. His faults are picked on by Mrs Pearce (his swearing, manners etc.) and as a consequence revealed to the audience. Eliza’s character is also developed more in this act.
ACT THREE QUOTES
Quotes Higgins: She's to keep to two subjects: the weather and everybody's health Higgins: Take a human being and change her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her Mrs. Higgins: You certainly are a pretty pair of babies, playing with your live doll.
Eliza: Walk! Not Bloody likely!
Analysis Eliza’s conversation is limited to 2 shallow subjects. This is a criticism on upper class society and their shallowness. Addresses theme of transformation. The importance of language. To them Eliza is just a plaything. This is further shown in their remarks about how they will take her the Shakespeare exhibition so she can mimic the comments she hears. A comment on the upper classes perhaps? Despite being dressed and having the pronunciation of a well-bred lady, Eliza still retains the habits of the lower-class.
GENERAL An important aspect in this act is the humour created through the dialogue. There is some physical comedy created through Higgins’ clumsy attempt to cross his mother’s sitting room. Eliza’s attempt at small talk can
also be seen as humorous (when she starts talking about her suspicions of the death of her aunt). The way in which Pickering and Higgins talk over each other about Eliza adds to the humour by creating an image of them as child-like.
ACT FOUR QUOTES
Quotes Pickering: they're such fools that they think style comes by nature to people in their position;
Eliza: I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell anything else Eliza: I'm nothing to you—not so much as them slippers Eliza: Because I wanted to smash your face. I'd like to kill you, you selfish brute
Analysis Upper classes think that because they belong to that class they can immediately behave in a polished manner. Depicts upper classes as somewhat pretentious. Comment on how useless the upper classes are- they cant do anything except get married. Also look at prostitution Eliza objects to how Higgins treats her-like an object instead of a person. She is being treated like an inanimate object like the statue in the original myth While the first three acts deal with Eliza’s transformation in terms of her appearances, here Shaw shows how she has changed in different ways. Eliza now stands up to Higgins’ treatment of her and shows that she has a backbone.
GENERAL This is the climax of the play. It’s main purpose is in character development but Shaw also makes comments on society in it (how those in the lower classes
ACT FIVE QUOTES
Quotes Mrs Higgins: What right have you to go to the police and give the girl's name as if she were a thief, or a lost umbrella, or something Doolittle: It's making a gentleman of me that I object to. Who asked him to make a gentleman of me? I was happy. I was free. Eliza: the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated.
Higgins: The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all
Analysis Once again emphasizing how they treat her as an object This is like inversion. It is contrary to what most people think. Doolittle was happier before because he knew who he was and wasn’t being pressured by money, obligations etc. Shows how your class is almost decided by how others treat you. If you are treated as a member of the upper classes, you’ll be accepted by them and vice versa. This is the key to Higgins’ character. He does not treat Eliza any better or worse than he treats everyone else. For example, with the Eynsford Hills. Here Shaw
human souls
makes a comment on manners in general and how the classes interact with each other. Higgins makes no differentiation between class and so his manner is unchanged.
