Pygmalion Act II & III by George Bernard Shaw

So, here we are passed poetry and into drama. The first play we have to read and review is the interesting and witty play by George Bernard Shaw. Here is what I think of this play.

Act-II

The scene opens inside the laboratory of the renowned Henry Higgins. It was late cold morning (since the fire was alit). The playwright pays attention to the details to describe the setting.

Judging by the instruments and equipment in the lab, we get the feeling that Higgins is interested in music (due to the presence of the piano, the tuning forks and the organ pipes) and anatomy (life-size image of the left side of human skull). He also had a sweet tooth (fruits and chocolate on the piano). He also liked to read newspapers.

The presence of some mention-able portraits and the absence of paintings kind of show that he is interested in those decorations for something more than their artistic value only. All the furniture stacked in his room are somehow related to phonetics. So, we assume that Higgins is pretty serious about his job.

The scene consists of five characters. They are Henry Higgins, the linguist; Colonel Pickering, Higgins’ fellow linguist and a friend; Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper; Liza or Eliza Doolittle, the flower-girl mentioned in the first scene and Alfred Doolittle, Liza’s poor father and a foil to our main character Higgins.

The characters each showed some different personalities, giving the scene some depth and cures from monotony. The main character, Henry Higgins, was a curious fellow with a brash sense of humor, socially rude and a bully. He somehow manages to convince people to do his bidding. He is shown as a bit absent-minded, but whether he does it purposefully is not clear. One thing for sure, he clearly loves his job or hobby of being a professor of phonetics. He is also a bit clumsy and uncaring.

In contrast to Higgins, Colonel Pickering is what might be called a gentleman. He is polite in his behavior with a light sense of humor and is not harsh or rude in anyway. Mrs. Pearce is an embodiment of an ideal housekeeper, who is just concerned about her master’s decisions and behavior.

Another central character, Liza Doolittle or the flower-girl, is the statue of the Greek myth of Pygmalion. She is poor young girl who sells flowers for a living and she heavily accented in her native Lisson Grove dialect. Prompted by the idea of Higgins in the first place, she gives him a visit with the hope of Higgins teaching her to become a lady so that she can start working in a flower shop. Though poor and uneducated, Liza tries futilely to show herself as some dignified lady, which results in a short conflict with Higgins. Liza definitely shows confidence in her speech. She is also demanding and sometimes rebellious. She also jumps into conclusions without much giving it a thought.

The fifth and final character of the scene was Alfred Doolittle, who I believe was introduced to the play as a foil to the main character, to show us what Higgins is capable of and to give his character some more depth by challenging him to make decisions. The character also shows the thick line drawn between different social classes and the change of the sense of morality with each class. Shaw shows that due to poverty, morality of a person fluctuates (example, Alfred hinted at selling her daughter to Henry and Pickering for an amount as small as five shillings)

The dialogues are short unlike some of the other works of Shaw. Hence, the audience are more likely to follow with the play and immerse themselves. Also the diction of the play is fun and witty and humorous.

Basically, the plot of this scene is how Liza convinces Higgins to teach her to become a lady and to accept her as his student.

There several conflicts in this one little. Higgins’ lack of interest at accepting Liza as his pupil, Mrs. Pearce’s disapproval and finally Liza’s own lack of consent.

Act-III

This act begins in the lavish drawing room of Mrs. Higgins, the mother of Henry Higgins. The details of the furniture scream luxury and aristocracy alluding to the fact that Mrs. Higgins is an elegant and posh lady.

The relationship of mother and son shown in this scene was not like the typical loving mother-son relationship. The way they speak to each other clearly depict that they are not just a parent and a child, but very close friends. They cut jokes at each other and also flirts. Henry’s witty behavior was clearly inherited from his mother.

The plot of this act is show the hard work Higgins and his companions have done after Liza to make her more presentable. Introducing her to a few guests was the challenge.

The conflict was to see whether she is capable to showing what she has learnt and whether people recognize that she is a commoner by her accent and manners.

Shaw continues to show humor by introducing characters such as Mrs. Eynsford and her daughter and how they react to the way Liza talks to them and the stories she tells them.

This scene shows more relevance to the Greek myth Pygmalion as we notice some budding affection Pickering grows for Liza. Higgins continues to look at Liza as some kind of project he is going to be successful or an object related to phonetics. But, Pickering clearly is fond of her as he compliments her character and hard work continuously.

Remarks

After reading the third act, the relevance of the title of the play and the play itself is becoming more pristine. Eliza Doolittle is definitely the statue of Venus as said in the myth while Higgins is Pygmalion himself, a sculptor of languages who is so immersed in his work that he misses some common aspects of life, such as love. Higgins’ attitude towards women, calling them “as stiff as wood”, just solidifies his character similarities to the mythical Pygmalion. It is to be mentioned that, Pickering and Mrs. Pearce were also and extension of Pygmalion as the former shapes Liza’s self-esteem, self-image and dignity while the latter grooms her external appearance.

Side-note

It happens to cross my mind, that the name “Liza Doolittle” might be a play on the words “lazy, do little.” The name is chosen so that just by knowing her name we understand her character as some poor girl who is seemingly lazy and does very little to the plot. Just like a statue does nothing but to stand all day and be admired, Liza “Do-little” only follows instructions and goes on with the plot without making a huge impact on the play itself.