Pygmalion
(George Bernard Shaw)
?Pygmalion? by the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw is a wonderful, witty and perceptive look at how we judge by first impressions and appearances. The play is centred around the idea of a sculptor/creator falling into obsession with his model, which is exactly what develops during the acts and scenes of the play. Central character Higgins is an expert on liguistics, language and accents; he meets a poor, common flower girl called Eliza Doolittle who asks him to teach her to ?speak proper?. From an initial loathing and disgust towards the girl, as she flowers and develops into a lady (Higgins bets his friend Pickering that he can ?transform her into a duchess?) she slowly begins to gain the upper hand in their relationship. Eliza proves to have more depth and moral character than her supposed ?creator? Higgins, who comes across as a miserable, misanthropic self-centred type, typical of what were supposedly Victorian ?gentlemen?. Bernard Shaw skilfully and tantalisingly leaves the conclusion in some ambiguity, as no true feelings are expressed and the clichéd happy ending is not confirmed, as Eliza, now a lady, very unhappy with her treatment as an object, moves on to begin her new life with a new love, Freddy. A surprisingly powerful, early feminist text in many ways, which questions whether men?s patriarchal power over women in those times was justifiable in any sense. A witty, sometimes hilarious text from the early 1900?s. The play was made internationally famous by the musical, adapted version called 'My Fair Lady'.
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