Pygmalion
(George Bernard Shaw)
Pygmalion isa march under the triumphal arch- both for the protagonist duo Eliza&Henry, as well as for the playwright George Bernard Shaw. While the Professor & his ward swept the Governer's ball; the play itself was a tremendous success in both its stage & screen avatars. The popularity of this play is perennial & universal.The story is acombination of mythology & fairy tale; obviously with loads of Shavian wit. Modern day Pygmalion(Prof. Higgins), decides to make a Galatea out of a 'sqashed cabbage leaf' (ElizaDoolittle). It is a fairy tale come true for the poor, uneducated flower seller.However, this is not the only agenda up Shaw's sleeves. He coates didacticism with liberal doses of humour to let the bitter pill go down with his audience. After all, it is a problem play, a play of ideas. Withhis endeavour the Proffesor proves that all that seperates a 'guttersnipe'from a duchess is her privileged social millieu. However Eliza is just his experimental guinea pig. Onceher education is over, Higgins loses all interest in her. Now what is the poor girl to do? She is no longer the poor flower seller, nor can she remain a Duchess. This is one of the myriad problems the dramatist poses.The other memorable characters in this play are Colonel Pickering, the companiable friend of Higgins, who makes Eliza's soujourn at Wimpole Street bearable; then who can forget Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's parasite of a father. He is a favourite with the audience everywhere. After all as Shaw says Alfred Doolittle is the 'original moralist'.Shaw tasted success only after he found his niche as a dramatist. His earlier attempts as a journalist and later as a novelist were dismal. It was his association with the Fabian Society & tryst with Ibsenism, that changed his destiny.
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