Pygmalion (Penguin Classics)

The greatness of this play is expressed for me by the fact that even reading it straight through as a text, rather than hearing or seeing it enacted as a drama, it still made me laugh. Shaw's ear for dialogue and his sense of comic timing is superb. Yes, it's a dated play, and one wonders how long it will last in performance, but it is literary perfection, razor sharp dialogue, fantastic charactersation and a superb eye for detail. The ambiguity of the ending and the refusal to bow to the schmalzy hollywood film makers saves it from being too saccharine, and allows the seriousness of Shaw's message to shine through, and the comedy saves it from being a polemic.

better than thought (6/7 people found this helpful)

I hadn't read anything like this before but had to read this for the Open University course An Introduction to the Humanities. I liked it and found it a well written book. It helped me get a great mark in my assignment too which is an added bonus.

Musicals? You can keep 'em! (9/9 people found this helpful)

Having thoroughly enjoyed My Fair Lady over the years, I came to the book expecting to enjoy a recap of the film - was I wrong!
From the start, this book grabbed my attention and kept me glued to the page - so different to the filmed version, and so much better!
I laughed a lot and wanted to scream a lot at Higgins but, and this was a good sign for me, I was so terribly disappointed when I got to the end!
Read it and laugh - this is definately staying on my 'keeper' shelves!

Lauughing on the Train! Whatever next? (4/6 people found this helpful)

Ive never really read anything like this. Ive had to read this as part of my course. I can honestly say that it is brilliant. I cant believe i caught myself laughing on the train! Its different, it wiitty and just something you can really relate too. A must read!

A bit didactic but full of fun, gaiety, humor & Shavian wit (22/32 people found this helpful)

Published as a play in 1916, 'Pygmalion' is one of Shah's play not heavy on philosophy. I, personally feel that his plays heavy on philosophy are his best - 'Man and Superman', 'St. Joan', 'Androcles and the Lion' et al. Among his plays of 'not heavy on philosophy' genre, I rate 'Pygmalion' as one of the best. It is full of fun, gaiety, humor, Shavian wit and is a wee bit didactic. As Shaw wrote in the preface of 'Man and Superman', that all good, great writing should be didactic. So, even in the mildly didactic 'Pygmalion', Shaw had more than one axe to grind so to say.

The central theme of Pygmalion is the gift of speech in human
beings. Shaw has tried to depict as to how a person speaks affects their own personality and the people around. As a corollary to this theme, Shaw hoped to popularize the science of phonetics. In the short preface of the play, Shaw also makes a plea for enhancement of the English alphabet (with it's too few vowels and few consonants) to make English reading pronunciation rational. Both his wishes of popularizing phonetics and getting the English alphabet enlarged remain unfulfilled even today, perhaps a measure of how much ahead of the times he was or still is!

The locale is London's Covent Garden vegetable market. The time is late night. It is pouring heavily, everybody is seeking the shelter of a church's portico. Among the shelter seekers is an impoverished, bedraggled flower girl Liza with a terrible cockney accent. Liza is trying to peddle her flowers to the crowd of shelter seekers. A middle- aged gentleman, professor Higgins is taking down her speech (in Bells Visible Speech) in his notebook. Professor Higgins is an eccentric phonetician, expert on London accents and can place a person by their accent to the street they originate from. One other shelter seeker is an ex-military man, Colonel Pickering (also middle aged) with a deep interest in phonetics. As professor Higgins Colonel Pickering get talking, Higgins bemoans the terrible accent of Liza (most depressing and disgusting sounds) and boasts that if given a chance to teach and train her to speak for three months, he could pass her off as a duchess on the basis of her fine way of speaking! It comes about that Colonel Pickering is willing to bear the expense of teaching Liza to speak by Higgins. The rest of the play is about Liza 'the live doll' learning to speak like a Duchess from two confirmed bachelors Higgins and Pickering and whether they are able to pass her off as a duchess.

The woman protagonist character of the play Liza like all Shaw's woman protagonist character is strong willed and assertive. Having to endure during her learning the overbearing ways, domineering mien, downright bullying from a socially superior Higgins her teacher, she manages to hold her own. In the latter stages of the play, she even manages to get the better of him and Higgins has to tamely acknowledge that he has made a 'woman' of her after all. (a lame defence) Although there is a romantic angle, (Liza and Freddy) the relationship between Liza vis-à-vis Higgins and Pickering are pivotal, focal relationships of the play. The Liza, Freddy romance is a relegated affair. I feel only Shaw could do this i.e. make a non-romantic relationship so interesting over the other. But then Shaw loved debunking popular notions. All in all a much readable play.

Pygmalion (Penguin Classics)

Bernard Shaw

Reader Reviews:

Comic Genius (0/0 people found this helpful)

better than thought (6/7 people found this helpful)

Musicals? You can keep 'em! (9/9 people found this helpful)

Lauughing on the Train! Whatever next? (4/6 people found this helpful)

A bit didactic but full of fun, gaiety, humor & Shavian wit (22/32 people found this helpful)

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