PYGMALION,By George Bernard Shaw 

Play Summary

PYGMALION,By George Bernard Shaw

One summer evening in Covent Garden, London, a group of people gathered under the portico of St Paul's Church to protect themselves from the rain. Among the group are Mrs. Ainsford Hill and her daughter Clara, waiting for their son, Freddy, to return in a taxi. When he does not return, he is sent again to find a taxi. When he leaves, he bumps into a flower girl with a strong Cockney accent and destroys many of her flowers. After his departure, the mother is interested to know how such a "low" creature could know the name of her son; She discovers that the flower girl calls everyone either "Freddy" or "Charlie". When an old man comes to the shelter, the flower girl notices his elegant appearance and tries to persuade him to buy flowers. This man, Colonel Pickering, refuses to buy flowers, but gives the girl the money. People in the crowd warn the girl not to take the money because behind her is a man who takes note of everything she says. When the flower girl (Elisa) loudly declared: “I am a good girl, I,” passers-by began to protest. The note-taker turned out to be Professor Henry Higgins, an expert in acoustics. His hobby is determining the tone and place of birth of each individual. He even claims that in three months he can take this flower girl's "Ragamofin" and teach her to speak like a duchess. At this point, the old man identifies himself as Colonel Pickering, author of a Sanskrit book, who came to meet the famous Henry Higgins, with whom he is now speaking. The two discuss their common interests in phonetics.

The next morning, the two discussed Higgins' experiences at Professor Higgins' house when Mrs. Pierce, Higgins' housekeeper, announced a flower girl. The daughter, Eliza Doolittle, remembers Higgins' bragging about teaching her to speak like a duchess and coming to take classes for a job at a flower shop. Pickering bets with Higgins, who, in the spirit of good sport, decides to take the bet: he orders Mrs. Pierce to take the girl, rub her, and burn her clothes. He overcomes all of Elisa's objections and Elisa is taken away. At this point Elisa's father appears with intent to blackmail Higgins, but Higgins scares him so much that he ends up claiming five pounds to be one of the "undeserving poor". Higgins is so impressed with the old man's boldness and unique view of morals that he gives him five pounds and gets rid of it on the spot.

After some time, Higgins escorted Eliza to her mother's house on "Reception Day". Freddy Einsford Hill and his mother and sister Clara were also present. These are the same people we saw in Chapter One Under the Hallway. Now, however, none of the guests realize that Elisa is the "Ragamuffin" flower girl that night. Everyone relishes the prudent accuracy of her speech, and even more in awe of Eliza's story of her aunt's death, told in perfect English, but in frightening and shocking detail. After Elisa left, Mrs. Higgins noted that the girl was far from ready for public display.

After a while, Higgins, Pickering, and Elisa came back late that evening. The men are enthusiastic about the great success they had that day when they played Elisa as Grand Duchess at the ambassador's garden party. They are so proud that they completely ignore Elisa and her contribution to the success of The Experiment. Angrily, Elisa finally throws a slipper to Higgins, only to learn that it doesn't make any sense. Eliza worries what will happen to her after the experiment: should she be thrown back into the gutter? What is its place in the future? Higgins sees no problem in this and after telling her that all the clothes she wears belong to him, he retires for the evening.

The next day, Higgins arrives at his mother's house, completely confused by Elisha's disappearance. He called the police and was surprised to find out that Elisa was upstairs. While waiting for Eliza, Mr. Doolittle arrives and accuses Higgins of destroying him because Higgins told a wealthy man that Doolittle was the most ethical in England. about ethical reforms. He was thus forced to practice civil morals, and he and his wife are de facto miserable. He came to invite Eliza to her wedding, yet another concession to hideous bourgeois morality.

Eliza comes in and agrees to attend her father's wedding. While they were all preparing to leave, Higgins grabbed Elisa and tried to bring her back to his house. He affirms that he treats everyone equally. For him he does not make a social distinction between how he would treat a flower girl or a duchess. Elisa is determined to be respectful and independent, so she refuses to return to Higgins. Higgins then admits that he misses her and also admires her newfound independence. He further assures that she has to return and that the three will also live as "Three Lonely". Sensing the opposite, however, Elisa goes with Mrs. Higgins to attend her father's wedding.

***********************

***********************