Post #3: "romance in five acts"

At first, when I heard Pygmalion's description of "a romance in five acts" I remembered the Greek myth about the man who falls in love with his own sculpture because no other woman is good enough for him, by his standards. I assumed that Higgins (or less likely, yet still possible, Pickering) would fall in love with Eliza (perhaps both men would fall for her) and one of them would marry her. Bam. Perfect story wrapped up in a little bow. But that's not what's real. People fall in love all the time and hardly ever does that one person love them back (unless you go with the theory that nobody truly loves until he meets his one and only soul mate who has, in fact, loved him all along even though in some cases the two never meet).

I never felt the "love" in this play until it was staring me right in the face. Sure, I read between the lines a little and felt like the characters were a little more passionate than they were letting on, but this set of lines was when things clicked for me:

"As if I ever stop thinking about the girl and her confounded vowels and consonants. I'm worn out, thinking about her, and watching her lips and her teeth and her tongue, not to mention her soul, which is the quaintest of the lot."

-Professor Henry Higgins

That quote made me realize how blissfully ignorant Higgins is about love. He obviously loves Eliza because she is different. As the Greek myth goes, she is good enough for him because he made her. Eliza is, in his eyes, his own creation of a woman. However, while she may love him, she realizes he doesn't treat her right and that she can do better, which is why she leaves at the end of the play. Higgins roars with laughter at the end when he tells his mother that Eliza intends to marry Freddy (the son from the beginning who fetched the cab). I assume he is laughing because he is in denial (as he has been the entire time) about loving her. When Eliza leaves, Higgins is trying to show (and convince himself) that he doesn't care, when in fact, it is so obvious he does.

Post #2: When everyone meets and a note on social classes

Note: I'm taking a shot in the dark with the whole blogging thing; I read some very unique (and good) student blogs on their books as examples so I hope to achieve something that at least makes some sense.

Shaw's play Pygmalion takes place in London during a time when social classes were easily distinguished by dress, speech, and means of transportation. In the beginning of the play, a sudden storm forces all those unable to find an empty cab (or those who cannot afford one) to seek shelter near a church. A poor flower girl sells flowers; average bystanders wait for the rain to stop, and snooty, high-class mother and daughter send their son/brother to fetch a cab. The flower gir1 (Eliza) becomes upset after trying to sell a flower to a gentleman (Pickering) and believing the man taking notes (Henry Higgins) is a "copper's nark" which I interpreted to be like an undercover policeman. I was surprised that the girl could become so afraid of being reported. Reported for what? Trying to make some money to live off of? Am I missing something or is this the way society was? I'm not quite sure. Maybe Eliza is just very sensitive. Or maybe back then it was considered arrestable for poor people to try and sell goods to higher class, maybe society was just like that. I'll have to keep reading, I suppose, to get a better understanding.

Anyway, Higgins isn't an undercover cop like Eliza and the other people thought; he is merely a man who can depict a person's place of origin from his/her speech patterns. He is copying down how people are talking to study later. When the crowd realizes his talent, Higgins is challenged to figure out where passerby's are from, and he does so with little difficulty.

On another note, I'd like to address my opinion that maybe the societal structure of the early nineteen hundreds isn't so different than that of our present society. This is represented by the pyramid-diagram shown to the right. However, while the structure may be similar, the interactions between classes are very different than they were a hundred years ago. In today's world, social classes are a lot more tolerant of each other and get along easier. The barriers between classes aren't as prominent. This is not to say every millionaire would be okay being friends with a homeless person, but it happens more than it would have a hundred years ago, during the time of which Pygmalion takes place. It is interesting to read this piece of literature and compare societal behaviors from different time periods.

Post #1: Before Reading

Pygmalion is a play, which is one of the reasons it catches my eye. I am teaching myself to write plays and scripts and therefore I figure Pygmalion can give me a good referencing point. Also, the plot of the play seems captivating. A poor flower girl is trained to act like a lady in high-class society. I look forward to reading about her and her trainer's struggles and also reading about the author's moralistic views on society.