DRAMA II Modern Drama Lecture 24 1 SYNOPSIS

DRAMA II Modern Drama Lecture 24 1

SYNOPSIS THEMES (Conti…) Theme of Society and Class Theme of Women and Femininity Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans CHARACTERS Henry Higgins Eliza Doolittle 2

6. Theme of Society and Class In Pygmalion, we observe a society divided, separated by language, education, and wealth. Shaw gives us a chance to see how that gap can be bridged, both successfully and unsuccessfully. As he portrays it, London society cannot simply be defined by two terms, "rich" and "poor. " Within each group there are smaller less obvious distinctions, and it is in the middle, in that gray area between wealth and poverty that many of the most difficult questions arise and from which the most surprising truths emerge. 3

6. Theme of Society and Class More than just language separates Eliza from her fellow women; even here, we see that she would be Quote #THE FLOWER GIRL. [She is the better off women's equal (atcan least astofar as no doubt as clean as she afford but compared to ladies she the is money to appearance be; is concerned), if the only given very dirty. Her features are no worse take care ofthan herself. theirs; but their condition leaves something to be desired; and she needs the services of a dentist]. (1. 29) 4

6. Theme of Society and Class • You see this creature with her Higgins suggests that being a maid or a shop assistant kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the requires better English than being an aristocrat. Is he end of her days. Well, sir, in three I could pass that girl off as joking? Perhapsmonths a little. Quote a duchess at an ambassador's party. I could even get her #THE garden a place as lady's maid or shop NOTE assistant, which requires better English. That's the sort of thing I TAKER do for commercial millionaires. And on the profits of it I do genuine scientific work in phonetics, and a little as a poet on Miltonic lines. (1. 129) 5

6. Theme of Society and Class Doolittle thinks of himself as a different species of poor person; • What his comments make it clear that there is is middle class morality? Just an excuse for never giving anything. Therefore, and I ask lower more to society than anme upper, middle, you, as two gentlemen, not to play that game class. There are, it. I'm seems, manywith different on me. playing straight you. I ain't classes pretending to be deserving. I'm undeserving; within each group. and I mean to go on being undeserving. I like Quote #DOOLITTLE. it; and that's the truth. Will you take advantage of a man's nature to do him out of the price of his own daughter what he's brought up and fed and clothed by the sweat of his brow until she's growed big enough to be interesting to you two gentlemen? Is five pounds unreasonable? I put it to you; and I leave it to you. (2. 273) 6

6. Theme of Society and Class It is interesting that we get to see a poor girl experience the comforts of wealth, but we never get to • I tell you, it's easy to clean up here. see a wealthier person "see what it'sjust like" Hot and cold water on tap, as for Eliza. Quot e #LIZA. much as you like, there is. Woolly towels, there is; and a towel horse so hot, it burns your fingers. Soft brushes to scrub yourself, and a wooden bowl of soap smelling like primroses. Now I know why ladies is so clean. Washing's a treat for them. Wish they saw what it is for the like of me! (2. 303) 7

6. Theme of Society and Class Doolittle equates wealth with laziness and wastefulness, and Eliza's own poverty seems to have • I had a good mind to break it. I didn't know which way to look. But I hung a towel it, not so instilled in her a sense of modesty. Sheover will I did. much as look. HIGGINS. in the Over mirror. what? Quot e #LIZA. MRS. PEARCE. Over the looking-glass, sir. HIGGINS. Doolittle: you have brought your daughter up too strictly. DOOLITTLE. Me! I never brought her up at all, except to give her a lick of a strap now and again. Don't put it on me, Governor. She ain't accustomed to it, you see: that's all. But she'll soon pick up your free-and-easy ways. LIZA. I'm a good girl, I am; and I won't pick up no free and easy ways. (2. 308 -313) 8

6. Theme of Society and Class Just as Doolittle occupies his own position within the Quote lower #Mrs. class, and Shaw tells us that the Eynsford Hills are The mother well"genteel bred, poor. " They part. Miss of what • might be calledisthe quiet, much and has thetohabitual Eynsford are, it would seem, closer Mrs. Higgins's level Hill are the anxiety of straitened of wealth than to Eliza's, but they are nonetheless in a mother means. The daughter has and less than desirable position. daughter who sheltered from the rain in Covent Garden. acquired a gay air of being very much at home in society: the bravado of genteel poverty. (3. 43) 9

6. Theme of Society and Class distinctions are, we see, changeable. Clara, raised, we assume, in relative wealth, is apparently • You mustn't mind Clara. [Pickering, unaware of her family's fortunes. catching fromchanging her lowered tone that Quote #MRS. EYNSFOR D HILL [to Mrs. Higgins] this is not meant for him to hear, discreetly joins Higgins at the window]. We're so poor! and she gets so few parties, poor child! She doesn't quite know. [Mrs. Higgins, seeing that her eyes are moist, takes her hand sympathetically and goes with her to the door]. But the boy is nice. Don't you think so? (3. 200) 10

6. Theme of Society and Class Higgins considers his teaching to be a kind of social work. The inability to communicate, he suggests, is at • You certainly are a pretty pair of babies, the bottom ofplaying man's social issues. with your live doll. Quote #MRS. HIGGIN S. HIGGINS. Playing! The hardest job I ever tackled: make no mistake about that, mother. But you have no idea how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul. (3. 223 -224) 11

6. Theme of Society and Class Mrs. Higgins understands one of the more paradoxical aspects of class: those skills that put a • No, you two infinitely stupid male woman of Eliza's stature on the same level creatures: the problem of what is to be as a with her afterwards. woman from done high society only prevent her from HIGGINS. I don't see anything in that. Quotesustaining actually herself, keeping She can go her ownfrom way, with all the herself out of #9 MRS. advantages I have given her. poverty. HIGGINS. The advantages of that HIGGIN MRS. poor woman who was here just now! S. The manners and habits that disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living without giving her a fine lady's income! Is that what you mean? (3. 4 -6) 12

6. Theme of Society and Class Higgins claims that the key to acting correctly is treating all • people in secret, the same way, acting as if class The great Eliza, is not manners or good distinctions having did notbad exist. He thinks that the only manners is or the any society other particular society that matters of human souls, to sort of manners, but having the which all men belong. Quote same manner for all human #HIGGIN S. souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another. (5. 197) 13

6. Theme of Society and Class Questions Shaw was a lifelong socialist, and wrote many essays on the subject. Can Pygmalion be interpreted as a socialist text? 14

6. Theme of Society and Class Questions In the play, we are introduced to members of a number of different classes and areas of society. That said, does Shaw leave anyone out? Or, to put it another way, does he offer us a view of it in full? 15

6. Theme of Society and Class Questions Why is it that the play's poorest characters, Eliza and her father, are also two of their most gifted? 16

7. Theme of Women and Femininity A lot, as you've probably guessed, has changed in the last century. Back when Shaw wrote Pygmalion, women could not vote in the United Kingdom; in 1918 women over the age of 30 were given the right, and it took another ten years for all women to be given a voice. Shaw's depiction of women and attitudes toward them is impressively and sometimes confusingly varied. They are shown in conventional roles – as mothers and housekeepers – and as strong-willed and independent. The play pays special attention to the problem of women's "place" in society (or lack thereof), and Shaw offers no easy answers to the tough questions that arise. 17

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Questions Shaw addresses a lot of problems concerning women, and allows us to hear a number of different opinions on them, many spoken by female characters. Does Shaw's position as a male author prevent him from directly addressing these issues? Or is he able to present an unbiased view? 18

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Questions In Pygmalion, women don't have many options and, at least according to Mrs. Higgins, high class, educated women have fewer than most. What roles are they able to fill? Why can't they fill others? 19

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Questions Eliza tells Higgins that she wants to be independent. Does she achieve that independence by play's end? Can any of the characters in Pygmalion truly be described that way? 20

7. Theme of Women and Femininity The mother and daughter, Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, reinforce typical notions of femininity. is a • Well, haven't you got a It cab? man's job, not a woman's, to go out and brave FREDDY. There's not onethe to be elements. had for love or money. Quote #THE DAUGHTER. THE MOTHER. Oh, Freddy, there must be one. You can't have tried. THE DAUGHTER. It's too tiresome. Do you expect us to go and get one ourselves? (1. 12 -5) 21

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Eliza is not intrinsically divided from her fellow women. The comparability their features – the • Shi is noofdoubt as clean as only she things which, for Eliza, not totally by can are afford to be; diminished but compared her poverty – only reinforces theirshe equal as to the ladies is standing very dirty. women. Quote Her features are no worse than theirs; but their condition leaves something to be desired; and she needs the services of a dentist] (1. 29) 22

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Higgins's views are stereotypical, but his comments do speak to the difficulties comegirl withvery raising a • There!which As the family in poverty. Quote #3 HIGGINS. properly says, Garn! Married indeed! Don't you know that a woman of that class looks a worn out drudge of fifty a year after she's married. (2. 105) 23

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Higgins, in saying that Eliza doesn't "belong" to • Very well, then, what on earth is all anyone, implies that a young woman should "belong" this fuss about? The girl doesn't to someone; he also assumes that Mrs. Pearce, being a to aanybody—is use to of. woman, would lovebelong to have daughter tono take care anybody but me. [He goes to Mrs. Pearce and begins coaxing]. You can adopt her, Mrs. Pearce: I'm sure a Quote daughter would be a great #HIGGINS. amusement to you. Now don't make any more fuss. Take her downstairs; and— (2. 119) 24

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Higgins is convinced that not only do women cause [dogmatically, lifting himself on his hands to the him trouble, but • that they causeand trouble level of the piano, sitting onin it any with aand bounce] Well, I haven't. I findand that the momentare I let a every case; he suggests that men woman make friends with me, she becomes basically incompatible. jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned Quote #HIGGINS nuisance. I find that the moment I let myself make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. Women upset everything. When you let them into your life, you find that the woman is driving at one thing and you're driving at another […] Lord knows! I suppose the woman wants to live her own life; and the man wants to live his; and each tries to drag the other on to the wrong track. (2. 161; 163) 25

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Here, again, we see how something as small as a well • I tell it's easy to clean up here. equipped bathroom canyou, separate "ladies" from women Hot and cold water on tap, just as like Eliza; she also much implies washing as that you like, thereisis. a Woolly particularly feminine pleasure. towels, there is; and a towel horse so hot, it burns your fingers. Soft brushes to scrub yourself, and a wooden bowl of soap smelling like Quote primroses. Now I know why ladies is #LIZA. so clean. Washing's a treat for them. Wish they saw what it is for the like of me! (2. 293) 26

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Higgins has said previously that women "upset • Well, you never fall in love with anyone everything"; now, under even as he admits preferring forty-five. Whento will you discover that therehis are mother some rather nice-looking young older women, he tells that all women are idiots. Not exactlywomen a niceabout? thing to say to your own HIGGINS. Oh, I can't be bothered with mother. young women. My idea of a loveable woman Quote #MRS. HIGGINS. is something as like you as possible. I shall never get into the way of seriously liking young women: some habits lie too deep to be changed. [Rising abruptly and walking about, jingling his money and his keys in his trouser pockets] Besides, they're all idiots. (3. 22 -23) 27

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Higgins seems totally unaware of the place of women • No, you two infinitely stupid male in society. Eliza herself will the confront him and ask creatures: problem of what is tohim be what she is to do with having been given doneherself with herafterwards. such "advantages. "HIGGINS. I don't see anything in that. Quote #MRS. HIGGINS. She can go her own way, with all the advantages I have given her. MRS. HIGGINS. The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now! The manners and habits that disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living without giving her a fine lady's income! Is that what you mean? (3. 4 -6) 28

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Eliza tells Higgins two things: that she has no place in [a genial afterthought women occurringhave to him] society anymore • and that lower-class a I daresay my mother find some chap stronger sense of morality than mostcould "ladies. " She and or other who would do very well— her fellow flower girls never have LIZA. would We were above thatsold at the corner themselves into marriage. of Tottenham Court Road. Quote #HIGGINS [waking up] What do you mean? LIZA. I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell anything else. I wish you'd left me where you found me. (4. 63 -66) 29

7. Theme of Women and Femininity Eliza's statement seems curiously anti-feminist. (Of • Itbe wascareful just like learning dancemore in the recent course, one has to using to these fashionable way: there was nothing more than terms when talking a do work like what this. ) It makes thatabout in it. But you know began my real education? sense that Eliza would feel more special or important PICKERING. What? after receiving that kind of treatment, at the same LIZA [stopping her work for but a moment] Your mewords Miss Doolittle when Iinto first time the sinceritycalling of her has tothat beday called came to Wimpole Street. That was the beginning Quote #LIZA question. She doesof tell Pickering the presence self-respect for me. this [She in resumes her stitching]. Andin there wereto a hundred littleher things you never of Higgins, perhaps order infuriate teacher? [continuing] noticed, because they came naturally to you. Things about standing up and taking off your hat and opening doors— (5. 137 -9) 30

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Mick Jagger is right when he sings, "You can't always get what you want. " It's true, sometimes just by trying you can get what you need, but that's not always the way it works. What if you get what you want only to find out it isn't what you imagined it would be? What if your dreams come true, only to turn into nightmares? They say the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Well, in Pygmalion that's true. That said, Shaw also shows us what happens after everything ends up wrong. He offers no quick fixes, but he does leave room for hope. 31

Wouldn’t It Be Lovely? Wouldn't It be Loverly? by It's rather dull in town, I think I'll take me to Paree. Mmmmmm. The mistress wants to open up The castle in Capri. Me doctor recommends a quiet summer by the sea! Mmmm, wouldn't it be loverly? Eliza All I want is a room somewhere, Far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of choc'lates for me to eat, Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat. Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Aow, so loverly sittin' abso-bloomin'-lutely still. I would never budge 'till spring Crept over me windowsill. Someone's 'ead restin' on my knee, Warm an' tender as 'e can be. 'ho takes good care of me, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Loverly, loverly, loverly [REPEAT] Eliza’s Dream/Wish 32

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Higgins suggests that he is living in a time when • . Oh yes. Quite a fat one. This is dreams can come true, when. Men rags-to-riches stories an age of upstarts. begin in Town with 80 pounds a are, well, more. Kentish than just stories. At the same time, he year, and end in Park Lane with a hundred They from want Kentish Town acknowledges that the thousand. movement drop Kentish Town; but they to Park Lane isto not only a matter of making a fortune. give themselves away every time they open their mouths. Now I can teach them— (1. 120) Quote #1 THE NOTE TAKER 33

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Eliza's ambitions are initially very modest and, given • I want to be a lady in a flower Higgins's expertise, notofunrealistic. shop stead selling at the Only Higgins's bet corner of Tottenham Court Road. inflates them, turns her small plans into big dreams. But they won't take me unless I can talk more genteel. He said he could teach me. Well, here I am ready to pay him—not asking any favor—and he treats me as if I was dirt. (2. 34) Quote #2 THE FLOWER GIRL. 34

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Higgins himself seems to be a big dreamer. He is as much interested in the idea of "taking a chance" and excited as the dreaming big • as[becoming he is in the job he takes on. idea grows on him] What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn't come every day. I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe. (2. 82) Quote #3 HIGGINS 35

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Throughout the play, Eliza insists that she does not I don't no want the usual • No: things: gold, want diamonds, fancy dresses. gold and no diamonds. She wants to maintain her dignity and achieve her I'm a good girl, I am. original goal. [She sits down again, with an attempt at dignity]. (2. 145) Quote #4 LIZA. 36

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Higgins's task • Playing! becomes more than a simple matter or The hardest job I ever tackled: make no mistake about wrapped up in training, or a test of skill. He is totally that, mother. But you have no idea the idea of bringing together humankind, one person how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change at a time. her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul. (2. 223) Quote #5 HIGGINS. 37

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Just as soon as histhing goal, Higgins has • Ithe washas a silly achieved notion: the whole been a bore. lost interest in has his achievement. He seems to confirm PICKERING. Oh come! the garden wasabout frightfullythe exciting. My heart not the that old saying: party "it's journey, began beating like anything. destination. " HIGGINS. Yes, for the first three minutes. But when I saw we were going to win hands down, I felt like a bear in a cage, hanging about doing nothing […] No more artificial duchesses. The whole thing has been simple purgatory. (4. 21 -23) Quote #6 HIGGINS. 38

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Doolittle, like his daughter, seems uninterested in the • But what has my son done usual kinds of success. Higgins has ruined him by to you, Mr. Doolittle? getting him a job as a lecturer and huge income. He DOOLITTLE. Done toame! Ruined me. Destroyed my was happier being poor and "undeserving. " happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the hands of middle class morality. (5. 54 -55) Quote #7 MRS. HIGGINS. 39

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Ultimately, Eliza wants support and love instead of • [much troubled] I want a little kindness. she I know I'm a common money and stature; wants to be a good girl, and be ignorant girl, and you a book-learned but I'm not dirt under your appreciated forgentleman; being one. feet. What I done [correcting herself] what I did was not for the dresses and the taxis: I did it because we were pleasant together and I come—came— to care for you; not to want you to make love to me, and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like. (5. 248) Quote #8 LIZA 40

Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Eliza says this to threaten Higgins after he suggests she marry a rich man, perhaps even Pickering. • I'll marry Whether or not. Freddy, her statement is sincere, I will, as it represents a more conventional dream than her original plan, soon as he's and certainly one more realistic than Higgins's. able to support me. (5. 252) Quote #9 LIZA 41

Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Although Higgins is able to win the bet, and teach Eliza to speak and act correctly in the process, Eliza's dream of working in a florist's shop is not fulfilled or even addressed. Why do you think this is? 42

Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Why is it that Higgins is so interested in the bet anyway? Is it just a matter of vanity? Does he really hope, for Eliza's sake, that he can do it? 43

Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans The play does not end with the happy ending we might have first expected, but does that necessarily mean that it ends unhappily? 44

Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Doolittle ends the play with plenty of money, he's on his way to get married, and he seems to have patched things up with his daughter. In most plays, this would be cause for celebration, but he doesn't seem all that thrilled about it. What does this say about our usual expectations for happiness and success? 45

Review Lecture 24 THEMES (Conti…) Theme of Society and Class Theme of Women and Femininity Pygmalion Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans 46

Agenda Lecture 25 CHARACTERS Henry Higgins Eliza Doolittle Mr. Alfred Doolittle Colonel Pickering Mrs. Higgins Mrs. Pearce Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill Freddy 1. Literary Devices in Pygmalion 2. Settings 3. Pygmalion Genre 4. Tone 5. Writing Style 6. Title, Beginning and Ending 7. Plot Type and Analysis: Development and Structure 47