Original Publication Date: 1912 -- Genre: Play, drama -- Topics: Coming of age, bildgunsroman Review by : Liz Inskip-Paulk (www.ravingreader.wordpress.com)
Although having been vaguely
familiar with this story, I’d never actually sat down and read the actual play
or researched its background, so decided to do that this week. I’m quite new to
reading plays and it’s rather a different experience than reading a novel, but
it’s enjoyable all the same. This one, based on Greek myth, is a familiar story
structure based on taking someone (sort of Noble Savage/Frankenstein idea) and
then transforming them into a higher class of creature (a la Cinderella tale). And as a sign of the times and the national
culture, this play’s characters are extremely class-ridden. (There’s also a
trace of the ongoing science versus art debate as well.)
In this case, the characters of Dr.
Higgins and Colonel Pickering, two self-taught scholars in linguistics, pull
flower seller Eliza Doolittle off the streets and teach her how to become a
Duchess. There are, of course, unforeseen events that occur and it’s actually much
more serious that the adaptation “My Fair Lady” would have you believe. There’s
definitely an element of Higgins/Pickering (both men) being Superior Gods of a
type, and Eliza (the female character) being molded/taught and in the position
of a child or less being.
(It’s also argued that Pinocchio is an
adaptation of this Greek myth as well, and the narrative was well known before
this play and now afterwards, Magnum PI and Star Trek: Voyager, for instance, both
have versions, and then there are numerous Hollywood versions including Pretty
Woman and with an interesting twist backwards, the Stepford Wives.)
According to Greek myth (and Ovid, although I haven’t read
Ovid), Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he carved. (The
statue’s name was Galatea, FYI, and quite frequently the two names are paired
together. (Doesn’t come up too often in my social circles though.) The story finishes with a happy ending in most
versions (as there was a popular demand for that), but Shaw plainly didn’t want
that to happen (even though it did in some of the more commercial stage
productions – which he hated.) In 1916, four years after the play had first
been staged, Shaw was cross enough to add an afternote to the play in which he
explains why he thought the ending had to be the way he wrote it. (It’s not a
predictable ending, for the most part. The narrative is also quite feminist for
the times, although that decision is supported by Shaw’s background and
philosophy.)
“I sold flowers. I didn’t
sell myself. Now you’ve made a lady of me, I’m not fit to sell anything else.”
Shaw was an Irish playwright and
worked to establish the London School of Economics (although it’s not clear to
me what the connection would be between these two areas.) His mum was a
professional singer, one of his sisters was a professional singer, so there was
stage in his bones and childhood experiences.
He was an ardent socialist (clear in this play) and, curiously enough,
is the only person who has ever been awarded both the Nobel Prize in Literature
(1925) and an Oscar (1935) for his work on Pygmalion. Having no want for public
honor, Shaw wanted to refuse the Nobel but accepted it at his wife’s bequest.
The financial prize was personally rejected and he asked that it be used to
finance translation of a Swedish playwright’s work.
Interesting note: Shaw joined the British Interplanetary Society, a group focused on space travel and exploration, when he was 91. I love that he was always learning something new throughout his life.
Interesting note: Shaw joined the British Interplanetary Society, a group focused on space travel and exploration, when he was 91. I love that he was always learning something new throughout his life.
Download Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw at Project Gutenberg|Librivox|
