George Bernard Shaw: *Pygmalion* (1913)
*Pygmalion* is George Bernard Shaw's most famous and enduring play—a witty, sharp-edged comedy that critiques social class, language, gender, and the illusion of inherent gentility. Premiered in Vienna in 1913 and in London in 1914, the play subverts the ancient Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who falls in love with his own carved statue (Galatea). Shaw replaces marble with a Cockney flower girl, and divine intervention with the brutal science of phonetics.
**Plot Summary**
Professor Henry Higgins, an arrogant and brilliant phonetician, boasts that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl with vulgar speech, into a duchess in six months simply by teaching her to speak "proper" English. He makes a bet with Colonel Pickering, a fellow linguist. Higgins subjects Eliza to relentless drills, treating her as an experiment rather than a human being. She undergoes a painful but successful transformation. At an embassy ball, she passes as royalty. However, the victory is hollow: Eliza, now articulate and elegant, has no place in the world. She cannot return to her old life (she no longer fits), but neither can she join the upper class—her speech is perfect, yet her social origins would still exclude her. In Shaw's original ending (often ignored by sentimental productions), Eliza defiantly leaves Higgins, walking away to marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill (a kind but useless young man) and open a flower shop—rejecting Higgins's offer to live with him as an intellectual curiosity.
**Major Themes**
- **Language as Class Barrier:** Shaw famously argued that the English class system is perpetuated by pronunciation. Eliza's transformation is not about inner worth but about accent.
- **The Problem of Independence:** Unlike the myth, Shaw's "Galatea" refuses to be owned. Eliza demands respect and self-determination: "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else."
- **Anti-Romanticism:** Shaw viciously parodies romantic love. Higgins is a bullying, self-centered misogynist; their relationship is not love but master-pupil combat.
**Legacy**
*Pygmalion* remains a cornerstone of modern drama. Its most famous adaptation is the musical *My Fair Lady* (1956, film 1964), which softened Shaw's ending into a romantic reunion—a change Shaw vehemently opposed. The play continues to be performed for its brilliant dialogue, social critique, and the unforgettable character of Eliza Doolittle, who refuses to be a statue.