Lecture 23
1
SYNOPSIS
 Themes of Pygmalion (Conti…)
 2. Theme of Transformation
 3. Theme of Identity
 4. Theme of Appearance
 5. Theme of Manipulation
2
PYGMALION
3
Themes
Language &
Communication
Manipulation
Appearance
Transformation
Identity
4
2. Theme of Transformation
 This one may seem like a no-brainer: Pygmalion's all
about turning a poor girl into a duchess, right? Well,
sure, and Eliza's metamorphosis is stunning.
 You could even go so far as to call it a Cinderella story.
But remember: Cinderella turned back into a poor girl
before she finally found her prince.
 Pay attention and you'll notice that not all the
attempts at transformation here are successful. There
are plenty of false starts and false endings. By play's
end, Shaw's made one thing very clear: be careful
what you wish for.
5
2. Theme of Transformation
Status Divide
Perceptions
Environmental
suitability
Over ambition
6
2. Theme of Transformation
Fear of
unknown
Control of
Emotion
Control of
Manner
7
2. Theme of Transformation
Subjectivity
Nature
Confidence
8
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Status Divide
 Moving up in society can require a complete
transformation; money, it seems, can't buy everything.
Quote #THE NOTE TAKER. Oh yes. Quite a fat one. This is an age of
upstarts. Men begin in Kentish Town with 80 pounds a year, and end
in Park Lane with a hundred thousand. They want to drop Kentish
Town; but they give themselves away every time they open their
mouths. Now I can teach them— (1.120)
9
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Perceptions
 What seems like an honest attempt at "looking
respectable" to Eliza seems merely pitiful to Pickering.
Not all transformations are successful, and sometimes
the failure to change can be more affecting than
success.Quote #The flower girl enters in state. She
has a hat with three ostrich feathers, orange,
sky-blue, and red. She has a nearly clean
apron, and the shoddy coat has been tidied a
little. The pathos of this deplorable figure,
with its innocent vanity and consequential
air, touches Pickering, who has already
straightened himself in the presence of Mrs.
Pearce. (2.21)
10
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Environmental suitability
 Given the right circumstances, even the most
superficial adjustment can lead to a profound and
surprising change.
Quote #[[Doolittle] hurries to the door, anxious to get away with his
booty. When he opens it he is confronted with a dainty and exquisitely
clean young Japanese lady in a simple blue cotton kimono printed
cunningly with small white jasmine blossoms. Mrs. Pearce is with her.
He gets out of her way deferentially and apologizes]. Beg pardon, miss.
THE JAPANESE LADY. Garn! Don't you know your own daughter?
(2.289-290)
11
Dramatic Reference | Over
ambition
 Pickering and Higgins, caught up in the process of
"inventing new Elizas," seem to have forgotten that
she is a human being just as they are.
Quote #PICKERING. We're always talking Eliza.
HIGGINS. Teaching Eliza.
PICKERING. Dressing Eliza.
MRS. HIGGINS. What!
HIGGINS. Inventing new Elizas. (3.226-244)
12
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Fear of Unknown
 Having achieved her goal and won the bet, Eliza finds
that her metamorphosis has left her confused. Having
just "become" something new, she is already afraid of
what will come next.
Quote #LIZA [pulling herself together in desperation] What am I fit
for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to
do? What's to become of me? (4.60)
13
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Control of Emotion
 Higgins, so used to being in control, is disappointed
and frustrated to find himself losing hold of his
emotions. He, the transformer, has become the
transformed, if only momentarily.
Quote #HIGGINS [with dignity, in his
finest professional style] You have caused
me to lose my temper: a thing that has
hardly ever happened to me before. I prefer
to say nothing more tonight. I am going to
bed. (4.89)
14
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Control of Manner
 Here, once again, Higgins is stunned to find that his
"creation" is now able to control and change her
manner with ease. That said, Shaw's use of the word
"exhibition" casts the truth of that change in doubt.
Quote #Eliza enters, sunny, self-possessed, and giving a
staggeringly convincing exhibition of ease of manner. She carries a
little work-basket, and is very much at home. Pickering is too much
taken aback to rise.
LIZA. How do you do, Professor Higgins? Are you quite well?
HIGGINS [choking] Am I— [He can say no more]. (5.115-117)
15
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Subjectivity
 Ironically, Eliza argues that the man who taught her to
be a lady will never see her or treat her as one. She also
suggests that transformation is subjective, that not all
people will
acknowledge all changes.
Quote #Eliza. You see, really and truly, apart
from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing
and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the
difference between a lady and a flower girl is not
how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall
always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins,
because he always treats me as a flower girl, and
always will; but I know I can be a lady to you,
because you always treat me as a lady, and always
will. (5.143)
16
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference | Nature
 In claiming that he can't change his own nature,
Higgins complicates his own claims about change and
transformation; if he can't change his nature, we have
to wonder, how can he really understand how to
change someone else's?
Quote #HIGGINS. If you come back I shall treat you just as I have
always treated you. I can't change my nature; and I don't intend to
change my manners. My manners are exactly the same as Colonel
Pickering's. (5.191)
17
2. Theme of Transformation
Dramatic Reference| Confidence
 Higgins acts as though he were waiting for Eliza's final
act of defiance the whole the time; it is hard to say,
however, whether his confidence is as great as he
makes it seem.
Quote #HIGGINS. Of course I do, you little fool.
Five minutes ago you were like a millstone round
my neck. Now you're a tower of strength: a
consort battleship. You and I and Pickering will
be three old bachelors together instead of only
two men and a silly girl. (5.265)
18
Questions About Transformation
 Higgins and Pickering tell Mrs. Higgins that Eliza
is an incredibly quick learner. They even call her a
genius. Who, then, deserves more credit for
Eliza's transformation: Eliza herself, because of
her potential intelligence, or Higgins, for
bringing it out?
19
Questions About Transformation
 Why is Higgins so keen on teaching Eliza? Can we
ever really understand his real motives? If so,
what are they?
20
Themes
Language &
Communication
Manipulation
Appearance
Transformation
Identity
21
Pygmalion
3. Theme of Identity
 Every single day we talk about ourselves, saying "I did
this," "I did that," "I am," and "I'm not," but we don't
usually think about what "I" means.
 In Pygmalion, Shaw forces us to think this through.
Some characters want to change who they are, others
don't want to change at all.
 Things get even more complicated when identities are
made up, constructed. The play wants us to ask
ourselves what I really means to think about different
versions of the self, and whether that self can ever
really be changed.
22
Pygmalion
3. Theme of Identity
Identity
Minor Details
Gender
Specific
Attitudes
Uncertainty
Prejudice
23
Pygmalion
3. Theme of Identity
Identity
Stereotypes
Object vs. Subject
Clash Within
Multidimensionality
Fallacies
24
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Prejudice
 Even the things we do to establish a connection with
unfamiliar people and things – like using slang or
nicknames – can end up causing confusion and cases
of mistaken identity.
Quote #THE MOTHER. Now tell me how you know that young
gentleman's name.
THE FLOWER GIRL. I didn't.
THE MOTHER. I heard you call him by it. Don't try to deceive me.
THE FLOWER GIRL [protesting] Who's trying to deceive you? I
called him Freddy or Charlie same as you might yourself if you was
talking to a stranger and wished to be pleasant. [She sits down
beside her basket]. (1.41-44)
25
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Insecurity
 Eliza seems extremely insecure about her own identity
and character. She fears that even the smallest offense
will leadQuote
people
look at
her
and treat
#THEto
FLOWER
GIRL
[springing
up her differently.
terrified] I ain't done nothing wrong by
speaking to the gentleman. I've a right to sell
flowers if I keep off the kerb. [Hysterically] I'm a
respectable girl: so help me, I never spoke to
him except to ask him to buy a flower off me […]
They'll take away my character and drive me on
the streets for speaking to gentlemen. They—
(1.59)
26
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Minor Details
 We see here that identity can be determined by
something as small as a pair of boots.
Quote #THE BYSTANDER. It's all right: he's a gentleman: look
at his boots. [Explaining to the note taker] She thought you was
a copper's nark, sir. (1.61)
27
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference |Gender Specific Attitudes
 Judging Eliza by her slovenly appearance, Higgins
treats Eliza like an object instead of a human being.
His comment is no doubt sarcastic, but it tells us
something about his attitude toward women.
Quote #HIGGINS. Pickering: shall we ask
this baggage to sit down or shall we throw
her out of the window? (2.30)
28
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Uncertainty
 Eliza seems to have grown up without a feminine
presence in her life, and she's proud to have turned out
all right anyway. Perhaps this pride is what leads her to
keep claiming she's a "good girl."
Quote #LIZA. I ain't got no mother. Her that turned me out was my
sixth stepmother. But I done without them. And I'm a good girl, I am.
(2.118)
29
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Stereotypes
 Eliza attempts again to define herself in contrast to
stereotypes. She wants to make it clear that she's not
simply looking for handouts; still, it's hard for her to
look dignified in her dirty clothes.
Quote #LIZA. No: I don't want no gold and no
diamonds. I'm a good girl, I am. [She sits down
again, with an attempt at dignity]. (2.145)
30
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Fallacies
 Higgins stereotypes Eliza as a poor person and simply
assumes that she has a drinking problem.
Quote #HIGGINS. Oh, pay her whatever is necessary: put it down
in the housekeeping book. [Impatiently] What on earth will she
want with money? She'll have her food and her clothes. She'll only
drink if you give her money.
LIZA [turning on him] Oh you are a brute. It's a lie: nobody ever saw
the sign of liquor on me. [She goes back to her chair and plants
herself there defiantly]. (2.121-122)
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3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Object vs. Subject
 Not only has Higgins come to view his clients as
objects rather
human
he even seems to
Quotethan
#HIGGINS.
What!beings,
That thing!
Sacred, I assureof
you.
[Rising
to identity
explain] Youin the process.
have lost something
his
own
see, she'll be a pupil; and teaching would be
There is another
interpretation,
however: a
impossibleinteresting
unless pupils were
sacred. I've
taught scores
American millionairesses
block of wood,
like aofcanvas,
is a medium for artistic
how to speak English: the best looking
expression.women
He, inofthe
course,
isseasoned.
paid toThey
shape his clients,
world. I'm
might as well
be blocks
of wood. I might
as also be subject
but this suggests
that
he, himself,
could
well be a block of wood. It's— (2.165)
to the same process.
32
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Clash Within
 Higgins admits that he sees himself as a sort of child,
still in the process of growing, an impression which
Shaw confirms in his initial description. At the same
time, he is unwilling to acknowledge certain other
highly visible aspects of his personality.
Quote #HIGGINS. You know, Pickering, that woman has the most
extraordinary ideas about me. Here I am, a shy, diffident sort of man.
I've never been able to feel really grown-up and tremendous, like
other chaps. And yet she's firmly persuaded that I'm an arbitrary
overbearing bossing kind of person. I can't account for it. (2.197)
33
3. Theme of Identity
Dramatic Reference | Multidimensionality
Quote #MRS. HIGGINS. Be quiet, Henry. Colonel Pickering: don't you
 Mrs.realize
Higgins
is concerned that her son and Pickering
that when Eliza walked into Wimpole Street, something
with her?
havewalked
beeninshort-sighted,
and failed to acknowledge
[…]
the full
extent of their task. Eliza's problems, like her
PICKERING. But what?
personality,
are[unconsciously
multifaceted.
MRS. HIGGINS
dating herself by the word] A problem.
[…]
MRS. HIGGINS. No, you two infinitely stupid male creatures: the
problem of what is to be done with her afterwards.
HIGGINS. I don't see anything in that. She can go her own way, with
all the advantages I have given her. (3.248-255)
34
3. Theme of Identity
Questions
 We watch Eliza change in a number of ways
throughout Pygmalion: she learns how to speak
properly, she begins dressing differently, etc. But
does she ever lose her old self, her old identity?
Can we really say what her old identity is anyway?
35
3. Theme of Identity
Questions
 On the other hand, can we ever really be sure that
identity is fixed? Does Eliza's transformation call
into question the way we view the self? Are there
any characters who seem totally and completely
comfortable with themselves and their
personalities?
36
3. Theme of Identity
Questions
 What are the different ways in which the
characters define themselves? For instance, do
they compare themselves to other groups? Do
they allow their class to define them, or their
jobs? Are they even conscious of their own
identities?
37
3. Theme of Identity
Questions
 Why the heck is Eliza so afraid that people will
think she's not a "good girl"?
38
4. Theme of Appearance
 Is beauty only skin deep? Is it in the eye of the beholder?
Or is it the consequence of social circumstances? Shaw's
more interested in dealing with the big questions – like
that last one – than with old saws.
 In Pygmalion, anything from a pair of boots to a bath to an
expensive dress can tell us important stuff about a
character, like their place in the world or their state of
mind.
 They can reveal what might normally be hidden from view,
or hide that which might normally be obvious. So
appearances can be deceiving, and the trick is learning how
to judge what is true and what is false. The thing is, it's not
an easy skill to pick up.
39
4. Theme of Appearance
Deceptive
attribute
Language
vs. Visual
Behavior
Standards
of
appearance
Physical
appeal
40
4. Theme of Appearance
Acknowledgment
Conflict
Subject to change
Genteel poverty
Awareness
41
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Physical appeal
 Shaw tells us that she "is not at all an attractive
Quote #[[Eliza] is not at all an attractive person. She is perhaps
person,"
but he contradicts himself in the next act. In
eighteen, perhaps twenty, hardly older. She wears a little sailor hat
black straw
that
has long been
exposed to thedirtiness,
dust and sootand
of
thisofcase,
mere
physical
appearance,
London and has seldom if ever been brushed. Her hair needs
neglect
destroy any kind of physical appeal.
washing rather badly: its mousy color can hardly be natural. She
wears a shoddy black coat that reaches nearly to her knees and is
shaped to her waist. She has a brown skirt with a coarse apron.
Her boots are much the worse for wear. She is no doubt as clean as
she can afford to be; but compared to the ladies she is very dirty.
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)
42
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference |Standards of Appearance
 Even before she is taught to speak and talk correctly,
Eliza has some ideas about cleanliness, self-image, and
respectability. She is simply unable to meet any of the
Quote #The flower girl enters in state. She has a
usual standards.
hat with three ostrich feathers, orange, sky-blue,
and red. She has a nearly clean apron, and the
shoddy coat has been tidied a little. The pathos
of this deplorable figure, with its innocent vanity
and consequential air, touches Pickering, who
has already straightened himself in the presence
of Mrs. Pearce. (2.21)
43
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Behavior
 Mrs. Pearce has strong views on the potential
harmfulness of what might be called bad behavior. As
she sees it, Higgins must look and act respectable if he
expects
to change
forThen
themight
better.
Quote Eliza
#MRS. PEARCE.
Yes, sir.
I ask you not to come
down to breakfast in your dressing-gown, or at any rate not to use it as
a napkin to the extent you do, sir. And if you would be so good as not
to eat everything off the same plate, and to remember not to put the
porridge saucepan out of your hand on the clean tablecloth, it would
be a better example to the girl. You know you nearly choked yourself
with a fishbone in the jam only last week. (2.188)
44
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Deceptive Attribute
 Doolittle's clothing clashes with his other attributes:
his facial
features, his demeanor, and his voice. He is
Quote #Alfred Doolittle is an elderly but
dressedvigorous
like a dustman,
dustman,
but
clad in
theShaw
costumetells
of his us that he is not
including
a hat withexpect.
a back brim
the kindprofession,
of person
we might
covering his neck and shoulders. He has well
marked and rather interesting features, and
seems equally free from fear and conscience.
He has a remarkably expressive voice, the result
of a habit of giving vent to his feelings without
reserve. His present pose is that of wounded
honor and stern resolution. (2.211)
45
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Language vs. Visual
 Just as with the upstarts Higgins mentions (see 1.120),
all it takes is a single word to disrupt an extremely
powerful illusion.
Quote #[[Doolittle] hurries to the door, anxious to get away with
his booty. When he opens it he is confronted with a dainty and
exquisitely clean young Japanese lady in a simple blue cotton
kimono printed cunningly with small white jasmine blossoms.
Mrs. Pearce is with her. He gets out of her way deferentially and
apologizes]. Beg pardon, miss.
THE JAPANESE LADY. Garn! Don't you know your own
daughter? (2.289-290)
46
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Awareness
 Mrs. Higgins's graceful beauty and her ability to define
Quote #There is a portrait of Mrs. Higgins as she
herself against
fashion suggest that she is very
was when she defied fashion in her youth in one
comfortable
with herself,
shewhich,
knows,
of the beautiful
Rossettianthat
costumes
whendeep down,
by people who did not understand,
who shecaricatured
is.
led to the absurdities of popular estheticism in the
eighteen-seventies.
In the corner diagonally opposite the door Mrs.
Higgins, now over sixty and long past taking the
trouble to dress out of the fashion, sits writing at
an elegantly simple writing-table with a bell
button within reach of her hand. (3.3-4)
47
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Genteel Poverty
 Though Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill are both subject
to the same kind of "genteel poverty," each expresses
their condition in a different way, perhaps because of
the difference in age.
Quote #Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill are the mother and daughter
who sheltered from the rain in Covent Garden. The mother is well
bred, quiet, and has the habitual anxiety of straitened means. The
daughter has acquired a gay air of being very much at home in
society: the bravado of genteel poverty. (3.43)
48
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Subject to Change
 Eliza, first described as "not at all attractive," has
become incredibly desirable thanks to some nice
clothing,
jewelry,
andis aexquisitely
few months
Quote
#Eliza, who
dressed, of training.
produces
of suchand
remarkable
Appearance
isan
a impression
changeable,
powerful, thing.
distinction and beauty as she enters that they
all rise, quite flustered. Guided by Higgins's
signals, she comes to Mrs. Higgins with
studied grace. (3.91)
49
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Conflict
 The contrast between Eliza's clothing and her face,
between their elegance and her sadness, recalls the
disconnect between Eliza's magnificent skills and her
opportunities to employ them.
Quote #Eliza opens the door and is seen on the lighted landing
in opera cloak, brilliant evening dress, and diamonds, with fan,
flowers, and all accessories. She comes to the hearth, and
switches on the electric lights there. She is tired: her pallor
contrasts strongly with her dark eyes and hair; and her
expression is almost tragic. (4.1)
50
4. Theme of Appearance
Dramatic Reference | Acknowledgment
 After spending so much time learning to express
herself correctly with words, it seems ironic that her
first "triumph" is signaled with nothing more than
expressions.
Quote #Eliza smiles for the first time;
expresses her feelings by a wild
pantomime in which an imitation of
Higgins's exit is confused with her own
triumph; and finally goes down on her
knees on the hearthrug to look for the
ring. (4.93)
51
4. Theme of Appearance
Questions
 At the end of Act 4, Eliza tells Higgins that she
doesn't want the clothing and jewelry that was
given to her. Why does this anger Higgins so
much?
52
4. Theme of Appearance
Questions
 Higgins tells Pickering that he can "pass off" Eliza
as a duchess in six months. What does this phrase
really mean? What does it say about his
intentions?
53
4. Theme of Appearance
Questions
 Shaw uses clothing to tell us about characters
throughout the play. Eliza manages to trick
people by wearing more expensive, fashionable
clothes. What does this tell us about the power of
appearance?
54
4. Theme of Appearance
Questions
 Could Pygmalion still work as a play if Eliza were
not attractive?
55
5. Theme of Manipulation
 In Pygmalion, we see different types of influence and
control, sometimes literal and other times metaphorical:
the teacher training his student, the artist shaping his
creation, the con artist fleecing his mark, the child playing
with his toy.
 That said, these roles aren't always well-defined; they can
change easily, without warning. Sometimes the master
becomes the slave and the slave the master, in the blink of
the eye, while other times the two simply become equals.
 Shaw wants us to observe the consequences of control, to
see how these changes occur.
56
5. Theme of Manipulation
•
•
•
Manipulation
•
•
ambitiousness
Entertainment
Behavior
Control
Rhetoric
57
5. Theme of Manipulation
•
•
•
Manipulation •
•
Uncompassionate
Excitement
Fear
Reversibility
transformation
58
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Uncompassionate
 Higgins's motives for helping Eliza do not seem to
spring from compassion, but the skills he agrees to
teach her are certainly intended to help her prosper.
Quote #1PICKERING. Higgins: I'm interested. What about the ambassador's
garden party? I'll say you're the greatest teacher alive if you make that good.
I'll bet you all the expenses of the experiment you can't do it. And I'll pay for
the lessons.
LIZA. Oh, you are real good. Thank you, Captain.
HIGGINS [tempted, looking at her] It's almost irresistible. She's so deliciously
low—so horribly dirty—
LIZA [protesting extremely] Ah—ah—ah—ah—ow—ow—oooo!!! I ain't dirty:
I washed my face and hands afore I come, I did. (2.76-9)
59
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Excitement
 Higgins is so quickly wrapped up (pun not intended)
in his project, that he immediately starts to treat her as
an object, raw material for his designs.
Quote #2HIGGINS [storming on] Take all her clothes off and burn
them. Ring up Whiteley or somebody for new ones. Wrap her up in
brown paper till they come. (2.86)
60
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Fear
 Higgins takes a strange pleasure in tempting Eliza, as
if he is scared she will run away. It seems as though he
Quote #3HIGGINS. Listen, Eliza. I think
may be attached
her
you said youto
came
in along
taxi. before he pleads for her to
LIZA. Well, what
if I did? I've as good a
stay at Wimpole
Street.
right to take a taxi as anyone else.
HIGGINS. You have, Eliza; and in future
you shall have as many taxis as you want.
You shall go up and down and round the
town in a taxi every day. Think of that,
Eliza. (2.140-142)
61
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference| Control
 On the other hand, Mrs. Pearce suggests that, under
certain circumstances, Higgins's manipulation is
inadvertent, and that he is even capable of losing
Quoteof
#4MRS.
PEARCE [patiently]
I think you'd better let me
control,
manipulating
himself.
speak to the girl properly in private. I don't know that I can take
charge of her or consent to the arrangement at all. Of course I
know you don't mean her any harm; but when you get what you
call interested in people's accents, you never think or care what
may happen to them or you. Come with me, Eliza. (2.152)
62
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference| Power of Rhetoric
 Higgins, himself an expert in language, acknowledges
the (sometimes dangerous) power of language and
rhetoric.
Quote #5HIGGINS. [After listening to
Doolittle] Pickering: if we listen to this man
another minute, we shall have no
convictions left. (2.284)
63
5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Ambitiousness
 Mrs. Higgins, like Mrs. Pearce, seems to agree that
Higgins can get carried where his "art" is concerned.
He seems unable to acknowledge how artificial Eliza's
behavior is.
Quote #MRS. HIGGINS. You silly boy, of course she's not
presentable. She's a triumph of your art and of her dressmaker's;
but if you suppose for a moment that she doesn't give herself away
in every sentence she utters, you must be perfectly cracked about
her. (3.203)
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5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Entertainment
 Often, Higgins and Pickering do not seem to treat her
like a human being. Her remarkable abilities are
simply a source
of entertainment for them.
Quote #7HIGGINS [to Pickering as they go
out together] Let's take her to the Shakespear
exhibition at Earls Court.
PICKERING. Yes: let's. Her remarks will be
delicious.
HIGGINS. She'll mimic all the people for us
when we get home. (3.262-264)
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5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Behavior
 Trick, indeed. Higgins and Pickering talk about Eliza
as if she were a pet, a performing animal.
Quote #8PICKERING [stretching himself] Well, I feel a bit tired. It's
been a long day. The garden party, a dinner party, and the opera!
Rather too much of a good thing. But you've won your bet, Higgins.
Eliza did the trick, and something to spare, eh? (5.8)
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5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Reversibility
 Eliza is not, of course, literally enslaved. And Higgins
has no intention of chaining her up. Her training,
however, makes her unable to go back to her old ways.
She is noQuote
longer
being manipulated actively; rather,
#LIZA. Oh! if I only COULD go back to
the effects
thebasket!
manipulation
are unshakeable.
myof
flower
I should be independent
of
both you and father and all the world! Why did
you take my independence from me? Why did I
give it up? I'm a slave now, for all my fine clothes.
(5.231)
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5. Theme of Manipulation
Dramatic Reference | Transformation
 By the end, Eliza seems to have learned a thing or two
about manipulation and control from her teacher. Still,
when
she#LIZA.
turns
the
tables,
he to
tries
them
right
Quote
Aha!
Now
I know how
deal to
withturn
you. What
a fool
I
was not to think of it before! You can't take away the knowledge you
back.
gave me. You said I had a finer ear than you. And I can be civil and
kind to people, which is more than you can. Aha! That's done you,
Henry Higgins, it has. Now I don't care that [snapping her fingers]
for your bullying and your big talk. I'll advertize it in the papers that
your duchess is only a flower girl that you taught, and that she'll
teach anybody to be a duchess just the same in six months for a
thousand guineas. Oh, when I think of myself crawling under your
feet and being trampled on and called names, when all the time I
had only to lift up my finger to be as good as you, I could just kick
myself. (5.262)
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Questions About Manipulation
 Toward the end of the play, Eliza tells Higgins that
she has become a slave. Is she right? Does that
make her a slave?
69
Questions About Manipulation
 Throughout Pygmalion, Eliza is repeatedly
objectified, compared to everything from a
pebble to a piece of trash. Is there any reason why
Shaw compares her to the things he does? Is there
a better way to describe the way she is treated?
70
Questions About Manipulation
 The mythical Pygmalion was a sculptor who
fashioned his ideal woman out of stone. Shaw is
clearly making a comparison between Pygmalion
and Higgins, but does that comparison really hold
up?
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Questions About Manipulation
 Higgins is most certainly the "manipulator-in-
chief" in Pygmalion, but what about the other
characters? Do any of them exert their own
influence on Eliza? Does she do anything
manipulating herself?
72
Review Lecture 23
 Themes of Pygmalion (Conti…)
 3. Theme of Identity
 4. Theme of Appearance
 5. Theme of Manipulation
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