Pygmalion
Introduction
Outline
Introduction
1. Story vs. Drama, Comedy
2. George Bernard Shaw,
3. the Myth & the Play
4. Pygmalion & My Fair Lady
5. Social Background:
Language & Class
6. Preface
7. The Play as a Whole
Introd (1): A play and a story (textbook pp. 1125-)
Play
(read and performed)
Story
(read)
Plot  Act/Scene
Stage* & Stage directions
(gestures, costumes, stage prop,
sound and lighting, etc.)
Dialogue – more (monologue,
aside, soliloquy)
Characters (Character list,
showing their relations)
Theme
Readers: embodiment of script
(actors, directors);
Audience of performance time
limit, etc..
Plot
Narrator: Narration &
Description
Dialogue
Characters
Theme
Readers
Comedy (textbook Glossary A2 )
• Evokes laughter  at
– The characters’ mechanical and contradictory actions;
– Exaggeration & a degree of improbability (a. richness
of life; b. surprise; c. improbable situations)
– The characters’ ideals (seemingly trivial  the
tragic characters’ ideal).
• A degree of absurdity in the characters’ behavior  the
reader feels superior and laughs at the characters;
– A. Social Foibles(弱點): characters defined primarily in terms of
their social identities and roles.
Comedy of
Manners
– B. Universal absurdity perceived so that the reader identifies with
the absurd action and laughs with the characters. (Waiting for
Godot”
1. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Shavian (Shaw's) Style:
• stage direction --economical
exposition and suggestive of social
background;
• prefatory essay--used to express his
doctrines;
• discussion in (and around) the
play. Sometimes Shaw calls his own
plays Problem Play, Discussion
Drama, Play of Ideas. He also claims
that "[p]rimarily, [his plays] are not
plays: they are tracts in dramatic
forms." He regards social criticism
as the most important function of all
art. (A Guide to Bernard Shaw, Edward Wagenknecht,
1929, reissued 1971 pp. 3, 5, 16, 17)
2. Pygmalion: the Myth and the Play
• In Ovid's Metamophosis,
Pygmalion is a sculptor who
is not interested in
women. Pygmalion,
however, finds himself in
love with his sculpture,
Galatea, and he caresses
her and offers her with all
the gifts women like. At the
end, Venus realizes his wish
and turn Galatea into a real
woman.
– Who is the Pygmalion in the
play?
– Why is the play “a Romance in
Five Acts”?
– The Sequel provides some
sort of explanation.
2. Note: Romance
(1. The improbabl, 2. adventure, 3. love)
• 傳奇  浪漫小說
• An extended fictional prose narrative about
improbable events involving characters that are
quite different from ordinary people. e.g. Knights
on a quest for a magic sword and aided by
characters like fairies and trolls.(ref.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm )
• Medieval Romance – King Arthur and RoundTable Knights
• 19th century: Tales which are adventurous and
exotic.
• 20th century –today: formulaic love story (e.g.
family romance), or Lord of the Rings (fantasy +
romance)
• Does Pygmalion involve love and adventure?
Pygmalion & My Fair Lady
Pygmalion
1938-- (film) scripted by GBS
1984-- (play, Peter O'Toole at the Shaftesbury
Theatre)
1981-- (film) Pygmalion
See here:
My Fair Lady (musical)
Popular Pygmalion Videos
1956 – Julie Andrews
1964 -- Audrey Hepburn
Pygmalion
Main Themes:
Language, Class & Education
3. Language and Class Differences
in (late) 19th-century England
1. Language – Queen’s English – There was then an
attempt at having a nationwide spoken standard,
known as "the Queen's English." Cockney English is
the exact opposite to “Received Pronunciation,”
denoting one’s lack of education.
2. The rise of the middle class–
a.
b.
More and more businessmen and their families prospered and
imitated the upper classes; they can even buy themselves
some titles. To look classy, they also try to imitate the
manners and accent of the upper class.
The upper class -- subtle distinctions became all-important.
Aristocrats tried to maintain their superiority by glorifying
attributes that could not be bought easily, such as family
history, refined social graces, and old traditions.” (ref LRC)
3. Language and Class Differences:
Then and Now
1.
Queen’s English (ref.: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/QueensEnglish.html examples of
Queen’s English and Cockney here.)
-- “the monarch’s usage of the language should be a
model in speech and writing” (Wales, 1994).
-- the King’s English= standard English in written form (since
James I in 16th/17th centuries).
2. Nowadays Queen Elizabeth speaks Queen’s English, but
the younger generations of the royal family today (e.g.
Princess Di and Prince Edward) speaks a mixture of
cockney and RP.
2. World englishes – in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia,
Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean area, etc.
4. Science and the Preface
• The center of the play: Eliza as "the most absorbing
experiment [Higgins] ever tackled."
• What does science bring to society? Does it solve
problems or create problems? This has been a
question asked since the rapid scientific
developments in the 19th century England.
– Darwin's Origin of Species (1859)
– the discovery of the x-ray, the electron, and radioactivity
science in 1890’s (ref. LRC)
• GBS is interested in both science and phonetics (in
development of a more complete alphabet for
everyday use).
• Does this make Henry
Higgins a “hero” in the play?
Preface: A Professor of Phonetics.
• The English have no respect for their language, and
will not teach their children to speak it.
• The reformer England needs today is an energetic
phonetic enthusiast: that is why I have made such a
one the hero of a popular play.
• Henry Sweet -- His true objective was the provision of
a full, accurate, legible script for our noble but illdressed language; but he was led past that by his
contempt for the popular Pitman system of shorthand,
which he called the Pitfall system.
• It [the play] is so intensely and deliberately didactic,
and its subject is esteemed so dry, that I delight in
throwing it at the heads of the wiseacres (自作聰明者 )
who repeat the parrot cry that art should never be
didactic.
• Eliza’s change: neither impossible nor uncommon.
The Play as a whole
Act 1 – in front of St.
Paul’s
The meeting of the crowd and
the major and minor characters.
Act 2 – at Higgin’s
Act 3 – At-Home Day of
Mrs. Higgins’
The beginning of the ‘experiment’
and the bet; Mr. Doolittle;
(*Eliza’s practice)
The first test; *the Embassy’s
party (beginning part)
Act 4 – at Higgin’s
After the Embassy’s banquet
Act 5 – at Mrs. Higgins’
The very next day, confrontation
of Eliza and Higgins.
* Added for the 1938 Film version
Next Time
1. Read Act I (social microcosm) & Act
II (as much as possible or the
Beginning of Eliza’s
Education/Transformation)
2. Answer 1 question online and in
class
3. Get the play performance team
organized
Act 1: Class Discussion –
Character and Theme
*Give the names of those who answer the group's questions.
**Give quotes to support your answers.
Group 1&2) Eliza: What is she like as a flower girl? How is she treated by the
mother and daughter differently?
Group 3&4) The Mother, the Daughter (Mrs. Eynsford-Hill & Clare) and the
Crowd: What do they each care about? Do they mix well with the crowd?
What voices do you hear of the crowd?
Group 5&6) The Two Scientists (Higgins & Pickering): Do you have any
experience similar to Act I? Why is the Note-Taker (Higgins) offensive? Why is
accent important to him? What do you think about people speaking in different
accents?
Group 7&8) The setting: read the stage direction to find out more about it.
How is the setting important
Group 9&10) Theme: How does Act I present the London society at the time?
Group 11&12) Relevance: After reading Act 1, what do you think the play is
about? Are there any stories you can associate with this play? How?
Note: Character Types
Minor Ones:
• The Upper Class vs. the Flower Girl
– How would you characterize the traits and relationship of the
mother (Mrs Eynsford Hill ), daughter(Clara Eynsford Hill), and
son (Freddy Eynsford Hill)?
– How would you compare and contrast them with the flower girl
(Eliza Doolittle)?
Major Ones:
– Two Scientists: How would you describe the gentleman
(Pickering)?
– How does he compare and contrast with the note-taker
(Higgins)?
– Pay attention to their different treatments of the flower girl.
• The others (like chorus) –their functions?
Every Group: Characters & Theme
About the story you chose, or Pygmalion
1. What is your text? What is the possible theme
you want to deal with?
2. What major characters are you going to have?
How are they characterized? How will you
show their features besides dialogue and
action, via gestures, clothing, symbols?
3. Will there be minor characters? Their roles?
And chorus (by-standers and general public)?
4. Are there any symbols associated with them?
Group Work: Job Division
• Find a group leader from each of the 12 groups
• All: Choose a Text
1. Director - 1
2. Script Writer (& Prompter)-- 2 persons
3. Stage Manager (in charge of recording group meetings
and work journals every week) –2 persons (group
leader from each)
4. Actors/Actresses --?
5. Backstage Crew --3? (Wed noons –for costumes and
light)
1.
2.
Sound
Set and Property
3.
Costume and Makeup
3 questions in 3 weeks =
4 persons one question
with ppt presentation
Mini Play Contest: Tentative
Schedule
Play
10月31日 General Introd
Act I and Act II. (pp. 1111月7日
37)
11月14日 Act II & III (pp. 38-71)
11月21日
Act III-IV (pp. 71-87 +
Act V)
11月28日 Act V and Postscript
12月5日
Mini Play Preparation
Poetry I: Lyric and Tone
12月12日 Performance Day
Group
Job Division
Character Analysis &
Theme
Line Reading &
Creative
Adaptation(script
ready)
Performance &
Set and Prop
Theme and Overall
Presentation
Rehearsal 12/10
(12:15-3:30)