Summary

Like The Doctor’s Dilemma (pr. 1906, pb. 1911), Pygmalion is a problem play that examines a social
issue. Shaw deals here with the assumptions of social superiority and inferiority that underlie the class
system. He demonstrates how speech and etiquette preserve class distinctions. As he wrote in the play’s
preface, “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman
hate or despise him.” Pygmalion therefore tries to illustrate the arbitrariness of basing a person’s worth
on his or her pronunciation. The phonetics professor Henry Higgins is an expert in dialects and accents.
At Covent Garden he phonetically transcribes all that the innocent flower girl Eliza Doolittle says. Since
he boasted of his successes in educating social climbers in speech, Eliza comes to Higgins’s house the
next day, asking to be taught to speak like a lady so that she might be employed in a classy flower store.
A fellow phonetics professor, Colonel Pickering, offers to cover the expenses of the experiment if Higgins
can pass Eliza off as a duchess at a garden party six months later. Sure of his abilities, the tyrannical and
condescending Higgins is enticed by the Frankensteinian challenge “to take a human being and change
her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her.” While Higgins is successful in
transforming Eliza in terms of speech, his rough manners, rudeness, and swearing do not teach her the
accompanying social etiquette. Eliza betrays her lack of refinement at a parlor party not through her
pronunciation but through what she says. The comic climax is reached when she uses the vulgar
expression “Not bloody likely,” although she pronounces it in a ladylike manner. Higgins and Pickering
seem unaware that their experiment has transformed Eliza not only in terms of her speech. Even after
she has successfully passed for a lady at a garden party, Higgins still does not treat her like a lady.
Higgins’s excuse is that while Pickering may treat a flower girl like a duchess, he would also treat a
duchess like a flower girl, since he believes in treating everyone equally, regardless of his or her social
class. Feeling disappointed and humiliated, Eliza leaves Higgins by night, no longer willing to be treated
like a servant. She believes that she has risen to a higher social class and claims that social class is not
determined by one’s pronunciation but by the respect with which one is treated. In the meantime,
money has been left to Eliza’s father by a rich American. This unexpected wealth has transformed him
from an alcoholic dustman into a middle-class man in terms of behavior and ideology, although not in
terms of pronunciation. Since it is based on money and not on accent, his character transformation
seems more secure than his daughter’s, although both seem ambivalent about their new status.
Although the play leaves Eliza and Higgins’s future open, Shaw wrote in his afterword that she will marry
the petit bourgeois Freddy and open a flower and vegetable shop with him instead of continuing to
endure 1 Higgins’s unrefinement and rudeness. She has been struggling throughout the play to liberate
herself from the professor’s tyranny. In Pygmalion, Shaw links the Cinderella story of a transformation
from rags to riches with a Frankensteinian creation of a new life. Underneath the play’s comedy,
questions are raised about the justifiability of social distinction and the role of women in a patriarchal
society. Although Shaw felt ambivalent about the feminist movement of the early twentieth century, he
presents Eliza as suffering degradation and escaping from it with the help of Pickering’s civility, Mrs.
Higgins’s understanding, and her own awakened self-reliance. Pygmalion was later made into the
popular musical comedy My Fair Lady (1956).
Summary: Act 1 Summary The action begins at 11:15 p.m. in a heavy summer rainstorm. An after-
theatre crowd takes shelter in the portico of St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden. A young girl, Clara
Eynsford Hill, and her mother are waiting for Clara's brother Freddy, who looks in vain for an available
cab. Colliding into flower peddler Liza Doolittle, Freddy scatters her flowers. After he departs to continue
looking for a cab, Liza convinces Mrs. Eynsford Hill to pay for the damaged flowers; she then cons three
halfpence from Colonel Pickering. Liza is made aware of the presence of Henry Higgins, who has been
writing down every word she has said. Thinking Higgins is a policeman who is going to arrest her for
scamming people, Liza becomes hysterical. Higgins turns out, however, to be making a record of her
speech for scientific ends. Higgins is an expert in phonetics who claims: "I can place any man within six
miles. I can place him within two miles in London. Sometimes within two streets." Upbraiding Liza for her
speech, Higgins boasts that "in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador's
garden party." Higgins and Pickering eventually trade names and realize they have long wanted to meet
each other. They go off to dine together and discuss phonetics. Liza picks up the money Higgins had flung
down upon exiting and for once treats herself to a taxi ride home.

3 Summary: Act 2 Summary The next morning at 11 a.m. in Higgins's laboratory, which is full of
instruments, Higgins and Pickering receive Liza, who has presented herself at the door. Higgins is taken
aback by Liza's request for lessons from him. She wants to learn to "talk more genteel" so she can be
employed in a flower shop instead of selling flowers on the street. Liza can only offer to pay a shilling per
lesson, but Pickering, intrigued by Higgins's claims the previous night, offers to pay for Liza's lessons and
says of the experiment: "I'll say you're the greatest teacher alive if you make that good." Higgins
enthusiastically accepts the bet, though his housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, pleads with him to consider what
will become of Liza after the experiment. Liza agrees to move into Higgins's home and goes upstairs for a
bath. Meanwhile, Higgins and Pickering are visited by Liza's father, Doolittle, "an elderly but vigorous
dustman." Rather than demanding to take Liza away, Doolittle instead offers to "let her go'' for the sum
of five pounds. Higgins is shocked by this offer at first, asking whether Doolittle has any morals, but he is
persuaded by Doolittle's response, that the latter is too poor to afford them. Exiting quickly with his
booty, Doolittle does not at first recognize his daughter, who has re-entered, cleaned up and dressed in a
Japanese kimono.

Summary: Act 3 Summary The setting is the flat of Mrs. Higgins, Henry's mother. Henry bursts in with a
flurry of excitement, much to the distress of his mother, who finds him lacking in social graces (she
observes that her friends "stop coming whenever they meet you"). Henry explains that he has invited
Liza, taking the opportunity for an early test of his progress with Liza's speech. The Eynsford Hills, guests
of Mrs. Higgins, arrive. The discussion is awkward and Henry, true to his mother's observations, does
appear very uncomfortable in company. Liza arrives and, while she speaks with perfect pronunciation
and tone, she confuses the guests with many of her topics of conversation and peculiar turns of phrase.
Higgins convinces the guests that these, including Liza's famous exclamation "not bloody likely!" are the
latest trend in small talk. After all the guests (including Liza) have left, Mrs. Higgins challenges Henry and
Pickering regarding their plans; she is shocked that they have given no thought to Liza's well-being, for
after the conclusion of the experiment she will have no income, only "the manners and habits that
disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living." Henry is characteristically flip, stating "there's no
good bothering now. The thing's done.'' Pickering is no more thoughtful than Higgins, and as the two
men exit, Mrs. Higgins expresses her exasperation. A following scene, the most important of the
"optional" scenes Shaw wrote for the film version of Pygmalion —and included in later editions of the
play—takes place at an Embassy party in London. Higgins is nervous that Nepommuck, a Hungarian
interpreter and his former student, will discover his ruse and expose Liza as an aristocratic imposter.
Nepommuck, ironically, accuses Liza not of faking her social class, but her nationality. He is convinced
Liza must be Hungarian and of noble blood, for she speaks English "too perfectly," and "only foreigners
who have been taught to speak it speak it well.'' Higgins is victorious, but finds little pleasure in having
outwitted such foolish guests.

Summary: Act 4 Summary Midnight, in Henry's laboratory. Higgins, Pickering, and Liza return from the
party. Higgins loudly bemoans the evening: "What a crew! What a silly tomfoolery!" Liza grows more and
more frustrated as he continues to complain ("Thank God it's over!"), not paying attention to her or
acknowledging her role in his triumph. Complaining about not being able to find his slippers, Higgins
does not observe Liza retrieving them and placing them directly by him. She controls her anger as
Higgins and Pickering exit, but when Higgins storms back in, still wrathfully looking for his slippers, Liza
hurls them at him with all her might. She derides Higgins for his selfishness and demands of him,
"What's to become of me?" Higgins tries to convince her that 4 her irritation is "only imagination," that
she should "go to bed like a good girl and sleep it off." Higgins gradually understands Liza's economic
concern (that she cannot go back to selling flowers, but has no other future), but he can only awkwardly
suggest marriage to a rich man as a solution. Liza criticizes the subjugation that Higgins's suggestion
implies: "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell anything
else." Liza infuriates Higgins by rejecting him, giving him back the rented jewels she wears, and a ring he
had bought for her. He angrily throws the ring in the fireplace and storms out. In the next important
"optional scene," Liza has left Higgins's home and comes upon Freddy, who, infatuated with the former
flower girl, has recently been spending most of his nights gazing up at Liza's window. They fall into each
other's arms, but their passionate kisses are interrupted first by one constable, then another, and
another. Liza suggests they jump in a taxi, "and drive about all night; and in the morning I'll call on old
Mrs. Higgins and ask her what I ought to do."

Summary: Act 5 Summary Mrs. Higgins's drawing room, the next day. Henry and Pickering arrive, and
while they are downstairs phoning the police about Liza's disappearance, Mrs. Higgins asks the
chambermaid to warn Liza, taking shelter upstairs, not to come down. Mrs. Higgins scolds Henry and
Pickering for their childishness and the careless manner in which they treated another human. The
arrival of Alfred Doolittle is announced; he enters dressed fashionably as a bridegroom, but in an
agitated state, casting accusations at Higgins. Doolittle explains at length how by a deed of Henry's he
has come into a regular pension. His lady companion will now marry him, but still he is miserable. Where
he once could "put the touch" on anyone for drinking money, now everyone comes to him, demanding
favors and monetary support. At this point, Mrs. Higgins reveals that Liza is upstairs, again criticizing
Henry for his unthoughtful behavior towards the girl. Mrs. Higgins calls Liza down, asking Doolittle to
step out for a moment to delay the shock of the news he brings. Liza enters, politely cool towards Henry.
She thanks Pickering for all the respect he has shown her since their first meeting: calling her Miss
Doolittle, removing his hat, opening doors. "The difference,'' Liza concludes, "between a lady and a
flower girl is not how she behaves but how she's treated." At this point, Doolittle returns. He and Liza are
reunited, and all the characters (excepting Henry) prepare to leave to see Doolittle married. Liza and
Higgins are left alone. Higgins argues that he didn't treat Liza poorly because she was a flower girl but
because he treats everyone the same. He defends his behavior by attacking traditional social graces as
absurd: "You call me a brute because you couldn't buy a claim on me by fetching my slippers," he says.
Liza declares that since Higgins gave no thought to her future, she will marry Freddy and support herself
by teaching phonetics, perhaps assisting Nepommuck. Higgins grows furious at Liza and "lays his hands
on her." He quickly regrets doing so and expresses appreciation of Liza's newfound independence. At the
play's curtain he remains incorrigible, however, cheerfully assuming that Liza will continue to manage his
household details as she had done during her days of instruction with him.

Themes
Appearances and Reality

Pygmalion examines this theme primarily through the character of Liza, and the issue of personal
identity (as perceived by oneself or by others). Social roles in the Victorian era were viewed as natural
and largely fixed: there was perceived to be something inherently, fundamentally unique about a noble
versus an unskilled laborer and vice versa. Liza's ability to fool society about her "real" identity raises
questions about appearances. The importance of appearance and reality to the theme of Pygmalion is
suggested by Liza's famous observation: "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."

Beauty

In Pygmalion, Shaw interrogates beauty as a subjective value. One's perception of beauty in another
person is shown to be a highly complex matter, dependent on a large number of (not always aesthetic)
factors. Liza, it could be argued, is the same person from the beginning of the play to the end, but while
she is virtually invisible to Freddy as a Cockney-speaking flower merchant, he is totally captivated by
what he perceives as her beauty and grace when she is presented to him as a lady of society.

Change and Transformation

The transformation of Liza is, of course, central to the plot and theme of Pygmalion. The importance at
first appears to rest in the power Higgins expresses by achieving this transformation. "But you have no
idea," he says, "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." As the play unfolds, however, the focus shifts so that the effects of
the change upon Liza become central. The truly important transformation Liza goes through is not the
adoption of refined speech and manners but the learning of independence and a sense of inner self-
worth that allows her to leave Higgins.

Identity

The indeterminacy of appearance and reality in Pygmalion reveals the significant examination of identity
in the play. Shaw investigates conflicts between differing perceptions of identity and depicts the end
result of Higgins's experiment as a crisis of identity for Liza. Liza's transformation is glorious but painful,
as it leaves her displaced between her former social identity and a new one, which she has no income or
other resources to support. Not clearly belonging to a particular class, Liza no longer knows who she is.

Language and Meaning

In an age of growing standardization of what was known as "the Queen's English," Pygmalion points to a
much wider range of varieties of spoken English. Shaw believed characteristics of social identity such as
one's refinement of speech were completely subjective ones, as his play suggests. While Shaw himself
hated poor speech and the varieties of dialect and vocabulary could present obstructions to conveying
meaning, nevertheless the play suggests that the real richness of the English language is in the variety of
individuals who speak it. As for the dialect or vocabulary of any one English variety, such as Cockney, its
social value is determined in Pygmalion completely by the context in which it is assessed. While Liza's
choice of words as a Cockney flower merchant would be thought as absurd as her accent, they are later
perceived by the mannered Eynsford Hill family to be the latest trend, when they are thought to
emanate from a person of noble breeding.

Gender Roles

Sex and gender have a great deal to do with the dynamics between Liza and Higgins, including the sexual
tension between them that many audience members would have liked to see fulfilled through a
romantic union between them. In Liza's difficult case, what are defined as her options are clearly a
limited subset of options available to a woman. As Mrs. Higgins observes, after the conclusion of the
experiment Liza will have no income, only "the manners and habits that disqualify a fine lady from
earning her own living." To this problem Higgins can only awkwardly suggest marriage to a rich man as a
solution. Liza makes an astute observation about Higgins's suggestion, focusing on the limited options
available to a woman: "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell
anything else."

Wealth and Poverty

One of the many subjects under examination in Pygmalion is class consciousness, a concept first given
name in 1887. Shaw's play, like so many of his writings, examines both the realities of class and its
subjective markers. The linguistic signals of social identity, for example, are simultaneously an issue of
class. Economic issues are central to Liza's crisis at the conclusion of Higgins's experiment, for she lacks
the means to maintain the standard of living he and Pickering enjoy. Doolittle's unforeseen rise into the
middle class similarly allows Shaw to examine wealth and poverty. Though Doolittle fears the workhouse,
he's not happy with his new class identity either; Shaw injects humor through Doolittle's surprising
(according to traditional class values) distaste for his new status.