“Pygmalion” summary: retelling of the play by B. Shaw based on actions

Brief information about the work

The five-act play Pygmalion was written by Bernard Shaw in 1912–1913 . It was first published in 1913 . The enormous popularity of this play in many countries was ensured by its wit, originality, and reflection of social problems.

The author defined the genre of this work as a novel. In the afterword, he writes that “the story of Eliza Dolittle... is called a novel because the transformation described seems incredible and implausible from the outside.” The author's original definition of the play's genre emphasizes the deep connections between Shaw's dramatic work and the novel and prose.

The main characters and their brief characteristics

Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics, a man of about 40. He teaches aristocratic pronunciation to wealthy people from the low class and makes a living from it. This is an energetic, sincere person who does not hide his emotions. He is an ironist, humorist, paradoxist.
Eliza Doolittle is a young London flower girl, about 18–20 years old. She is tongue-tied, like all the people around her. Higgins taught her the correct pronunciation, and from Pickering she adopted secular manners and politeness. In addition, Eliza acquired a sense of self-worth, which was unexpected for Higgins. An intelligent and talented girl has become a truly harmonious person.

Other characters

Pickering is a colonel, an elderly gentleman, very courteous and tactful.
Mrs. Higgins is the professor's mother, a benevolent, prudent woman.
Mrs. Pierce is Higgins' housekeeper, a prudent, kind woman.
Alfred Dolittle is Eliza's father, a scavenger. He cares little about his daughter. After receiving a rich inheritance, Dolittle easily becomes a preacher, since the gift of an orator and polemicist was given to him by nature itself.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill is Mrs. Higgins's guest, an elderly lady, calm, tactful.
Clara is her daughter. This poor girl is trying to show that she is accustomed to secular society.
Freddie is the son of Mrs. Eynsford Hill, a young man of about 20, in love with Eliza.

Other participants in the play

Not only the main characters played an important role in Eliza’s amazing transformation. The girl's father can be called Pygmalion No. 1. Socially, the scavenger is, one might say, at the bottom. But Alfred is a bright and extraordinary personality. The flower girl owes many of her positive character traits to her father. His impressive behavior is obvious: the ability to explain himself to anyone, originality of thinking, self-esteem.

Interesting personality Alfred adapts to any situation and remains himself. In other words, circumstances may change, but the person will not change: the personality will remain a personality. However, Shaw would not be Shaw if he did not put self-respect into the soul of a street girl, and would not make interesting a person who valued a father’s feeling at five pounds. Why are the characters of Henry, the housekeeper, Pickering, Eliza and the girl's father so powerful, and the people from the drawing rooms so weak? How masterfully the great playwright managed this can be seen from the summary of Pygmalion. Bernard Shaw also made interesting personalities out of minor characters:

Problems of the work: themes, idea

themes are explored in Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion :

social inequality;
problem of classical English;
Love;
friendship;
meanness;
connection between character and social status.

The idea (main idea) of the play “Pygmalion”: an uneducated person can become cultured and interesting to others if he works, therefore social equality is necessary. Bernard Shaw believed in the limitless possibilities of man and considered equality to be the only solid basis for social order.

Henry Higgins meeting with Colonel Pickering

Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion continues with the following events. A summary of Higgins' meeting with Pickering is presented below.

The Colonel is interested in the abilities of the man holding the notebook. He introduces himself as Henry Higgins and says that he is the author of the “Higgins Universal Alphabet.” The colonel himself turns out to be the creator of a book called “Conversational Sanskrit”. His last name is Pickering. This man lived for a long time in India, and came to London specifically to meet Higgins. Tom also wanted to meet the colonel for a long time. The two are going to go to the Colonel's hotel for dinner.

A very short summary for a reader's diary (20 sentences)

The plot of the play is based on the myth of the sculptor Pygmalion, who sculpted a statue of the beautiful Galatea, fell in love with her and, with the help of the goddess Aphrodite, brought her to life. In the version proposed by the author of the play, street flower girl Eliza Doolittle plays the role of the newly-minted Galatea, and phonetics professor Henry Higgins plays the role of Pygmalion.

Poor London flower girl Eliza dreams of becoming a saleswoman in a flower shop, but she is not hired there because of her terrible accent and vocabulary. Having accidentally learned the address of a man who could teach a person to speak correctly in three months, she came to him with a request to give her lessons. This man, Henry Higgins, was a professor of phonetics, very passionate about his work. He and his friend Colonel Pickering made a bet that in three months the professor would turn “this grimy little thing” into a miss who would successfully pass for a duchess at any embassy reception.

Eliza's father, the garbage man Alfred Doolittle, came to the professor and, showing remarkable oratorical skills, lured him out of 5 pounds for his daughter.

After some time, the professor brought Eliza to his mother on a reception day, and the guests took her for a society lady, and one of them, Freddie, even fell in love with her. Eliza’s pronunciation became perfect, but her vocabulary remained full of words from her previous life. The professor assured the guests that this was “a new style of small talk.”

The next time Higgins and Pickering took Eliza on a picnic, on the same day they attended a dinner party and the opera. The girl behaved impeccably there, and Pickering admitted that Higgins won the bet. Both the colonel and the professor were very glad that it was all over. Higgins admitted that it was interesting to study phonetics with Eliza, but when it came to teaching her decent vocabulary and social manners, he became bored. He stated that he was no longer involved in the production of duchesses, that “it was complete torture.” Both friends didn’t even ask if Eliza was tired, and didn’t thank her for passing the test they set up perfectly.

The offended girl left them at night and even wanted to drown herself, but could not make up her mind. In the morning she came to the professor’s mother and told her how her son and the colonel had treated her rudely.

Meanwhile, Higgins and Pickering were alarmed and called the police about Eliza's disappearance, but Mrs. Higgins told them that they had done it in vain: after all, the girl had every right to leave. Eliza, having met the professor and the colonel in Mrs. Higgins's living room, behaved with them as if they were good acquaintances, and declared that she would not return to them, since she did not want to be dependent on them.

Won bet

Three months later, Eliza’s friends take her to a high-society reception. The appearance of the girl was accompanied by enormous success; no one doubted her noble origin. Higgins won the bet, this chapter of the story is over, and the professor is pleased that he no longer has to waste time on teaching. But this raises a question about which both Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Higgins warned.

The experimenters did not think about Eliza's future. Henry believed that everything would somehow work itself out. And the girl fell into despair. She became a different person and could no longer sell flowers on the street. Out of anger, she threw her shoes at Higgins, and at night she packed up and ran away from the house.

Eliza's departure sent Higgins and Pickering into a panic. They rushed to look for her, went to Mrs. Higgins and even contacted the police. At this time, the author again remembered the girl’s father. Doolittle came to Henry's mother's living room with a claim. By the grace of the professor, the scavenger turned into a bourgeois and lost all his freedom. Higgins once wrote to America to the founder of the Moral Reform League that the most “original moralist in all England is Elfrid Doolittle, a simple scavenger.” The liberal American left Doolittle in his will “a share in the Chewed Cheese Trust for three thousand annual income.”

Mrs. Higgins expressed satisfaction that Eliza's father now had enough money to adequately support his daughter. This caused a furious protest from Henry; he could not let Eliza go from him. The mother admitted that the girl came to her and told her how disgustingly they treated her. When Miss Dolittle came down from above, she briefly expressed her gratitude to Colonel Pickering for the opportunity to learn:

good manners;
the ability to restrain one’s impulses;
the art of behaving like a real lady.

It was thanks to the colonel that the girl acquired impeccable manners. The rude and ill-mannered Higgins could not be an example for her. The truth about himself became a big blow for the professor. He talked with Eliza for a long time and finally admitted: “I said that I would make a real woman out of you, and I did. I like you like that.” Now, in his opinion, they could live together as “three friendly old bachelors.”

Over the course of a hundred years, the play “Pygmalion” was staged in many countries and was a huge success. Based on Shaw's plot, the musical My Fair Lady was written, the film adaptation of which won an Oscar in 1964.

Brief summary of actions (more detailed than summary)

Action 1

Summer. Covent Garden. It's raining heavily. The clock strikes a quarter past twelve at night. Several people took refuge under the portico of St. Paul's Church, including two ladies in evening dresses: a mother and daughter. One of these people stands with his back to the others and makes notes in a notebook.

From the conversation between the elderly lady and her daughter, it is clear that they are waiting for her son Freddie, who must get a taxi. He came and said that there was no taxi anywhere. His mother told him to go searching again and not to return without a taxi. Freddie opened his umbrella, ran out from under the portico and ran into a street flower girl who was hurrying under the portico. The girl shouted: “Where are you going, Freddie! Take your eyes in your hands!” The young man apologized and ran away. His mother asked the girl how she knew her son's name. The flower girl said that since her son scattered the flowers from the basket, let the lady pay for them. The lady paid and repeated her question. The flower girl replied that she did not know her son, and explained: “Freddie, Charlie - you have to call a person something if you want to be polite.”

An elderly gentleman ran under the portico. The flower girl offers him to buy a flower, but he says that he doesn’t have any change. The girl is ready to exchange half a crown and persuades him to buy a flower for two pence. The gentleman rummages in his pockets, finds a penny and a half and asks if that will suit her. The girl took the money, the gentleman moved away from her. One of the passers-by told the flower girl to give the flower to the gentleman, otherwise the guy standing right there was recording her every word.

The flower girl, frightened that it was a detective, shouted that she was an honest girl, that she had only asked the gentleman to buy a flower from her. She began to ask the elderly gentleman to tell the man with the notebook not to report her to the police, because she would be banned from trading for harassing gentlemen. The gentleman told the man with the notebook that this girl had nothing bad on her mind.

The man with the notebook, during an exchange with people sheltering under the portico from the rain, began to say exactly where each of them was from. Everyone was amazed. When the rain stopped, people began to leave, leaving only an elderly gentleman, a flower girl and a man with a notebook. The gentleman asked him how he determined where a person was from. He replied that phonetics, that is, the science of pronunciation, is his profession. Then he said that nowadays some people get rich quickly and want to learn literary English. He teaches this language to newly minted millionaires and thereby earns a living.

In addition, he stated that if he had undertaken to train this flower girl with her terrible reprimand, then in three months she would have passed for a duchess at the embassy reception. She could then work as a saleswoman, and for this she needs to be able to speak correctly.

During the conversation, it turned out that the gentleman was Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit, and the man with the notebook was Henry Higgins, the creator of the Higgins Universal Alphabet. It turned out that Pickering came from India to meet Higgins, and he was going to India to meet Pickering.

Higgins told the colonel his address and invited him to come to him tomorrow. When they were leaving, the flower girl tried to sell the colonel a flower, saying that she had nothing to pay the rent. Higgins remembered her saying she could change half a crown and called her a liar. At this time the clock in the bell tower struck half past twelve. Higgins heard God's voice in their fight, reproaching him for being merciless to the poor girl, threw a handful of coins into a basket of flowers and left.

The flower girl took out the money and was very pleased.

A taxi stopped in front of the church, Freddie jumped out and asked the flower girl where the two ladies who were there were. The girl replied that they were going to the bus. Freddie said in confusion: “What should I do with a taxi now?” The flower girl majestically declared that she would take this taxi home. The driver, seeing a poorly dressed girl, slammed the taxi door, but the flower girl showed him a full handful of coins, and he opened the door for her. The girl gave her address and told the taxi driver to drive as fast as he could.

Act 2

In Higgins's laboratory, the owner and his guest, Colonel Pickering, finished listening to various vowel sounds on the phonograph. Higgins' economics, Mrs. Pearce, informed him that a young lady from very simple backgrounds and with a terrible pronunciation wanted to see him. Higgins said to invite her and decided to show Pickering how he would arrange the material: he would make the visitor speak and record her using the Bell system, then in the Latin alphabet, and then make another recording on a phonograph.

The flower girl came in. Higgins said that he had already recorded it yesterday, that he had a lot of such dialect recorded, and told the girl to “get lost.” The flower girl said that she herself heard him say that he gives lessons. She said that she wanted to take lessons from him and would pay for them. It turned out that the flower girl wanted to work as a saleswoman in a flower shop. They don't take her there because the owner doesn't like the way she speaks.

Pickering reminded Higgins of his words that he could train this flower girl in three months and she would pass for a duchess at any embassy reception. He offered a bet and said that he was ready to return the cost of the experiment and would also pay for the lessons.

Higgins agreed: “I’ll take this grimy little thing and make a duchess out of her!” Eliza Doolittle (that was the name of the flower girl) reacted indignantly to this description with her usual exclamation: “Oooooo!”

It turned out that the girl did not have a mother, and her stepmother and father kicked her out, saying that now she could feed herself.

Economics Mrs. Pierce took Eliza away to, as Higgins ordered, “clean her thoroughly.” While the girl was washing, Miss Pierce advised the professor to be careful in his choice of expressions in the presence of this girl, not to utter swear words or swear.

Then scavenger Alfred Doolittle came to the laboratory. Higgins immediately realized that he wanted to extort money for his daughter and threatened to go to the police. After their conversation, the professor told Pickering that this scavenger had a natural ability as a speaker.

It turned out that Dolittle learned that his daughter was here from the owner’s son, whom she took in a taxi to Higgins’ laboratory. When the professor said that he would let her live with him, she sent the boy to get his things.

Dolittle began to persuade him to give him 5 pounds for his daughter. He talked so much and was so persuasive that he got those 5 pounds. Leaving the room, he ran into his daughter, but at first he did not recognize her - she was wearing a Japanese robe. He was surprised that “you can wash it to such beauty.”

Act 3

Higgins entered the living room of his mother's house and said that today, on the reception day, a simple flower girl would come to visit her, to whom he gave strict instructions on how to behave. He reassured the mother, saying that he allowed this girl to talk only about health and the weather. Higgins told his mother about the bet and said that he had been working with this girl for several months, and she was making great strides in mastering the literary language.

Guests arrived: Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill (the same ladies who were hiding from the rain in Covent Garden), Freddie (Mrs. Eynsford Hill's son) and Colonel Pickering.

Then the maid announced that Miss Dolittle had arrived, and Eliza entered, beautiful and elegant. She behaved impeccably, spoke in a pleasant voice, carefully pronouncing her words. She made a big impression on Freddie and his sister Clara.

Eliza told what the weather was expected to be like today, and then began to develop the second topic allowed by the professor and talk about health. She reported her suspicions that her aunt had been killed. This word was unfamiliar to the guests, and the professor hastened to tell them what it meant and said that it was a new style of small talk. Eliza suggested speaking in the same spirit. When she left, Freddie, admiring her, intended to accompany her and asked if she was going through the park. “Wha-oh? On foot? To hell with your grandmother! — the girl was indignant. Everyone was shocked. Proudly declaring that she would take a taxi, Eliza left.

Clara was delighted with the new style of small talk and said that it was time to send Victorian stiffness to hell. Her mother was almost hysterical from this.

When the Eynsford Hill family left the living room, the professor's mother told her son that Eliza gave herself away with every phrase and that while she communicated with him, her speech would be rude and equipped with curses.

Mrs. Hinnins, having learned that Pickering was now living with her son and they were working together on a book about Indian dialects, asked where this girl lived. Having learned that she was living with them, Mrs. Higgins asked what position this girl was living there, and realized that neither her son nor the colonel were thinking about Eliza’s future. “You got yourself a living doll and are playing with it,” she reproached them.

Act 4

The professor, colonel and Eliza returned to Higgins' laboratory in the evening. They were all tired after a picnic, a dinner party and a visit to the opera. Pickering admitted that Higgins won the bet, since Eliza coped well with her role as a society lady. The colonel congratulates the professor on his victory; they are very pleased that everything is already behind them. They no longer pay attention to Eliza.

Going to bed, Higgins gives the girl some household instructions. Eliza can’t stand it and reproaches the professor that he doesn’t care about her, that he’s ready to throw her back into the dirt. Higgins invites her to become the owner of a flower shop, which the rich Pickering can buy for her.

Action 5

The maid told Mrs. Higgins that Mr. Henry and Colonel Pickering were downstairs calling the police. The hostess ordered to call them.

Higgins said Eliza ran away with her belongings. His mother asked who gave them the right to report Eliza to the police as if she were a lost umbrella or a thief. Higgins said that he wants to find her, because without her he cannot find a single thing of his and does not remember when and where he should go (Eliza did all this for him).

The maid reported that Mr. Dolittle had arrived and was asking for Mr. Henry. Higgins had him and he was sent here.

Dolittle, dressed in the latest fashion, entered and began to reproach the professor for turning him into a gentleman and poisoning his peace.

It turned out that Higgins, in a letter to a wealthy American who sponsored the establishment of the Moral Reform Society around the world and who wanted the professor to invent an international language, told him about Dolittle. He described the common scavenger as the most original moralist in all England. And this millionaire left Dolittle an inheritance of a share in a cheese-making trust worth three thousand in annual income, but on the condition that he lecture in his World League for Moral Reform.

Dolittle is outraged that Higgins made a gentleman out of him. After all, he used to live for his own pleasure, but now he has a bunch of relatives who are asking him for money.

Higgins said he could refuse the inheritance, but Doolittle admitted he didn't have the heart to do so. After all, if he refuses, the workhouse awaits him in his old age.

Mrs. Higgins said that Mr. Dolittle could now take care of his daughter. Higgins said that Dolittle would not take care of her because he took five pounds for her, which means Eliza belongs to Higgins.

The professor's mother told him to stop talking nonsense. She said that Eliza came to her in the morning and told her how rudely the professor and the colonel had treated her. Both friends were indignant, Colonel Pickering assured that no one treated her rudely, that they hardly spoke to her at all.

Mrs. Higgins said that the girl became very attached to them and tried hard for Higgins, but when she completed her task perfectly, he and the colonel, when they came home, did not pay attention to her and began to be glad that it was all over. They didn't praise or thank her. The girl was offended, but she told Mrs. Higgins that she was ready to forget everything and meet the professor and the colonel as good friends.

Mrs. Higgins asked Mr. Dolittle to go out onto the balcony for now - until Eliza made peace with the professor and the colonel. Then she told the maid to invite Miss Dolittle here.

Eliza entered the living room and, having greeted the professor, asked how his health was, and after greeting the colonel, she made a remark about the weather. Higgins told her to stop acting and go home with him.

Eliza, not paying attention to the professor, tells the colonel that it was from him that she learned good manners, although it was difficult, being in the company of Professor Higgins, who was used to shouting and swearing. The enraged professor said that he should let Eliza leave, but that without him she would quickly “slide back into the street ditch.”

Dolittle appears from the balcony. Eliza is amazed by his magnificent appearance. He explained to her that he had money, and told the professor that he was in vain to offend the girl.

Dolittle invites his daughter to church: he marries her stepmother. Colonel Dolittle also asked to go with him to give him spirit. Mrs. Higgins said she would like to be at the wedding too, and Doolittle said he would consider it an honor. Mrs. Higgins goes to get dressed, Dolittle and Pickering leave.

Eliza tells the professor that she regrets that she agreed to learn how to speak correctly and behave decently. She believes that the professor has taken away her independence and declares that she will marry Freddie.

Mrs. Higgins comes out. Eliza asks her if the professor is going with them. His mother replies that, of course not, because he does not know how to behave in church: he loudly criticizes the priest’s pronunciation all the time.

Eliza says: “So we won’t see each other again, professor. All the best,” and leaves. But Higgins arrogantly believes that she will return to live with him and Pickering.

Afterword

The author explains why Eliza did not marry the professor: “...she instinctively felt that she would never take possession of Higgins entirely...” that he was not the man for whom she would become an object of tender and ardent interest. “Eliza’s instincts rightly warned her against marrying Pygmalion.”

Freddie married Eliza and they opened a flower shop. Colonel Pickering helped them cover their losses for several years, and then the young people began to prosper.

Despite her family and the store, Eliza still interferes in the Higgins household. She is "immensely interested" in the professor. But “still, Galatea does not fully like Pygmalion: he plays too much of a god-like role in her life, and this is not very pleasant.”

Meeting of the professor and the flower girl

The play takes place in London. On a summer evening under the portico of the Cathedral of St. Pavel people gather, trying to hide from the pouring rain. A lady and her daughter in evening dresses are waiting for a taxi, for which the mother sent her son Freddie. A lonely gentleman is writing something intently in a notebook. Freddie runs in, having been unable to catch a taxi. Mother and daughter send him back to search. The young man quickly runs away and along the way awkwardly knocks the basket out of the hands of the flower girl, who is also hiding from the rain.

A girl's loud swearing is heard. Then she sits on the steps, puts the flowers in order and invites the elderly gentleman to buy a bouquet from her. He throws her some change and steps aside. One of the passersby warns the girl that the man with the notebook is probably writing a denunciation of extortion against her.

The flower girl is very frightened, but the citizen reassures her that he is not from the police and shows how he can determine the origin of people by their pronunciation. Then the man meets an older gentleman and finds out that they both study dialects and have heard a lot about each other.

Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering from India leave to continue their acquaintance. As he walks, Higgins throws a handful of coins into the flower girl's basket. Seeing the amount she received, the girl screams joyfully.