3rd+Period+Pygmalion+Themes

Themes

 * //Social Class//** (Michael,Ed ,Nick ,Cecil)

QUOTES

1. “Presumptuous insect.”-Higgens 2. “I have no place to put her”-MP “Put her in the dustbin”-Higgens 3. “She will only drink if you give her money.”-Higgens 4. “When I’m done with her, we can throw her back into the gutter”-Higgens 5. “Have you no morals?”-Pickering “Can’t afford them Governor. Neither could you if you were as poor as me.”-Doolittle 6. “I am the undeserving poor. That’s what I am.”-Doolittle 7. “Henry, you are the life and soul of the Royal Society’s soirees; but really you’re rather trying on the more commonplace occasions.”-Mrs. Higgens

CHARACTERS

Higgens- thinks very highly of himself and does not care about anyone who he considers lower than him.

Mr. Doolittle- likes being poor and does not care about his financial situation.

SITUATIONS

• Doolittle asking Higgins for money for Lisa.

• Higgins writing down the way everyone speaks, and the fact that he can determine social class by listening to one’s speech.

• Liza had never had a bath before.

Gena, Thomas, Andrew Theme: **//Money//**

7 Quotes:

p. 24 HIGGINS [shocked at the girl’s mendacity] Liar. You said you could change half-a-crown.

THE FLOWER GIRL [rising in desperation] You ought to be stuffed with nails, you ought. [Flinging the basket at his feet] Take the whole blooming basked for sixpence.

HIGGINS [hearing in it the voice of God, rebuking him for his Pharisaic want of charity to the poor girl] A reminder. [He raises his hat solemnly; then throws a handful of money into the basket and follows Pickering]

THE FLOWER GIRL [picking up a half- crown] Ah-owooh! [Picking up a couple of florins] Aaah-ow-ooh! [Picking up a several coins] Aaaaah-ow! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah-ow-ooh!!!

Situation: Higgins is making fun of Liza’s attempt to sell flowers and her poverty.

p. 25 HIGGINS Liza, a shilling for two minutes.

TAXIMAN Two minutes or ten: it’s all the same.

LIZA Well, I don’t call right.

TAXIMAN Ever been in a taxi before?

Situation: Liza has taken Freddy’s taxi that he got for the two women. They have gone home already, and this is her first taxi.

p. 35 LIZA Sixty pounds! What are you talking about? I never offered you sixty pounds. Where would I get—

HIGGINS Hold your tongue.

LIZA But I ain’t got sixty pounds. Oh—

MRS. PEARCE Don’t cry, you silly girl. Sit down. Nobody is going to touch your money. Situation: Higgins and Pickering are comparing the percent of her wages she is paying them to give her lessons to a millionaires and saying it is generous.

p. 56 DOOLITTLE Course they are, Governor. If I thought they wasn’t, I’d ask fifty.

HIGGINS Do you mean to say that you would sell your daughter for 50 pounds?

DOOLITTLE Not in a general way I would; but to oblige a gentleman like you I’d do a good deal, I do assure you.

Situation: Doolittle is getting rid of his expensive daughter so she can be taken care of by someone else.

p. 59 DOOLITTLE Thank you kindly, Governor.

HIGGINS You’re sure you won’t take ten?

DOOLITTLE Not now. Another time, Governor.

HIGGINS [handing him a five-pound note] Here you are.

DOOLITTLE Thank you, Governor. Good morning.

Situation: They are making the deal about Liza. Doolittle cannot afford her anymore.

p. 97 LIZA Nothing wrong-with you. I’ve won your bet for you, havn’t I? That’s enough for you. I don’t matter, I suppose.

HIGGINS You won my bet! You! Presumptuous insect! I won it.

Situation: Liza is sick of being treated like property, and she is speaking out about it. Higgins is too self-centered to listen.

p.112 DOOLITTLE Who asked him to make a gentleman of me? I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I wanted it, same as I touched you, Enry Iggins. Now I am worited; and everybody touches me for money.

Situation: Doolittle realizes that it is not right that people are treated better according to their speech, appearance, or wealth. He learns that money cannot buy happiness.

Characters that represent theme: Eliza learns that you should be treated well no matter what your speech sounds like or how much money you have. Higgins’ life relies on how he speaks and how much money he has.

Three Scenarios that represent the theme: Higgins’ and Pickering’s bet, Higgins giving Doolittle five pounds for Liza, and the sale of flowers at the beginning.


 * //Love and Marriage//** (Mary Evelyn, Jess, Miller)

Quotes:

• Higgins: “There! As the girl very properly says, Garn! Married indeed! Don’t you know that a woman of that class looks a worn out drudge of fifty a year after she’s married” (38).

Here Higgins is talking to Mrs. Pearce about taking in Eliza. Mrs. Pearce points out that Eliza might already be married, and Higgins explains why that is impossible. He says she would look worn out even at her young age being a married woman of such a low class.

• Higgins: “My idea of a lovable woman is somebody as like you as possible” (69).

Here Higgins is explaining to his mother that the type of woman he wants to marry is someone as similar to her as he can find.

• Higgins: “Pickering! Nonsense: She’s going to marry Freddy. Haha! Freddy! Freddy!! Ha ha ha ha ha!” (133).

This is at the very end of the play when Higgins realizes Eliza will indeed marry Freddy. He is laughing to disguise his true feelings abou the situation.

• Liza: Freddy loves me: that makes him king enough for me. I don’t want him to work: he wasn’t brought up to it as I was I’ll go and be a teacher (131).

Here Liza is explaining to Higgins why she plans on marrying Freddy and how she will make it work.

• Sequel: “Nevertheless, people in all directions have assumed, for no other reason that that she became the heroine of a romance, that she must have married the hero of it” (135).

• Sequel: “If am imaginative boy has a sufficiently rich mother who has intelligence, personal grace, dignity of character without harshness, and cultivated sense of the best art of her time to enable her to make her house beautiful, she sets a standard for him against which very few women can struggle” (137).

• Sequel: “Weak people want to marry strong people who do not frighten them too much; and this often leads them to make the mistake we describe metaphorically as ‘“biting off more than they cane chew.”’ They want too much for too little; and when the bargain is unreasonable beyond all bearing, the union becomes impossible: it ends in the weaker party being either discarded or borne as a cross, which is worse” (139).

Characters:

• Eliza: Eliza relates to the theme of love and marriage for a few different reasons. It seems that throughout the novel Eliza finds a certain type of true love for Henry Higgins despite the impossibility of their relationship ever working out. She relates to marriage in that she makes plans at the end of the play to marry Freddy. This marriage will not necessarily be one of true mutual love, but it will work. • Higgins: Higgins relates to the theme of love because he too manages to find a type of love for Eliza. He fails however, to accept his feelings and eliminates the possibility of a marriage. He also has problems with setting high expectations for his wife, because his mother is such a remarkable woman.

Scenarios:

1) Why Higgins Could Not Marry Eliza: The marriage between Higgins and Eliza is unlikely for several different reasons. First, Henry has set his standards unrealistically high. Henry’s mother is everything a woman should be in his eyes. Therefore, anything less simply would not do. This causes Henry to ignore the fact that he might love Eliza and disregard the idea of marrying her. 2) Why Eliza Would Not Marry Higgins: Although the considered the idea quite a bit in her head, Eliza knew she could not marry Higgins. An old bachelor, she knew keeping him for himself would be absolutely impossible. Perusing the relationship would be a waste of time. She could not tame him. It simply could not work and she knew it. 3) Freddy and Eliza’s Marriage: Freddy and Eliza decide to get married at the end of the play. The marriage between the two of them is a mutual agreement that works between the both of them. It makes much more sense that the two of them get married rather than Eliza and Higgins. Freddy and Eliza can help each other in ways that they need each other. Their marriage is more acceptable to society and it would be more meaningful.


 * //Education//** (Ian, Jodi, Meridith)

Characters: Higgins and Mrs. Higgins While Higgins teaches Eliza the practical phonetic rules, Mrs. Higgins applies these rules while creating a true woman out of Eliza; she teaches manners and how to be an independent woman.

Scenarios: • Doolittle complains of “middle-class morality,” and says he is undeserving. Doolittle is a poor lower class uneducated man and therefore treated as one. Act II • Liza believes that Colonel Pickering has helped teach her manners and the way a man should really treat a woman. Act V • Behind the scenes, Mrs. Higgins teaches Liza how to be a lady. Mrs. Higgins is a mentor for Liza, and this is evident when Liza escapes to her home. Act V

Quotes: • “Higgins: Say your alphabet… Pickering: Say it, Miss Doolittle. You will understand presently. Do what he tells you; and let him teach you in his own way.” Act II • “Mrs. Pearce: Well, don’t you want to be clean and sweet and decent like a lady? You know you can’t be a nice girl inside if you’re a dirty slut outside.” Act I • “Higgins: Oh, that’ll be all right. I’ve taught her to speak properly; and she has strict orders as to her behavior. She’s to keep two subjects: the weather and everybody’s health…That will be safe.” Act III • “Liza: …I’ll go and be a teacher. Higgins: What’ll you teach, in heaven’s name? Liza: What you taught me. I’ll teach phonetics.” Act V • “Pickering: Come, Higgins: you must learn to know yourself. I haven’t heard such language as yours since we used to review volunteers in Hyde Park twenty years ago.” Act III • “Higgins: Stop. Listen to this, Pickering. This is what we pay for as elementary education. This unfortunate animal has been locked up for nine years in school at our expense to teach her to speak and read the language of Shakespear and Milton.” Act II • “Liza: What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to do? What’s become of me?” Act IV

//**The Pygmalion Myth and the Creation Story**// (David, Frank, Adelle) 7 Quotes:

“One day he created a statue of a woman. She was so beautiful, and the sculptor so lonely, that he fell in love with his creation”(XI Introduction).

HIGGINS-“I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe”…”Yes: in six months-in three if she has a good ear and a quick tongue-I’ll take her anywhere and pass her off as anything”(37).

Scenario: Higgins is proclaiming that he can take the ill-mannered girl and create an elegant woman out of her.

DOOLITTLE: “Done to me! Ruined me. Destroyed my happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the hands of middle class morality”(111).

Scenario: Doolittle has come to blame Higgins for turning him into a creation of a middle class man.

DOOLITTLE: “Who asked him to make a gentleman out of me? I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I wanted it, same as I touched you his, Enry Iggins. Now I am worrited; tied neck and heels; and everybody touches me for money” (112).

Scenario: Doolittle has come to Higgins and complained to him about what he has been made into. Now that Doolittle is of a higher class he no longer can be selfish and must deal with the lower class.

“Pygmalion admired his own work, and at last fell in love with the counterfeit creation” (Pg 1 Myth).

THE NOTE TAKER: “Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. I could even get her a place as lady’s maid…” (23).

Scenario: This is at Covenant Garden when the “Note Taker” states his bet to the crowd and to Ms. Doolittle.

NEPOMMUCK: “Hungarian. And of royal blood” (90).

Scenario: This proves that Eliza is a true creation because she fooled the linguist at the party.

2 Characters that represent the theme: 1) Alfred Doolittle- Made into a business man from the lowest class 2) Eliza- Made into a dutchess

3 Scenarios 1) Sculptor (introduction) 2)Eliza Doolittle (Embassy) 3) Alfred Doolittle (wedding)

//**Appearance Vs. Reality**// (Hunter, Grant, David) 1. Early on, Higgins talks about how he will transform Eliza from the mere flower girl, into the ?dutchess? (p.23). 2. Doolittle gains money and no longer relies on the charity of others, however, at heart he is still a peasant (p.110-114). 3. When she comes home for the first time to see Doolittle, her appearance has completely changed, but underneath she is still the flower girl (p.60).

1. Hungarian. And of royal blood. I am Hungarian. My blood is royal. (p.90) 2. Well, sir, in three months I could pass tat girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. I could even get her a place as lady’s maid or shop assistant, which requires better English (p. 23) 3. The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better (p 125). 4. I care for life, for humanity; and you are a part of it that has come my way and been built intomy house. What more can you or anyone ask? (p 126) 5. What! That imposter! That humbug! That toadying ignoramus! Teach him my methods! my discoveries! You take one step in his direction and I’ll wring your neck. Do you hear? (p.131) 6. I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. Now you’ve made a lady of me I’m not fit to sell anything else. I wish you’d left me where you found me. (p 100) 7. Well, I never thought she’d clean up as good looking as that, Governor. She’s a credit to me, aint she (p.60).

QUOTES: Pg.118-“I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation.”(Eliza). Eliza speaking to Pickering Mrs. Higgins and Higgins about the way she is treated. Pg.119-“Yes: things that shewed you thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a scullery-maid.” (Eliza). Eliza again speaking to Pickering Mrs. Higgins and Higgins explaining the gentleman like respect that Pickering showed. Pg.12-“It’s too tiresome. Do you expect us to go and get one ourselves?” (Daughter). The daughter expect Freddy to be a gentleman and fetch a taxi. Pg. 16-“I’m a respectable girl.” (Eliza). Higgins is taking notes on her speech and she is afraid that he is policeman. Pg. 124-“If you come back I shall treat you just as I have always treated you. I can’t change my nature; and don’t intend to change my manners.” (Higgins). Telling Eliza that he will not change his rude manner in order for her to come back. Pg. 120-“You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up, the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated.”(Eliza). She is telling Pickering that the respect he has for her is what made her a lady. Pg. 111-“Done to me! Ruined Me. Destroyed my happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the hands of middle class morality.” (Doolittle). He is explaining how his happiness is related to his lack of morality.
 * //Religion and Morals//** (Matt, Jim , Jay)

Characters: Mrs. Higgins- She does have a sense of morality and kindness. She shows respect for anyone and will give anyone an honest opinion or help. Mr. Doolittle- He does not want morality and believes that morality will destroy his happiness.

Scenarios: Pg. 122- In this scene Mrs. Higgins asks Mr. Doolittle if she may attend his wedding. Even though Mr. Doolittle is considered low class, Mrs. Higgins still has enough respect for him to want to attend his wedding. Pg. 11-After the rain starts pouring down all the people gather in the church. This may be symbolism for how religion is a shelter for people when they are going through hard times. Pg. 49-Mrs. Pearce tells Higgins that he does not watch his language even though he says he does. She is pointing out his hypocrisy but he is too arrogant to realize