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Bernard Show
Pygmalion
Novel in five acts

Characters

Clara Eynsford Hill, daughter.

Mrs Eynsford Hill her mother.

Passerby.

Eliza Doolittle, flower girl.

Alfred Dolittle Eliza's father.

Freddie, son of Mrs. Eynsford Hill.

Gentleman.

Man with a notebook.

Sarcastic passerby.

Henry Higgins, professor of phonetics.

Pickering, Colonel.

Mrs Higgins, Professor Higgins' mother.

Mrs Pierce, Higgins's housekeeper.

Several people in the crowd.

Housemaid.

Act one

Covent Garden. Summer evening. It's raining like buckets. From all sides there is a desperate roar of car sirens. Passers-by run to the market and to the Church of St. Paul, under whose portico several people had already taken refuge, including elderly lady with her daughter, both in evening dresses. Everyone peers with annoyance into the streams of rain, and only one Human, standing with his back to the others, apparently completely absorbed in some notes he is making in a notebook. The clock strikes a quarter past eleven.

Daughter (stands between the two middle columns of the portico, closer to the left). I can’t take it anymore, I’m completely chilled. Where did Freddy go? Half an hour has passed, and he’s still not there.

Mother (to the right of the daughter). Well, not half an hour. But still, it’s time for him to get a taxi.

passerby (to the right of the elderly lady). Don’t get your hopes up, lady: now everyone is coming from the theaters; He won't be able to get a taxi before half past twelve.

Mother. But we need a taxi. We can't stand here until half past eleven. This is simply outrageous.

Passerby. What do I have to do with it?

Daughter. If Freddie had any sense, he would have taken a taxi from the theater.

Mother. What is his fault, poor boy?

Daughter. Others get it. Why can't he?

Coming from Southampton Street Freddie and stands between them, closing the umbrella from which water flows. This is a young man of about twenty; he is in a tailcoat, his trousers are completely wet at the bottom.

Daughter. Still haven't gotten a taxi?

Freddie. Nowhere, even if you die.

Mother. Oh, Freddie, really, really not at all? You probably didn't search well.

Daughter. Ugliness. Won't you tell us to go get a taxi ourselves?

Freddie. I'm telling you, there isn't one anywhere. The rain came so suddenly, everyone was taken by surprise, and everyone rushed to the taxi. I walked all the way to Charing Cross, and then in the other direction, almost to Ledgate Circus, and did not meet a single one.

Mother. Have you been to Trafalgar Square?

Freddie. There isn't one in Trafalgar Square either.

Daughter. Were you there?

Freddie. I was at Charing Cross Station. Why did you want me to march to Hammersmith in the rain?

Daughter. You haven't been anywhere!

Mother. It's true, Freddie, you're somehow very helpless. Go again and don't come back without a taxi.

Freddie. I'll just get soaked to the skin in vain.

Daughter. What should we do? Do you think we should stand here all night, in the wind, almost naked? This is disgusting, this is selfishness, this is...

Freddie. Okay, okay, I'm going. (Opens an umbrella and rushes towards the Strand, but on the way runs into a street flower girl, hurrying to take cover from the rain, and knocks a basket of flowers out of her hands.)

At the same second, lightning flashes, and a deafening clap of thunder seems to accompany this incident.

Flower girl. Where are you going, Freddie? Take your eyes in your hands!

Freddie. Sorry. (Runs away.)

Flower girl (picks up flowers and puts them in a basket). And also educated! He trampled all the violets into the mud. (He sits down on the plinth of the column to the right of the elderly lady and begins to shake off and straighten the flowers.)

She can't be called attractive in any way. She is eighteen to twenty years old, no more. She is wearing a black straw hat, badly damaged in its lifetime from London dust and soot and hardly familiar with a brush. Her hair is some kind of mouse color, not found in nature: water and soap are clearly needed here. A tan black coat, narrow at the waist, barely reaching the knees; from under it a brown skirt and a canvas apron are visible. The boots have apparently also seen better days. Without a doubt, she is clean in her own way, but next to the ladies she definitely seems like a mess. Her facial features are not bad, but the condition of her skin leaves much to be desired; In addition, it is noticeable that she needs the services of a dentist.

Mother. Excuse me, how do you know that my son's name is Freddy?

Flower girl. Oh, so this is your son? There is nothing to say, you raised him well... Is this really the case? He scattered all the poor girl's flowers and ran away like a darling! Now pay, mom!

Daughter. Mom, I hope you won't do anything like that. Still missing!

Mother. Wait, Clara, don't interfere. Do you have any change?

Daughter. No. I only have sixpence.

Flower girl (with hope). Don't worry, I have some change.

Mother (daughters). Give it to me.

The daughter reluctantly parts with the coin.

So. (To the girl.) Here are the flowers for you, my dear.

Flower girl. God bless you, lady.

Daughter. Take her change. These bouquets cost no more than a penny.

Mother. Clara, they don't ask you. (To the girl.) Keep the change.

Flower girl. God bless you.

Mother. Now tell me, how do you know this young man’s name?

Flower girl. I don't even know.

Mother. I heard you call him by name. Don't try to fool me.

Flower girl. I really need to deceive you. I just said so. Well, Freddie, Charlie - you have to call a person something if you want to be polite. (Sits down next to his basket.)

Daughter. Wasted sixpence! Really, Mom, you could have spared Freddie from this. (Disgustingly retreats behind the column.)

Elderly gentleman - a pleasant type of old army man - runs up the steps and closes the umbrella from which water is flowing. His pants, just like Freddie's, are completely wet at the bottom. He is wearing a tailcoat and a light summer coat. She takes the empty seat at the left column, from which her daughter has just left.

Gentleman. Oof!

Mother (to the gentleman). Please tell me, sir, is there still no light in sight?

Gentleman. Unfortunately no. The rain just started pouring down even harder. (He approaches the place where the flower girl is sitting, puts his foot on the plinth and, bending down, rolls up his wet trouser leg.)

Mother. Oh my god! (He sighs pitifully and goes to his daughter.)

Flower girl (hastens to take advantage of the elderly gentleman's proximity in order to establish friendly relations with him). Since it poured more heavily, it means it will pass soon. Don’t be upset, captain, better buy a flower from a poor girl.

Gentleman. I'm sorry, but I don't have any change.

Flower girl. And I'll change it for you, captain.

Gentleman. Sovereign? I don't have any others.

Flower girl. Wow! Buy a flower, captain, buy it. I can change half a crown. Here, take this one - two pence.

Gentleman. Well, girl, just don’t pester me, I don’t like it. (Reaches in his pockets.) Really, there’s no change... Wait, here’s a penny and a half, if that suits you... (Moves to another column.)

Flower girl (she is disappointed, but still decides that one and a half pence is better than nothing). Thank you sir.

passerby (to the flower girl). Look, you took the money, so give him a flower, because that guy over there is standing and recording your every word.

Everyone turns to the man with the notebook.

Flower girl (jumps up in fear). What did I do if I talked to a gentleman? Selling flowers is not prohibited. (Tearful.) I'm an honest girl! You saw everything, I just asked him to buy a flower.

General noise; the majority of the public is sympathetic to the flower girl, but do not approve of her excessive impressionability. The elderly and respectable people pat her on the shoulder reassuringly, encouraging her with remarks like: “Well, well, don’t cry!” – Who needs you, no one will touch you. There is no need to raise a scandal. Calm down. It will be, it will be! - etc. The less patient ones point at her and angrily ask what exactly she is yelling at? Those who stood at a distance and don’t know what’s going on squeeze closer and increase the noise with questions and explanations: “What happened?” -What did she do? -Where is he? - Yes, I fell asleep. What, that one over there? - Yes, yes, standing by the column. She lured money from him, etc. The flower girl, stunned and confused, makes her way through the crowd to the elderly gentleman and screams pitifully.

Flower girl. Sir, sir, tell him not to report me. You don't know what it smells like. For pestering gentlemen, they will take away my certificate and throw me out onto the street. I…

A man with a notebook approaches her from the right, and everyone else crowds behind him.

Man with a notebook. But but but! Who touched you, you stupid girl? Who do you take me for?

Passerby. Everything is fine. This is a gentleman - notice his shoes. (To a man with a notebook, explanatory.) She thought, sir, that you were a spy.

Man with a notebook (with interest). What is this - bacon?

passerby (getting lost in definitions). Lard is... well, lard, and that’s it. How else can I say it? Well, a detective or something.

Flower girl (still whiny). I can at least swear on the Bible that I didn’t tell him anything!..

Man with a notebook (imperative, but without malice). Finally, shut up! Do I look like a policeman?

Flower girl (far from calmed down). Why did you write everything down? How do I know whether what you wrote down is true or not? Show me what you have written about me there.

He opens his notebook and holds it in front of the girl’s nose for a few seconds; at the same time, the crowd, trying to look over his shoulder, presses so hard that a weaker person would not be able to stay on his feet.

What is it? This is not written our way. I can't figure anything out here.

Man with a notebook. And I'll figure it out. (Reads, exactly imitating her accent.) Don't be upset, captain; buy a lucci flower from a poor girl.

Flower girl (in fright). Why did I call him “captain”? So I didn’t think anything bad. (To the gentleman.) Oh sir, tell him not to report me. Tell…

Gentleman. How did you declare? There is no need to declare anything. In fact, sir, if you are a detective and wanted to protect me from street harassment, then notice that I did not ask you to do this. The girl had nothing bad on her mind, it was clear to everyone.

Voices in the crowd (expressing a general protest against the police detective system). And it’s very simple! - What does that matter to you? You know your stuff. That's right, I wanted to curry favor. Wherever seen, write down every word a person says! “The girl didn’t even talk to him.” At least she could speak! - It’s a good thing, a girl can no longer hide from the rain so as not to run into insults... (Etc.)

The most sympathetic ones lead the flower girl back to the column, and she sits down again on the plinth, trying to overcome her excitement.

Passerby. He's not a spy. Just some kind of corrosive guy, that's all. I'm telling you, pay attention to the shoes.

Man with a notebook (turning to him, cheerfully). By the way, how are your relatives in Selsey?

passerby (suspicious). How do you know that my relatives live in Selsey?

Man with a notebook. It doesn't matter where. But is that so? (To the flower girl.) How did you get here, to the east? You were born in Lissongrove.

Flower girl (with fear). What's wrong with me leaving Lissongrove? I lived there in a kennel worse than a dog’s kennel, and the pay was four shillings and sixpence a week... (Cries.) Oh-oh-oh-oh...

Man with a notebook. Yes, you can live wherever you want, just stop whining.

Gentleman (to the girl). Well, that's enough, that's enough! He won't touch you; you have the right to live where you please.

Sarcastic passerby (squeezing between the man with the notebook and the gentleman). For example, on Park Lane. Listen, I wouldn't mind talking to you about the housing issue.

Flower girl (huddled over his basket, mutters offendedly under his breath). I'm not some guy, I'm an honest girl.

Sarcastic passerby (not paying attention to her). Maybe you know where I'm from?

Man with a notebook (no hesitation). From Hoxton.

Laughter from the crowd. The general interest in the tricks of the man with the notebook is clearly increasing.

Sarcastic passerby (surprised). Damn it! This is true. Listen, you really are a know-it-all.

Flower girl (still experiencing his insult). And he has no right to interfere! Yes, no right...

passerby (to the flower girl). Fact, none. And don’t let him down like that. (To a man with a notebook.) Listen, by what right do you know everything about people who don’t want to do business with you? Do you have written permission?

A few people from the crowd (apparently encouraged by this legal formulation of the issue). Yes, yes, do you have permission?

Flower girl. Let him say what he wants. I won't contact him.

Passerby. All because we are for you - ugh! Empty place. You wouldn't allow yourself such things with a gentleman.

Sarcastic passerby. Yes Yes! If you really want to bewitch, tell me where did he come from?

Man with a notebook. Cheltenham, Harrow, Cambridge, and subsequently India.

Gentleman. Absolutely right.

General laughter. Now sympathy is clearly on the side of the man with the notebook. Exclamations like: “He knows everything!” - So he cut it off straight away. Did you hear how he explained to this long guy where he was from? - etc.

Excuse me, sir, you are probably performing this act in a music hall?

Man with a notebook. Not yet. But I was already thinking about it.

Rain stopped; The crowd gradually begins to disperse.

Flower girl (dissatisfied with the change in the general mood in favor of the offender). Gentlemen don't do that, yes, they don't offend the poor girl!

Daughter (having lost patience, he unceremoniously pushes forward, pushing aside the elderly gentleman, who politely retreats behind the column). But where is Freddie finally? I risk catching pneumonia if I stand in this draft any longer.

Man with a notebook (to himself, hastily making a note in his book). Earlscourt.

Daughter (angrily). Please keep your impudent remarks to yourself.

Man with a notebook. Did I say anything out loud? Please excuse me. This happened involuntarily. But your mother is undoubtedly from Epsom.

Mother (stands between the daughter and the man with the notebook). Tell me how interesting it is! I actually grew up in Tolstalady Park near Epsom.

Man with a notebook (laughs noisily). Ha ha ha! What a name, damn it! Sorry. (Daughters.) Do you think you need a taxi?

Daughter. Don't you dare contact me!

Mother. Please, Clara!

Instead of answering, the daughter shrugs her shoulders angrily and steps aside with an arrogant expression.

We would be so grateful, sir, if you could find us a taxi.

The man with the notebook takes out a whistle.

Oh, thank you. (He goes after his daughter.)

The man with the notebook makes a high-pitched whistle.

Sarcastic passerby. Well, here you go. I told you that this is a spy in disguise.

Passerby. This is not a police whistle; This is a sports whistle.

Flower girl (still suffering from the insult done to her feelings). He doesn’t dare take my certificate away! I need a testimony as much as any lady.

Man with a notebook. You may not have noticed - the rain has already stopped for about two minutes.

Passerby. But it's true. Why didn't you say before? We wouldn't waste time here listening to your nonsense! (Leaves towards the Strand.)

Sarcastic passerby. I'll tell you where you're from. From Beadlam. So we would sit there.

Man with a notebook (helpfully). Bedlama.

Sarcastic passerby (trying to pronounce the words very elegantly). Thank you, Mr. Teacher. Ha ha! Be healthy. (Touches his hat with mocking respect and leaves.)

Flower girl. There's no point in scaring people. I wish I could scare him properly!

Mother. Clara, it’s completely clear now. We can walk to the bus. Let's go. (Picks up her skirt and hurriedly leaves towards the Strand.)

Daughter. But taxi...

Her mother no longer hears her.

Oh, how boring it all is! (Angrily follows his mother.)

Everyone had already left, and under the portico there remained only the man with the notebook, the elderly gentleman and the flower girl, who was fiddling with her basket and still muttering something to herself in consolation.

Flower girl. You poor girl! And so life is not easy, and here everyone is bullied.

Gentleman (returning to his original place - to the left of the person with the notebook). Let me ask you, how do you do this?

Man with a notebook. Phonetics - that's all. The Science of Pronunciation. This is my profession and at the same time my hobby. Happy is he to whom his hobby can provide the means of life! It is not difficult to immediately distinguish an Irishman or a Yorkshireman by their accent. But I can determine within six miles the birthplace of any Englishman. If it is in London, then even to within two miles. Sometimes you can even indicate the street.

Flower girl. Shame on you, shameless one!

Gentleman. But can this provide a means of livelihood?

Man with a notebook. Oh yeah. And considerable ones. Our age is the age of upstarts. People start in Kentish Town, living on eighty pounds a year, and end up in Park Lane with a hundred thousand a year. They would like to forget about Kentish Town, but it reminds them of itself as soon as they open their mouth. And so I teach them.

Flower girl. I would mind my own business instead of offending a poor girl...

Man with a notebook (furious). Woman! Stop this disgusting whining immediately or seek shelter at the doors of another temple.

Flower girl (uncertainly defiant). I have as much right to sit here as you do.

Man with a notebook. A woman who makes such ugly and pitiful sounds has no right to sit anywhere... has no right to live at all! Remember that you are a human being, endowed with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the language of Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible! And stop clucking like a hoarse chicken.

Flower girl (completely stunned, not daring to raise her head, looks at him from under her brows, with a mixed expression of amazement and fear). Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Man with a notebook (grabbing a pencil). Good God! What sounds! (Writes hastily; then tilts his head back and reads, repeating exactly the same vowel combination). Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Flower girl (she liked the performance and giggles against her will). Wow!

Man with a notebook. Have you heard the terrible pronunciation of this street girl? Because of this pronunciation, she is doomed to remain at the bottom of society until the end of her days. So, sir, give me three months, and I will make sure that this girl can successfully pass for a duchess at any embassy reception. Moreover, she will be able to go anywhere as a maid or saleswoman, and for this, as we know, even greater perfection of speech is required. This is exactly the kind of service I provide to our newly minted millionaires. And with the money I earn I do scientific work in the field of phonetics and a little poetry in the Miltonian style.

Gentleman. I myself study Indian dialects and...

Man with a notebook (hurriedly). Yes you? Are you familiar with Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit?

Gentleman. Colonel Pickering is me. But who are you?

Man with a notebook. Henry Higgins, creator of the Higgins Universal Alphabet.

Pickering (enthusiastically). I came from India to meet you!

Higgins. And I was going to India to meet you.

Pickering. Where do you live?

Higgins. Twenty-seven A Wimpole Street. Come see me tomorrow.

Pickering. I stayed at the Carlton Hotel. Come with me now, we still have time to talk at dinner.

Higgins. Fabulous.

Flower girl (To Pickering as he passes by). Buy a flower, good gentleman. There is nothing to pay for the apartment.

Pickering. Really, I don’t have any change. I'm really sorry.

Higgins (outraged by her begging). Liar! After all, you said that you could change half a crown.

Flower girl (jumping up in despair). You have a bag of nails instead of a heart! (Throws the basket at his feet.) To hell with you, take the whole basket for sixpence!

The clock in the bell tower strikes half past eleven.

Higgins (hearing the voice of God in their battle, reproaching him for his Pharisee cruelty towards the poor girl). Order from above! (He solemnly raises his hat, then throws a handful of coins into the basket and leaves after Pickering.)

Flower girl (bends down and pulls out half a crown). Oooh! (Pulls out two florins.) Oooooooh! (Pulls out a few more coins.) Uuuuuuuck! (Pulls out a half sovereign.) Oooohhhhhh!!

Freddie (jumps out of a taxi stopped in front of the church). I finally got it! Hey! (To the flower girl.) There were two ladies here, do you know where they are?

Flower girl. And they went to the bus when the rain stopped.

Freddie. That's cute! What should I do with a taxi now?

Flower girl (majestically). Don't worry, young man. I'll go home in your taxi. (Swims past Freddy to the car.)

The driver sticks out his hand and hastily slams the door.

(Understanding his disbelief, she shows him a full handful of coins.) Look, Charlie. Eight pence is nothing to us!

He grins and opens the door for her.

Angel's Court, Drewry Lane, opposite the paraffin shop. And drive with all your might. (Gets into the car and slams the door noisily.)

The taxi starts moving.

Freddie. Wow!

ACT ONE

London. Covent Garden is a square in London. Summer evening. Shower. Passersby take shelter from the rain under the portico of St. Paul's Church. Among them is a lady with her daughter. Both are in evening dresses. Everyone is unhappy. Only one person is concentrating on writing something in his notebook, turning his back to the crowd.

The clock calls at a quarter past twelve.

The daughter complains to her mother that she is cold, and brother Freddie, who ran to take a taxi, has been gone for twenty minutes. Hearing this, a man from the crowd says that there is no need to look for a taxi at this time, because many people are returning from theaters and all the cars will be occupied. The daughter is dissatisfied with her brother’s delay, and the mother is trying to justify her son, although she herself is already starting to get nervous.

Suddenly Freddie appears, his trousers soaked below the knees. He did not find a taxi, although he ran all the streets. The irritated mother sends her son to get the car again. The young man opens his umbrella, rushes towards the street, but suddenly collides with the flower girl and knocks the basket of flowers out of her hands. “Well, you, Khredi, watch where you’re sticking!” - the flower girl shouts angrily and picks up the scattered flowers.

A girl with flowers can hardly be called attractive. She has dirty, mouse-colored hair, bad teeth, unclean clothes, fallen shoes...

The mother is shocked that the girl called her son by name and tries to find out how she knows him. The woman even buys rumpled flowers from the girl. And, having received the money, she explains that she called the guy the first name that came to her mind in order to show courtesy.

At this time, an elderly gentleman with the appearance of a career military man in a wet evening suit hurries under the portico of the church. He approaches where the flower girl is sitting. The girl immediately begins to offer the gentleman a bouquet. The gentleman is dissatisfied with the flower girl’s annoyingness, but he buys a bouquet and goes to another place.

A man from the crowd began to shame the girl and drew her attention to some guy who was carefully listening to conversations and carefully writing something down. The frightened merchant decided that this man was a policeman, and began to loudly prove that she was a decent girl, and spoke to the gentleman only because she wanted to sell him flowers. Some of the audience try to calm her down, some angrily tell her not to scream so loudly, and those who stood at a distance and did not hear anything began to ask about the cause of the scandal.

The man with the notebook was amazed at the noise the flower girl made. He firmly, but without anger, told her to shut up and recorded the way she spoke, and then read what was recorded, accurately reproducing her rude, illiterate pronunciation. To prove to the public that he was not a policeman, the man with the notebook told each of those present the place where each person was from, and explained that he learned about it from their dialects.

The rain stopped and the crowd began to disperse. Mother and daughter, without waiting for a taxi, went to the bus stop. Near the church there remained a gentleman with a notebook, a gentleman with a military bearing, and a flower girl, who still continued to show her dissatisfaction with the fact that the gentleman wrote down everything that and how she said.

The men started talking, and the gentleman with the notebook explained that he was studying phonetics. This is his hobby, but it gives him a good income, because now is the time of the high-class people, who, although they “have said goodbye to their wretched quarter, but if you say a word to them, their pronunciation expresses them. And here I am, who can teach them...” Moreover, the gentleman with the notebook said that in three months he could even transform a girl from the London gateways, who “with such a pronunciation ... would sit in a ditch forever” duchess. “I could even get her a job as a maid or a saleswoman in a store. And there, perfect pronunciation is even more important.” It turned out that the gentleman with a military bearing was also interested in dialects. These two men had wanted to meet for a long time. A chance meeting brought together Higins, a man with a notebook, and Pickering, a gentleman who came from India deliberately to meet the compiler of the Higgins Universal Alphabet.

The men agreed to have dinner together. When they passed by the flower girl, she reminded herself again. The girl tried to sell them flowers and whined for money. Higgins threw a handful of coins into her basket. The amazed flower girl looks at the money, amazed at the scientist’s generosity, and then gets into the taxi, which Freddie finally got, and tells the astonished driver the address: “Baconham Palace!” In a narrow alley behind a shoe polish bench, she stops a taxi and wearily goes to her room.

This is a small, dank room in which “instead of broken glass, the window is covered with cardboard.” Behind the bed is lava, covered with a bunch of rags. The beggarly subsistence level also includes a chest, bowl, jug, table, chair, thrown out of some peasant kitchen.

The girl lists the money she earned, and then takes off her shawl and skirt, lies down in bed and adds clothes to numerous covers.

ACT TWO

Eleven the next morning. Higins Laboratory. In the corner of the room there are two tall filing cabinets, next to it on the desk there is a phonograph, a laryngoscope, organ tubes with air bags, a set of gas fingers, several tuning forks, a life-size model of a human head, which shows the vocal organs in section. Next is a fireplace, next to it is a comfortable chair and a coal box. On the left there is a cabinet with drawers, on the cabinet there is a telephone and a telephone directory. Further, in the corner there is a concert grand piano, in front of it is not a chair, but a long bench. On the piano there is a bowl of fruit, sweets and chocolates.

Engravings hang on the walls.

Pickering and Higins are in the room. In daylight, it is clear that Higins is “a strong, cheerful, healthy man of about forty. Despite his age and physique, he resembles a restless child, who reacts surprisingly lively and violently to everything interesting and from whom you can’t take your eyes off so that something unfortunate happens.” He has childish changeable luck: in a moment of good humor he grumbles good-naturedly, but if he doesn’t like something he suddenly explodes into an angry hurricane. And it’s hard to get angry with him - he’s so spontaneous and straightforward.

Higgins and Pickering are talking about the sounds of speech and the difference between them when Higgins's housekeeper Mrs. Pearce enters the room. The confused woman says that a young girl has come with terrible pronunciation, but since the scientist sometimes gets such strange visitors, she decided to let her in too.

Yesterday's familiar flower girl enters the room in full regalia. “She is wearing a hat with three ostrich feathers of orange, blue and red, her apron is now almost clean and her coarse wool coat has also been cleaned. The pathos of this pitiful figure, with its naive seriousness and feigned stateliness, touches Pickering...”, but Higins treated the guests indifferently. He recognized the girl and said with disappointment that her pronunciation did not interest him. And the flower girl pompously declared that she had come by taxi to take lessons in correct pronunciation from the scientist, and was ready to pay for it. She doesn’t want to sell on the street, and they don’t hire her as a saleswoman in the “store” because she doesn’t know how to “speak properly.”

Pickering, with exquisite courtesy, invited the girl to sit down and asked her name. The girl proudly replied that her name was Eliza Doolittle. She was terribly offended when the men began to recite the poem with laughter:

Lisa, Eliza and Elizabeth

Flowers were collected in the garden for a bouquet.

Three good violets were found there.

They took one at a time, but didn’t pick two.

The girl offered Higgins a shilling for the lesson, because she would learn her native language, which she already knew. The scientist laughingly explained to his friend that Eliza was offering him two-fifths of her daily earnings, and if she were a millionaire it would be somewhere around sixty pounds. "Not bad! Damn, it's colossal! No one has ever paid me that much,” Higins exclaimed. Frightened, Eliza jumped to her feet, tears welling up in her eyes. Hugins gave her a handkerchief, but the puzzled girl does not know what to do with it. She looks at the men helplessly, and then hides the handkerchief away.

Pickering, laughing, reminded Higgins of yesterday's conversation about how the supposed scientist could turn even such a vulgar smear into a duchess in three months. “I bet you won’t succeed in this experiment. However, if you manage to marry her to the duchess, I will recognize that you are the best teacher in the world, and I will cover the cost of his education myself.” Higgins became fascinated by Pickering's idea and promised: “In six months - and when she has good hearing and a flexible tongue, then in three months - I will bring her out to people and look like anyone!”

He wanted to begin training immediately and ordered the housekeeper to wash the girl and burn her clothes. And Ms Pearce noted that "you can't pick up a girl like a rock on the beach." What will happen to her, how will her training end? Where will she go? Who will take care of her, since Eliza has no mother, and her father kicked her out of the house? And Higins doesn’t want to think about the prospect of Eliza returning to the dirt when she already knows another life. He does not believe that the girl has feelings that need to be taken into account, and does not pay much attention to Eliza’s remark: “You have no conscience, that’s what!” You don’t care about anyone except yourself.” She is ready to leave the house, where she is not recognized as a person, but the cunning Higins cajoles Eliza with sweets, talks about the bright prospects of riding a taxi as much as she pleases, and seduces her with rich suitors.

Mrs. Pierce took Eliza to the second floor, showed her to her room, and offered her a bath. The girl had no idea that you could sleep in bed, dressed in a nightgown, that you could take a bath in the bath and remain alive and healthy, because for all eighteen years of her life Eliza slept without undressing and never completely washed herself. With great difficulty, Mrs. Pierce managed to persuade Eliza to swim.

Meanwhile, in the room, under Eliza’s desperate cries, Higgins and the colonel are pondering the girl’s future fate. Pickering was concerned about how decent Higgins was in his relationships with women. The scientist explained that he is a convinced bachelor. He perceives Eliza as his student and this is sacred to him. He is confident that “you can teach someone only if the teacher deeply respects the student’s personality.” In class, a woman for him is “like a piece of wood.” Then he himself becomes like wood.

Mrs. Pierce enters the room. She is holding Eliza's hat in her hands. The housekeeper came to talk not about Eliza, but about the behavior of Higins himself. She reminded the scientist that he very often uses swear words “devil”, “to hell”, “what the hell”, which she accepted, but she shouldn’t say it in front of a girl. Eliza’s presence requires the owner to be neat, and therefore Higins should not go out to breakfast in a dressing gown, or at least not so often use it instead of a napkin.” Eliza “would have had another useful example” if she had seen that Hugins did not place the pot of oatmeal on a clean tablecloth. The housekeeper leaves the room, and the ashamed scientist turns to his friend: “You know, Pickering, this woman has a completely false impression of me. Look: I am a modest, shy person. .. However, she is deeply convinced that I am a despot, a domestic tyrant and a tyrant. I don’t understand why.”

Mrs. Pierce returns to the room with the message that the scavenger Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father, has arrived.

This is an elderly but still strong man, one of those to whom both fear and conscience are equally alien. At this moment, with all his appearance he demonstrates offended dignity and complete determination.”

From the boy who knew where Eliza was going, old Elfrid learned the professor's address and came to Higgins to claim his rights to his daughter. The scientist does not stand on ceremony with the uninvited guest: “She is upstairs. Take it now... Take it! You don’t think that I’m messing around with her instead of you?!” Stepping on the garbage man, stunned by this development of events, Hugins continued: “Your daughter had the audacity to come to my house and demand that I give her lessons because she wanted to work in the store... How dare you come to blackmail me?! You sent her here on purpose!”

Doolittle, disarmed by such speech, explains that he does not want to get in his daughter’s way at all. “Here, there is a courier in front of her, am I... No! You misunderstood me. Listen...” The scavenger sits down importantly on a chair and reveals his cards: he sees that the owner is - a decent man, but also “a good and beautiful girl - needless to say.” And therefore Higins, a man of honor, should give him five pounds for his daughter. Pickering and Higins were amazed at Dolittle’s lack of honor and conscience. but to understand ordinary people, to take into account the morality of the father, who “by the sweat of his brow raised, fed and clothed the child until she grew up and became interested in two gentlemen at once,” that Higins offered Doolittle not five, but ten pounds, but he refused ten and ten. explained that such a lot of money would make him rich and greedy, “and then - there is no happiness for a person!” And he will drink five pounds: he will enjoy it, and the woman who lives with him will be happy, and people will earn money, and the professor “will be pleased that the money was not wasted.”

Pickering asked why Doolittle did not want to marry his friend. The scavenger explained that it was she who did not want to get married, because “she is not such a fool as to put herself in the yoke.” While she is not a wife, she rides on it, demands gifts and money, but if she gets married, she will immediately lose all Privileges.

Dolittle, having received five pounds, is already hurrying to the door, when suddenly on the threshold he almost runs into a charming girl in a Japanese robe. The father did not immediately recognize Eliza. The amazed men could not believe their eyes. And the girl felt stupid in that robe.

Dolittle left Higgins's house to drink away the money as soon as possible, and Eliza began her studies. “She felt like a patient at a doctor’s appointment... And if it weren’t for the presence of the colonel, Eliza would have long since run away” from her restless and demanding teacher, who forces her to repeat the alphabet endlessly, corrects every word she says and promises to take her by the hair and drag her around the room three times if she once again says “proHvesor”, “mnyaky” or “don’t fuck around”.

She will endure such torment for many more months before she surprises the entire London elite.

ACT THREE

Reception day at the house of Mrs. Higins, the scientist’s mother. There are no guests yet. Through the open windows you can see a balcony with pots of flowers on it. There is no unnecessary furniture or all kinds of trinkets in the room. In the middle of the room is a large sofa with pillows and a blanket, chosen with great taste. There are several nice oil paintings on the walls.

In the corner of the room, Mrs. Hugins sits at an elegant table and writes letters. Now that she is over sixty, she no longer dresses as she used to, contrary to fashion.

At five o'clock in the afternoon the door suddenly bursts open with a roar and Hugins enters. “Henry, you promised not to come on my visiting days! You killed all my friends. As soon as they meet you, they stop visiting me,” Mrs. Higins spoke reproachfully. But the son did not pay attention to his mother’s words. He explained that he had come on business: he wanted to bring to her a simple flower girl, whom he had picked up near the bazaar... taught her to speak correctly and gave strict instructions on how to behave. She was told to touch only on two topics: weather and health... No conversations on general topics.” The son assured his mother that it would be completely safe, and talked about the arrangement with Pickering regarding the transformation of a simple girl into a duchess.

The conversation is interrupted by the maid, who reports that guests have arrived. Higgins quickly jumps up and rushes to the door to run away, but before he can get out, his mother is already recommending him to the guests. On the threshold are the same mother and daughter who were hiding from the rain near Covent Garden. The mother is a calm, well-mannered woman, and the daughter tries to hide her limited income behind bravado and an eccentric social tone.

The women greet the hostess and try to talk to Higins, but he rudely turns his back to them and contemplates the river outside the window.

The maid reports that a new guest has arrived - Colonel Pickering. He politely greets those present and sits down between the women.

The next guest was Freddie, whom the hostess introduced to Pickering and her son. Higins tries to remember where he saw the whole family.

Guests start a conversation about why at social events people say things that are not what they mean. Higgins impatiently explains that the ladies present, for example, know little about poetry and art, Freddie knows nothing about science, and he himself has no idea about philosophy. Therefore, in the end, all those present are savages to one degree or another, but they pretend that they are cultured and educated people and hide their real thoughts with their words.

The maid opens the door and introduces the new guest. This is Eliza Doolittle. She is exquisitely dressed and makes such an impression with her beauty that everyone stands up when they see her. The girl with trained grace approaches Mrs. Higins. She politely greets the hostess of the house, closely monitoring her every sound, adding music to her intonation. Then he greets all the guests, pronouncing every word meticulously correctly, and gracefully sits down on the sofa. Clara sits next to Eliza, Freddie fascinated by the girl's every move. “Higins goes to the sofa, on the way he clings to the fireplace grates and trips over the tongs. Barking through his teeth, he puts everything in order... An oppressive silence falls.” Mrs. Hugins, having snatched silence, speaks about the weather in a tone of social ease. Eliza, picking up the conversation, says by rote: “The unusual decrease in atmospheric pressure that has affected the western part of the British Isles will gradually move to the eastern regions. According to weather forecasters, no significant meteorological changes are expected.” This tirade makes Freddie laugh. Then they talk about illness, and Eliza says that her aunt died from influenza. Mrs. Einsdorf Gil clucks her tongue sympathetically, and Eliza, with tragedy in her voice, says that her aunt was kidnapped to steal her straw hat. They clapped him, because such a big guy couldn’t die from a cold. To prove this, the girl brought new arguments: a year before, her aunt fell ill with diphtheria, and when Eliza’s father poured gin down her throat, the patient bit off half a spoon.

Further, Eliza casually shared that for her aunt, “gin was like mother’s milk...” the father “had gone through so much of that gin that he knew what was what,” that it still doesn’t dry out,” and the mother herself, when she used to give him money for drinks, “because then he immediately became cheerful and affectionate.”

Listening to her, Freddie was writhing with uncontrollable laughter, and Eliza asked the young man: “What is it? Why are you laughing?” Freddie and his eccentric sister decided that this was a new secular dialect, and Hugins confirmed their guess and recommended that Panna Clara remember the new words and use them on occasion during visits.

Mrs. Einsdorf Gil and her children are rushing to another reception, and Hugins, barely waiting for them to be left alone, asked their mother if it was possible to bring people to Eliza? Mrs. Hugins explained to her son and the colonel that, despite Eliza’s correct pronunciation, “her origins show through in her every word.” And the teacher himself is to blame for this, because as he puts it, “it’s perfect for a cargo pier. However, it’s unlikely for reception.” The scientist does not understand his mother. “I don’t understand a damn thing! I know one thing: for three months, day after day, I fought to make this girl look like a person. Besides, I get a lot of benefit from it. She always knows where to look for my things, remembers where and with whom I make appointments...” Mrs. Higins wants to know who Eliza is to her son and his friend, what awaits her next? The men assure her that they take the girl very seriously. Weekly and even daily, they notice some changes in her, record her every move, take dozens of notes and photographs, only talk about her, teach her, dress her, invent a new Eliza. But Mrs. Hugins tells them that they are “like two children playing with a living doll” and do not see the problem that entered the house on Wimpole Street with Eliza. “The problem is what to do with Eliza later.”

“It is clear that Eliza is still far from being a duchess. However, Higins still has time ahead, and the establishment has not yet been lost!” The training continued, and exactly six months later Eliza went out into the world again. At the embassy reception, she appeared in an elegant dress with all the necessary accessories: diamonds, a fan, flowers, a luxurious coat. She gets out of the Rolls-Royce and, accompanied by Higgins and Pickering, heads into the hall. At a reception in Higinsa, a respectable young gentleman with a luxurious mustache approaches. He reminds the scientist who was his first student. Higins barely remembered Nepomuk, who speaks thirty-two languages, works as a translator, and knows how to determine the origin of a person throughout Europe. Pickering is a little worried that the mustache will expose Eliza, but the girl with such charming grace walks into the reception hall, the guests mingle their conversation to look at her.

The intrigued mistress of the house asks Nepomuk to find out everything about Eliza in detail. After some time, the mustache reported that Doolittle was not an Englishwoman, because “where have you seen an Englishwoman who spoke English so correctly?” Nepomuk determined that Eliza comes from a Hungarian royal family and is a princess.

ACT FOUR

Higgins's office. The clock on the fireplace strikes midnight. There is no one in the room.

Eliza, wearing expensive jewelry and a luxurious evening dress, enters the office and turns on the light. It's obvious that she's tired. Soon Higins appears with a home jacket in his hands. He casually throws his tuxedo, top hat, and raincoat onto the coffee table, puts on his home jacket and falls wearily into a chair. Pickering enters in evening suit. The men are chatting when suddenly Higins exclaims: “Where the hell are my flip-flops?” Eliza looks at him gloomily and leaves the room. Then he returns with large pantofles in his hands, placing them on the rug in front of Higins. The scientist does not notice this and is terribly surprised when he sees the slippers at his feet: “Oh, here they are!”

The men are discussing the reception, rejoicing that “Eliza coped brilliantly with the role, and everything is already over.” They talk about the girl as if she is not in the room. Eliza holds back with her last strength, but when Hugins and Pickering leave the office, the girl falls to the floor with a cry of painful anger.

In the corridor, Higins saw that he had not put on his slippers again and returned to the room. Enraged, Eliza grabs the slippers and forcefully throws them one after another at Higins. The scientist does not understand the reason for the girl’s hysteria, and Eliza is ready to scratch out his eyes because he has lost all interest in her.

Higins managed to calm Eliza down a little. He tries to explain to the girl that now everything is over, she is free and can live as she pleases: she can get married or open a flower shop.

Saying this, the scientist chews a delicious apple and does not notice Eliza’s gaze. The girl listened calmly to her teacher, and then asked in an even voice: “Sir, who owns my dresses? What do I have the right to take with me so that you don’t accuse me of stealing?” Then she took off her jewelry: “Please take this with you. It will be more reliable this way. I don't want to answer for them. What if something goes missing? She calmly took off the ring that Hugins had bought for her in Brighton. The puzzled scientist throws the ring into the fireplace, stuffs the jewelry into his pockets and angrily says: “If these delights did not belong to the jeweler, I would shove them down your ungrateful throat!” After this, he majestically leaves the room, but at the end spoils the whole effect by slamming the door with all his might.

Eliza kneels in front of the fireplace, finds the ring, throws it into a bowl of fruit and walks decisively into her room. There she carefully takes off her evening outfit, puts on a casual dress and leaves the house, slamming the door.

Under her windows, Eliza sees Freddy Einsdorf Gil, who is in love with her. The young man confesses to the girl, and she, overwhelmed with feelings, reciprocates. They froze in each other's arms until the summer constable drove them away. The young people run away, and then freeze again in an embrace, and again they are caught by a policeman - this time much younger. Eliza and Freddie hired a taxi and circled around the city all night.

ACT FIVE

Living room of Mrs. Higins. The hostess is sitting at her desk. The maid enters and reports that Mr. Hugins and Colonel Pickering have arrived. They call the police, look for Eliza, and Mr. Henry is not in the mood.

Mrs. Hugins asked the maid to warn Eliza Doolittle about the guests, and she herself met her son and the colonel. Higgins rushed into the room and, without even saying hello, blurted out: “Mom, listen, this is the devil knows what! Eliza ran away." The mother tried to explain to her son that there was some reason for the escape and that the girl should not be reported to the police as if she were some kind of thief. The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Eliza's father. “He is dressed impressively, as if for a wedding, and he himself looks like a groom.” Mr. Dolittle is so passionate about the purpose of the visit that he goes straight to Higgins with accusations. He reproaches the scientist for writing about him to America to the founder of the “moral reform partnership.” Having learned about Dolittle, the American millionaire Ezra D. Wannafeller, before his death, gave Smith “half the shares of his orphan swag” on the condition that he would conduct classes in the “World League of Moral Reforms” six times a year. And now the old scavenger suffers from the fact that, having become rich, he has only one concern: there is a whole bunch of relatives who come to him with an outstretched hand; lawyers demand money; doctors scare him with numerous illnesses so that only he trusts them to treat himself; At home, others do everything for him so that he only pays money.

It is difficult for him to bear the burden of responsibility that money has placed on him, but he also cannot refuse the inheritance, because he cannot choose begging and the workhouse in his old age.

Mrs. Hugins was very happy that Dolittle had become rich and was now able to provide for the future of her daughter. Henry said that the old man had no right to Eliza, because he took five pounds for her.

Mrs. Higins began to reproach her son that he and the colonel treated the girl poorly and despised her. That's why Eliza ran away from home. The mother wanted Henry to be polite to the girl, and Dolittle should remain silent about his new position for now. Henry angrily falls into a chair, and the old one goes out onto the balcony.

Eliza proudly and sedately enters the room. In the girl's hands is a small work basket, from which she takes out the sewing and begins to work, not paying the slightest attention to Higins.

Eliza talks to the colonel. She thanks Pickering for learning from him “how to behave in polite society.” Her true upbringing began when the Colonel first addressed her as "panel Dolittle." Many little things in Pickering’s behavior were an example for the girl, they showed her human dignity, but Higins treated her like a flower girl, and with him she would never have become a lady.

Listening to the conversation about him, Higgins was furious with anger, but Eliza behaved as if he was not in the room. And only the appearance of her father threw her off balance and again turned her into a girl from the bottom of London.

Old Dolittle told his daughter that he was getting married and invited everyone present to take part in the ceremony. Pickering and Mrs. Higgins left the room, leaving Henry and Eliza alone. A conversation takes place between them, which is similar to a duel between enemies. Eliza claims the right to preserve her own dignity, compares Hugins to a tractor, which, just forward, without noticing anyone, boasts that the young and attractive Freddie loves her, is ready to marry her even today.

In turn, Higgins said that he is ready to respect not a slave who readily brings slippers, but an equal partner. He admitted that he was addicted to her face and voice, but would never stray from his path for her sake. And if she wants some fool to spend one half of his time next to her, intoxicated with feelings, and the other half decorating her with bruises, then let her immediately climb to the ditch from which he pulled her out.

In despair at such words, Eliza declared that she would marry Freddie and go to teach. She will teach many people what the scientist taught her. Higins is amazed to the depths of his soul that he still made Eliza a real woman who would never allow herself to be laughed at and would not obediently carry out her husband’s will. “I like you like this,” the professor exclaims delightedly. Now he perceives it simultaneously as both a fortress tower and an armadillo. “You, me and Pickering are no longer just two men and one stupid girl. We are now three convinced loners!”

Mrs. Higins returns to the room, dressed for the wedding ceremony. She invites Eliza to go to the church. The girl heads to the door, and Higins gives her several instructions after her. Eliza responds with undisguised contempt to this with seemingly prepared phrases about the impossibility of fulfilling any of them.

Mrs. Hugins is amazed by the relationship between Henry and Eliza and does not know what to think. The women leave, followed by Henry’s laughter: “She dreams of marrying Freddie! Ha ha! With Freddie! Ha ha!

Shaw's 1912 play Pygmalion is based on the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion and his beautiful creation. Wit, originality and touching on pressing social issues made Bernard Shaw's work popular in many countries around the world.

Main characters

Henry Higgins– Professor, specialist in phonetics.

Eliza Doolittle- a young flower girl, uneducated and poorly brought up.

Other characters

Mrs Eynsford Hill- an elderly lady, an impoverished representative of high society.

Freddie- a young man of twenty, son of Mrs. Eynsford Hill.

Clara– the arrogant and narcissistic daughter of Mrs. Eynsford Hill.

Pickering- an elderly colonel with a keen interest in phonetics.

Alfred Dolittle- Eliza's father.

Mrs Higgins- mother of Henry Higgins, an elderly lady, kind and fair.

Act one

A sudden summer downpour causes the portico of St. Pavel gathers a very diverse crowd, including a smartly dressed elderly lady with her daughter and son, a street flower girl, an army colonel and a man with a notebook who is “hurriedly making some notes.”

The young flower girl is young and pretty, but compared to “the ladies around her she looks like a real dirty woman,” and her speech and manners leave much to be desired. Someone in the crowd concludes that the man with the notebook is a policeman who is watching the flower girl.

Frightened, the girl begins to cry and wail loudly, attracting everyone's attention, but it soon turns out that this man is the famous Professor Henry Higgins, a specialist in phonetics. By pronunciation alone, he can easily determine where an Englishman comes from.

Having talked with Colonel Pickering, the author of the acclaimed book “Spoken Sanskrit,” the professor is surprised to learn that he specially “came from India to see” him. Captivated by a common idea, the new friends go out to dinner together, leaving the flower girl a rather impressive, by her standards, amount of money.

Act two

The next day, Higgins invites the Colonel to his apartment on Wimpole Street to demonstrate his rich collection of phonetic records. Pickering was shocked by what he heard, and was about to leave the professor when a maid entered and announced the arrival of a certain poor girl.

She turns out to be yesterday's flower girl, who, in a ridiculous outfit, enters the room with “naive vanity and the air of an important lady” and introduces herself as Eliza Doolittle. Dreaming of working as a saleswoman in a flower shop, she asks the professor to teach her to “express herself in an educated way,” otherwise she will have to sell violets on the street all her life.

Higgins treats the guest's request as an absurd incident, but the colonel is imbued with Eliza's difficult life situation and invites his friend to make a bet. Pickering is ready to recognize the professor as the best teacher in the world and, moreover, to take all the costs upon himself, if within six months he manages to pass off the dirty flower girl “for a duchess at a reception at the embassy.” Higgins, anticipating an experiment that would be interesting for him from all points of view, agrees to the bet.

Act three

After several months of fruitful studies, Higgins decides to examine his ward, and invites her to his mother's house on her reception day. In response to Mrs. Higgins’ fears of being in an awkward position, her son reassures that the flower girl “is strictly ordered to touch only on two topics: weather and health.”

Meanwhile, the maid reports the arrival of guests, among whom are Colonel Pickreing, Mrs. Eynsford Hill with her daughter Clara and son Freddie.

Eliza enters, striking those present with “her beauty and elegance.” At first he communicates with guests in memorized phrases, “with pedantic purity, a pleasant musical voice,” but soon he is inspired by the effect produced and switches to more familiar street slang. Wanting to save the situation, Higgins informs those present that these are newfangled secular expressions.

After the guests leave, the professor and the colonel share with Mrs. Higgins the successes of the former flower girl. However, the lady cools their ardor, pointing out the girl’s obvious mistakes. Eliza's training continues with these mistakes in mind. Meanwhile, young Freddie Hill, struck by the girl’s beauty, bombards her with love messages.

Act four

Tired, but very happy, Pickering and Higgins share their impressions of the recent reception at the embassy. Eliza lived up to all their expectations, brilliantly portraying the duchess. The colonel assures his friend that the work he has done is “a complete triumph,” and he recognizes him as the greatest teacher of our time.

However, Eliza, "in luxurious evening dress and diamonds", does not participate in the conversation. She is worried and very annoyed: the bet is over, and she is completely in the dark about her future. Higgins does not immediately understand the change in his ward’s mood, but, having realized what the matter is, he does not show any interest in Eliza’s emotional experiences.

Stung by his indifference, Eliza leaves the house where she lived for six months, learning correct speech and refined manners.

Act five

Having discovered Eliza's disappearance, Higgins comes to his mother, and, not finding her girl, intends to turn to the police for help. Mrs. Higgins dissuades her son from this, arguing that the girl is not “a thief or a lost umbrella.”

Eliza enters the living room: she “controls herself perfectly and carries herself with complete ease.” The professor, in an orderly tone, tells her to immediately return to his house, to which Eliza does not pay the slightest attention to him.

Higgins is outraged by how the “rotten cabbage stalk” is playing a true lady in front of him. Eliza expresses gratitude to Colonel Pickering, who taught her good manners and rules of behavior in society. She complains to him about the disgusting attitude towards her on the part of Higgins, who continues to see her only as an uneducated flower girl.

When Eliza and the professor manage to be alone, an explanation takes place between them. The girl reproaches him for callousness, to which Higgins franks that he “doesn’t need anyone.” However, he will miss Eliza and asks her to stay with him.

Eliza goes to the wedding ceremony of her father and stepmother. Higgins instructs her to buy gloves, a tie and cheese for home, to which Eliza contemptuously replies, “Buy it yourself,” and the professor “jingles the change in his pocket with a sly grin.”

Conclusion

In his play, full of dramatic conflicts, Benard Shaw raises the issue of social inequality, ways to overcome it and further consequences.

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George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright, philosopher and prose writer and the most famous playwright - after Shakespeare - writing in the English language.

Bernard Shaw had a great sense of humor. The writer said about himself: “ My way of telling jokes is to tell the truth. There's nothing funnier in the world«.

Shaw was quite consciously guided by Ibsen's creative experience. He highly valued his dramaturgy and at the beginning of his creative career largely followed his example. Like Ibsen, Shaw used the stage to promote his social and moral views, filling his plays with sharp, intense debate. However, he not only, like Ibsen, posed questions, but also tried to answer them, and answer them as a writer full of historical optimism. According to B. Brecht, in Shaw’s plays “belief in the endless possibilities of humanity on the path to improvement plays a decisive role.”

The creative path of Shaw the playwright began in the 1890s. Shaw’s first drama, “The Widower’s House” (1892), was also staged at the Independent Theater, which began the “new drama” in England. Following it appeared "Red Tape" (1893) and "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893-1894), which together with "Widower's Houses" formed the cycle of "Unpleasant Plays." The plays of the next cycle, “Pleasant Plays”, were just as sharply satirical: “Arms and Man” (1894), “Candida” (1894), “The Chosen One of Fate” (1895), “Wait and see” (1895-1896).

In 1901, Shaw published a new series of plays, Plays for the Puritans, which included The Devil's Disciple (1896-1897), Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), and The Address of Captain Brassbound (1899). Whatever topics Shaw raises in them, be it, as in “Caesar and Cleopatra,” the distant past of mankind or, as in “The Address of Captain Brassbound,” the colonial policy of England, his attention is always riveted to the most pressing problems of our time.

Ibsen portrayed life mainly in gloomy, tragic tones. The show is tongue-in-cheek even when it's quite serious. He has a negative attitude towards tragedy and opposes the doctrine of catharsis. According to Shaw, a person should not put up with suffering, which deprives him of “the ability to discover the essence of life, awaken thoughts, cultivate feelings.” Shaw holds comedy in high esteem, calling it "the most refined form of art." In Ibsen’s work, according to Shaw, it is transformed into tragicomedy, “into an even higher genre than comedy.” Comedy, according to Shaw, by denying suffering, cultivates in the viewer a reasonable and sober attitude towards the world around him.

However, preferring comedy to tragedy, Shaw rarely stays within the boundaries of one comedy genre in his artistic practice. The comic in his plays easily coexists with the tragic, the funny with serious reflections on life.

“A realist is one who lives by himself, in accordance with his ideas about the past.”

For Shaw, the struggle for a new society was inextricably linked with the struggle for a new drama, which could pose the pressing questions of our time to readers, could tear off all the masks and veils of social life. When B. Shaw, first as a critic and then as a playwright, imposed a systematic siege on 19th-century drama, he had to contend with the worst of the current conventions of theater criticism of the time, convinced that intellectual seriousness had no place on the stage, that the theater is a form of superficial entertainment, and the playwright is a person whose task is to make harmful sweets out of cheap emotions.

In the end, the siege was successful, intellectual seriousness prevailed over the confectionery view of the theater, and even its supporters were forced to take the pose of intellectuals and in 1918 Shaw wrote: “Why did it take a colossal war to make people want my works? »

Shaw intended to create a positive hero - a realist. He sees one of the tasks of his dramaturgy in creating images of “realists”, practical, restrained and cold-blooded. The show always and everywhere tried to irritate, anger the audience, using its chauvian method.

He was never an idealist - his proposals were not of a romantic-pacifist, but of a purely practical nature and, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, were very practical.

In “Mrs. Warren's Profession,” Shaw outlined his idea of ​​the real position of women in society, saying that society should be arranged in such a way that every man and every woman could support themselves by their labor, without trading in their affections and beliefs. In “Caesar and Cleopatra” Shaw offered his own view of history, calm, sensible, ironic, not chained to death to the cracks at the doors of the royal bedchambers.

The basis of Bernard Shaw's artistic method is paradox as a means of overthrowing dogmatism and bias (Androcles and the Lion, 1913, Pygmalion, 1913), traditional ideas (historical plays Caesar and Cleopatra, 1901, the pentalogy Back to Methuselah , 1918-20, "Saint Joan", 1923).

Irish by birth, Shaw repeatedly addressed in his work the acute problems associated with the relationship between England and “John Bull's other island,” as his play (1904) is titled. However, he left his native place forever as a twenty-year-old youth. In London, Shaw became closely associated with members of the Fabian Society, sharing their program of reforms with the goal of a gradual transition to socialism.

Modern dramaturgy was supposed to evoke a direct response from the audience, recognizing in it situations from their own life experience, and provoke a discussion that would go far beyond the individual case shown on the stage. The collisions of this dramaturgy, in contrast to Shakespeare's, which Bernard Shaw considered outdated, should be of an intellectual or socially accusatory nature, distinguished by an emphasized topicality, and the characters are important not so much for their psychological complexity as for their type traits, fully and clearly demonstrated.

The main problem that Shaw skillfully solves in Pygmalion is the question of “whether man is a changeable creature.” This situation in the play is concretized by the fact that a girl from the East End of London with all the character traits of a street child turns into a woman with the character traits of a high society lady. To show how radically a person can be changed, Shaw chose to move from one extreme to the other. If such a radical change in a person is possible in a relatively short time, then the viewer must tell himself that then any other change in a human being is possible.

The second important question of the play is how much speech affects human life. What does correct pronunciation give a person? Is learning to speak correctly enough to change your social position? Here’s what Professor Higgins thinks about this: “But if you knew how interesting it is to take a person and, having taught him to speak differently than he spoke before, make him a completely different, new creature. After all, this means destroying the gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul.”

Shaw was perhaps the first to realize the omnipotence of language in society, its exceptional social role, which psychoanalysis indirectly spoke about in those same years.

There is no doubt that Pygmalion is the most popular play by B. Shaw. In it, the author showed us the tragedy of a poor girl who has known poverty, who suddenly finds herself among high society, becomes a true lady, falls in love with the man who helped her get on her feet, and who is forced to give up all this because pride awakens in her, and she realizes that the person she loves is rejecting her.

The play “Pygmalion” made a huge impression on me, especially the fate of the main character. The skill with which B. Shaw shows us the psychology of people, as well as all the vital problems of the society in which he lived, will not leave anyone indifferent.

All of Shaw's plays fulfill Brecht's essential requirement for the modern theatre, namely that the theater should strive to “depict human nature as changeable and dependent on class. The extent to which Shaw was interested in the connection between character and social position is especially proven by the fact that he even made the radical restructuring of character the main theme of the play Pygmalion.

After the exceptional success of the play and the musical My Fair Lady based on it, the story of Eliza, who, thanks to the professor of phonetics Higgins, turned from a street girl into a society lady, today is perhaps better known than the Greek myth.

Man is made by man—that is the lesson of this, by Shaw’s own admission, “intensely and deliberately didactic” play. This is the very lesson that Brecht called for, demanding that “the construction of one figure should be carried out depending on the construction of another figure, for in life we ​​mutually shape each other.”

There is an opinion among literary critics that Shaw's plays, more than the plays of other playwrights, promote certain political ideas. The doctrine of the changeability of human nature and dependence on class affiliation is nothing more than the doctrine of the social determination of the individual. The play “Pygmalion” is a good textbook that addresses the problem of determinism (Determinism is the doctrine of the initial determinability of all processes occurring in the world, including all processes of human life). Even the author himself considered it “an outstanding didactic play.”

The main problem that Shaw skillfully solves in Pygmalion is the question of “whether man is a changeable creature.” This position in the play is concretized by the fact that a girl from the East End of London with all the character traits of a street child turns into a woman with the character traits of a lady of high society. To show how radically a person can be changed, Shaw chose to move from one extreme to the other. If such a radical change in a person is possible in a relatively short time, then the viewer must tell himself that then any other change in a human being is possible. The second important question of the play is how much speech affects human life. What does correct pronunciation give a person? Is learning to speak correctly enough to change your social position? Here is what Professor Higgins thinks about this: “ But if you only knew how interesting it is to take a person and, having taught him to speak differently than he spoke before, make him a completely different, new creature. After all, this means destroying the abyss that separates class from class and soul from soul.«.

As is shown and constantly emphasized in the play, the dialect of the East of London is incompatible with the essence of a lady, just as the language of a lady cannot be associated with the essence of a simple flower girl from the East London area. When Eliza forgot the language of her old world, the way back there was closed for her. Thus, the break with the past was final. During the course of the play, Eliza herself is clearly aware of this. This is what she tells Pickering: “ Last night, as I was wandering the streets, a girl spoke to me; I wanted to answer her in the old way, but nothing worked out for me«.

Bernard Shaw paid a lot of attention to the problems of language. The play had a serious task: Shaw wanted to attract the attention of the English public to issues of phonetics. He advocated the creation of a new alphabet that would be more consistent with the sounds of the English language than the current one, and which would make it easier for children and foreigners to learn this language. Shaw returned to this problem several times throughout his life, and according to his will, a large sum was left by him for research aimed at creating a new English alphabet. These studies are still ongoing, and just a few years ago the play “Androcles and the Lion” was published, printed in the characters of the new alphabet, which was chosen by a special committee from all the options proposed for the prize. Shaw was perhaps the first to realize the omnipotence of language in society, its exceptional social role, which psychoanalysis indirectly spoke about in those same years. It was Shaw who said this in the poster-edifying, but no less ironically fascinating “Pygmalion.” Professor Higgins, albeit in his narrow specialized field, was still ahead of structuralism and post-structuralism, which in the second half of the century would make the ideas of “discourse” and “totalitarian linguistic practices” their central theme.

In Pygmalion, Shaw combined two equally disturbing themes: the problem of social inequality and the problem of classical English. He believed that the social essence of a person is expressed in various parts of the language: in phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary. While Eliza emits such vowel sounds as “ay - ay-ay - ou - oh,” she has, as Higgins correctly notes, no chance of getting out of the street situation. Therefore, all his efforts are concentrated on changing the sounds of her speech. That the grammar and vocabulary of man's language are no less important in this respect is demonstrated by the first great failure of both phoneticians in their efforts at re-education. Although Eliza's vowels and consonants are excellent, the attempt to introduce her into society as a lady fails. Eliza's words: " But where is her new straw hat that I was supposed to get? Stolen! So I say, whoever stole the hat killed the aunt too” - even with excellent pronunciation and intonation are not English for ladies and gentlemen.

Higgins admits that along with new phonetics, Eliza must also learn new grammar and new vocabulary. And with them a new culture. But language is not the only expression of a human being. Going out to see Mrs. Higgins has only one drawback - Eliza does not know what is being said in society in this language. “Pickering also recognized that it was not enough for Eliza to have ladylike pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. She must still develop the interests characteristic of a lady. As long as her heart and mind are filled with the problems of her old world - the murders over the straw hat and the beneficial effect of the gin on her father's mood - she cannot become a lady, even if her language is indistinguishable from the language of a lady. One of the theses of the play states that human character is determined by the totality of personality relationships, linguistic relationships are only part of it. In the play, this thesis is concretized by the fact that Eliza, along with studying the language, also learns the rules of behavior. Consequently, Higgins explains to her not only how to speak the lady's language, but also, for example, how to use a handkerchief.

If Eliza does not know how to use a handkerchief, and if she resists taking a bath, then it should be clear to any viewer that a change in her being also requires a change in her daily behavior. The extra-linguistic relations of people of different classes, so the thesis goes, are no less different than their speech in form and content.

The totality of behavior, that is, the form and content of speech, the way of judgment and thoughts, habitual actions and typical reactions of people are adapted to the conditions of their environment. The subjective being and the objective world correspond to each other and mutually permeate each other. The author required a large expenditure of dramatic means to convince every viewer of this. Shaw found this remedy in the systematic application of a kind of alienation effect, forcing his characters from time to time to act in foreign surroundings, and then gradually returning them to their own surroundings, skillfully creating at first a false impression as to their real nature. Then this impression gradually and methodically changes. The “exposition” of Eliza’s character in a foreign environment has the effect that she seems incomprehensible, repulsive, ambiguous and strange to the ladies and gentlemen in the audience. This impression is enhanced by the reactions of the ladies and gentlemen on stage.

Thus, Shaw makes Mrs. Eynsford Hill noticeably worried when she watches a flower girl she does not know call her son Freddie “dear friend” during a chance meeting on the street. “The end of the first act is the beginning of the “process of re-education” of the prejudiced spectator. It seems to indicate only mitigating circumstances that must be taken into account when convicting the accused Eliza. Proof of Eliza's innocence is only given in the next act through her transformation into a lady. Anyone who really believed that Eliza was obsessive because of an innate baseness or corruption, and who could not correctly interpret the description of the environment at the end of the first act, will have their eyes opened by the self-confident and proud performance of the transformed Eliza.” The extent to which Shaw takes prejudice into account when re-educating his readers and viewers can be demonstrated by numerous examples.

The widely held opinion of many wealthy gentlemen, as we know, is that the residents of the East End are to blame for their poverty, since they do not know how to “save”. Although they, like Eliza in Covent Garden, are very greedy for money, but only so that at the first opportunity they again spend it wastefully on absolutely unnecessary things. They have no idea at all about using the money wisely, for example, for vocational education. The show seeks to first reinforce this prejudice, as well as others. Eliza, having barely received some money, already allows herself to go home by taxi. But immediately the explanation of Eliza’s real attitude towards money begins. The next day she hurries to spend it on her own education. “If the human being is conditioned by the environment and if the objective being and the objective conditions mutually correspond to each other, then the transformation of the being is possible only by replacing the environment or changing it. This thesis in the play “Pygmalion” is concretized by the fact that in order to create the possibility of Eliza’s transformation, she is completely isolated from the old world and transferred to the new.” As the first measure of his re-education plan, Higgins orders a bath in which Eliza is freed from her heritage
East End.

The old dress, the part of the old environment closest to the body, is not even put aside, but burned. Not the slightest particle of the old world should connect Eliza with him, if one seriously thinks about her transformation. To show this, Shaw introduced another particularly instructive incident.

At the end of the play, when Eliza has, in all likelihood, finally turned into a lady, her father suddenly appears. Unexpectedly, a test occurs that answers the question of whether Higgins is right in considering Eliza’s return to her former life possible: (Dolittle appears in the middle window. Throwing a reproachful and dignified look at Higgins, he silently approaches his daughter, who is sitting with her back to the windows and therefore does not see him.) Pickering. He's incorrigible, Eliza. But you won't slide, right? Eliza. No. Not anymore. I learned my lesson well. Now I can no longer make the same sounds as before, even if I wanted to. (Dolittle puts his hand on her shoulder from behind. She drops her embroidery, looks around, and at the sight of her father’s magnificence, all her self-control immediately evaporates.) Oooh! Higgins (triumphantly). Yeah! Exactly! Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Victory! Victory!".

The slightest contact with only a part of her old world turns the reserved and seemingly ready for refined behavior of a lady for a moment again into a street child who not only reacts as before, but, to her own surprise, can again say, It seemed like the already forgotten sounds of the street. Due to the careful emphasis on the influence of environment, the viewer could easily get the false impression that the characters in the world of Shaw's heroes are entirely limited by the influence of environment.

To prevent this undesirable error, Shaw, with equal care and thoroughness, introduced into his play a counter-thesis about the existence of natural abilities and their significance for the character of a particular individual. This position is concretized in all four main characters of the play: Eliza, Higgins, Dolittle and Pickering. "Pygmalion" - this is a mockery of the fans of “blue blood” ... each of my plays was a stone that I threw at the windows of Victorian prosperity,”- this is how the author himself spoke about his play.

It was important for Shaw to show that all of Eliza's qualities that she reveals as a lady can already be found in the flower girl as natural abilities, or that the flower girl's qualities can then be found again in the lady. Shaw's concept was already contained in the description of Eliza's appearance. At the end of the detailed description of her appearance it is said: “No doubt, she is clean in her own way, but next to the ladies she definitely seems dirty. Her facial features are not bad, but the condition of her skin leaves much to be desired; In addition, it is noticeable that she needs the services of a dentist.”

Dolittle's transformation into a gentleman, just as his daughter's transformation into a lady, must seem a relatively external process. Here, as it were, only his natural abilities are modified due to his new social position.

As a shareholder of the Friend of the Stomach cheese trust and a prominent spokesman for Wannafeller's World League for Moral Reform, he, in fact, even remained in his real profession, which, according to Eliza, even before his social transformation, was to extort money from other people , using his eloquence. But the most convincing way of the thesis about the presence of natural abilities and their importance for creating characters is demonstrated by the example of the Higgins-Pickering couple. Both of them are gentlemen by their social status, but with the difference that Pickering is a gentleman by temperament, while Higgins is predisposed to rudeness. The difference and commonality of both characters is systematically demonstrated in their behavior towards Eliza.

From the very beginning, Higgins treats her rudely, impolitely, unceremoniously. In her presence, he speaks of her as “stupid girl”, “stuffed animal”, “so irresistibly vulgar, so blatantly dirty”, “nasty, spoiled girl” and the like. He asks his housekeeper to wrap Eliza in newspaper and throw her in the trash. The only norm for talking to her is the imperative form, and the preferred way to influence Eliza is a threat. Pickering, a born gentleman, on the contrary, shows tact and exceptional politeness in his treatment of Eliza from the very beginning. He does not allow himself to be provoked into making an unpleasant or rude statement either by the intrusive behavior of the flower girl or by the bad example of Higgins. Since no circumstances explain these differences in behavior,. the viewer must assume that perhaps there is, after all, something like an innate tendency towards rude or delicate behavior.

To prevent the false conclusion that Higgins's rude behavior towards Eliza is due solely to social differences existing between him and her, Shaw makes Higgins behave noticeably harshly and impolitely also among his peers. Higgins doesn't try very hard to hide from Mrs., Miss, and Freddie Hill how little he considers them and how little they mean to him. Of course, Shaw allows Higgins's rudeness to manifest itself in society in a significantly modified form. For all his innate tendency to unceremoniously speak the truth, Higgins does not allow such rudeness as we observe in his treatment of Eliza. When his interlocutor Mrs. Eynsford Hill, in her narrow-mindedness, believes that it would be better “if people knew how to be frank and say what they think,” Higgins protests with the exclamation “God forbid!” and the objection that “it would be indecent.” A person’s character is determined not directly by the environment, but through interhuman, emotionally charged relationships and connections through which he passes in the conditions of his environment. Man is a sensitive, receptive being, and not a passive object that can be molded into any shape, like a piece of wax. The importance Shaw attaches to this very issue is confirmed by its promotion to the center of the dramatic action.

In the beginning, Higgins sees Eliza as a piece of dirt that can be wrapped in newspaper and thrown into the trash can, or at least a “grimy, grimy little bastard” who is forced to wash herself like a dirty animal, despite her protests. Washed and dressed, Eliza becomes not a person, but an interesting experimental subject on which a scientific experiment can be performed. In three months, Higgins made a countess out of Eliza, he won his bet, as Pickering puts it, it cost him a lot of stress. The fact that Eliza herself is participating in this experiment and, as a person, was bound to the highest degree by obligation, does not reach his consciousness - as, indeed, also the consciousness of Pickering - until the onset of open conflict, which forms the dramatic climax of the play. To his great surprise, Higgins must conclude by stating that between himself and Pickering, on the one hand, and Eliza, on the other, human relations have arisen which have no longer anything to do with the relations of scientists to their objects and which can no longer be ignored, but can only be resolved with pain in the soul. “Distracting from linguistics, it should first of all be noted that Pygmalion was a cheerful, brilliant comedy, the last act of which contained an element of true drama: the little flower girl coped well with her role as a noble lady and is no longer needed - she can only return to the street or go out marry one of the three heroes."

The viewer understands that Eliza became a lady not because she was taught to dress and speak like a lady, but because she entered into human relationships with the ladies and gentlemen in their midst.

While the whole play suggests in countless details that the difference between a lady and a flower girl lies in their behavior, the text asserts the exact opposite: “A lady differs from a flower girl not in the way she carries herself, but in the way she is treated.” .

These words belong to Eliza. In her opinion, the credit for turning her into a lady belongs to Pickering, not Higgins. Higgins only trained her, taught her correct speech, etc. These are abilities that can be easily acquired without outside help. Pickering's polite address produced those inner changes that distinguish a flower girl from a lady. Obviously, Eliza’s assertion that only the manner in which a person is treated determines his essence is not the basis of the play’s problematics. If treatment of a person were the decisive factor, then Higgins would have to make all the ladies he met flower girls, and Pickering all the women he met would be flower ladies.

The fact that both of them are not endowed with such magical powers is quite obvious. Higgins does not show the sense of tact inherent in Pickering, either in relation to his mother, or in relation to Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, without thereby causing any minor changes in their characters. Pickering treats the flower girl Eliza with not very refined politeness in the first and second acts. On the other hand, the play clearly shows that behavior alone does not determine the essence. If only behavior were the deciding factor, then Higgins would have ceased to be a gentleman long ago. But no one seriously disputes his honorary title of gentleman. Higgins also does not cease to be a gentleman because he behaves tactlessly with Eliza, just as Eliza cannot turn into a lady only thanks to behavior worthy of a lady. Eliza's thesis that only the treatment of a person is the decisive factor, and the antithesis that a person's behavior is decisive for the essence of the individual, are clearly refuted by the play.

The instructiveness of the play lies in the synthesis - the determining factor for a person’s being is his social attitude towards other people. But social attitude is something more than one-sided behavior of a person and one-sided treatment of him. Public attitude includes two sides: behavior and treatment. Eliza becomes a lady from a flower girl due to the fact that at the same time as her behavior, the treatment she felt in the world around her also changed. What is meant by social relations is clearly revealed only at the end of the play and at its climax. Eliza realizes that despite the successful completion of her language studies, despite the radical change in her environment, despite her constant and exclusive presence among recognized gentlemen and ladies, despite the exemplary treatment of her by the gentleman and despite her mastery of all forms of behavior , she has not yet turned into a real lady, but has become only a maid, secretary or interlocutor of two gentlemen. She makes an attempt to avoid this fate by running away.

When Higgins asks her to come back, a discussion ensues that reveals the meaning of social relations in principle. Eliza believes she faces a choice between returning to the streets and submitting to Higgins. This is symbolic for her: then she will have to give him shoes all her life. This was exactly what Mrs. Higgins had warned against when she pointed out to her son and Pickering that a girl who spoke the language and manners of a lady was not truly a lady unless she had the income to match. Mrs. Higgins saw from the very beginning that the main problem of turning a flower girl into a society lady could only be solved after her “re-education” was completed.

An essential attribute of a “noble lady” is her independence, which can only be guaranteed by an income independent of any personal labor. The interpretation of the ending of Pygmalion is obvious. It is not anthropological, like the previous theses, but of an ethical and aesthetic order: what is desirable is not the transformation of slum dwellers into ladies and gentlemen, like the transformation of Dolittle, but their transformation into ladies and gentlemen of a new type, whose self-esteem is based on their own work. Eliza, in her desire for work and independence, is the embodiment of the new ideal of a lady, which, in essence, has nothing in common with the old ideal of a lady of aristocratic society. She did not become a countess, as Higgins repeatedly said, but she became a woman whose strength and energy are admired.

It is significant that even Higgins cannot deny her attractiveness - disappointment and hostility soon turn into the opposite. He seems to have even forgotten about the initial desire for a different result and the desire to make Eliza a countess. “I want to boast that the play Pygmalion enjoyed great success in Europe, North America and here. Its instructiveness is so strong and deliberate that I enthusiastically throw it in the face of those self-righteous sages who parrot that art should not be didactic. This confirms my opinion that art cannot be anything else,” Shaw wrote. The author had to fight for the correct interpretation of all his plays, especially comedies, and oppose deliberately false interpretations of them. In the case of Pygmalion, the struggle centered around the question of whether Eliza would marry Higgins or Freddie. If Eliza is married off to Higgins, then a conventional comedic conclusion and an acceptable ending are created: Eliza’s re-education ends in this case with her “bourgeoisification.”

Anyone who passes Eliza off as the poor Freddie must at the same time recognize Shaw’s ethical and aesthetic theses. Of course, critics and the theater world unanimously spoke in favor of the “bourgeois solution.” So the ending of the play remains open. It seems that the playwright himself did not know what to expect from the transformed Eliza...

Consider the play that Bernard Shaw created ("Pygmalion"). A brief summary of it is presented in this article. This play takes place in London. It was based on the myth of Pygmalion.

The summary begins with the following events. One summer evening it rains heavily. Passers-by, trying to escape from him, run towards the Covent Garden market, as well as to the portico of St. Pavel, under which several people had already taken refuge, including an elderly lady and her daughter, dressed in evening dresses. They are waiting for the lady's son, Freddie, to find a taxi and come here for them. All these people, except the man with the notebook, peer impatiently into the streams of rain.

Freddie gives money to the flower girl

Freddy appears in the distance. He did not find a taxi and runs to the portico. However, on the way, Freddie accidentally bumps into a street flower girl who is in a hurry to take cover from the rain, and knocks a basket of violets out of the girl’s hands. The flower girl bursts into obscenities. A man standing at the portico is hastily writing something down in a notebook. The girl laments that her violets are missing and begs the colonel standing here to buy a bouquet. He gives her some change to get rid of it, but doesn’t take flowers. One passer-by draws the attention of a girl, an unwashed and sloppily dressed flower girl, to the fact that a man with a notebook is probably scribbling a denunciation against her. She starts to whine. A passerby, however, assures that this man is not from the police, and surprises everyone present by accurately determining the origin of everyone by pronunciation.

The lady, Freddie's mother, sends her son back to find a taxi. Meanwhile, the rain stops and she walks with her daughter to the bus stop.

Henry Higgins meeting with Colonel Pickering

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

The colonel is interested in who is holding the notebook in his hands. 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 “Spoken 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.

The flower girl gets a "great fortune"

But then the flower girl begins to ask again to buy flowers from her. Higgins throws a handful of coins into her basket and leaves with the colonel. The girl notices that she now owns, by her standards, a large fortune. When Freddie arrives with the taxi he finally hailed, she gets into the car and drives away, slamming the door noisily.

Eliza visits Professor Higgins

You are reading a description of the plot of a work created by George Bernard Shaw ("Pygmalion"). A summary is just an attempt to highlight the main events of the play.

The next morning, Higgins demonstrates his phonographic equipment to the Colonel at his home. Unexpectedly, his housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce, reports to Higgins that some very simple girl wants to talk to the professor. Yesterday's flower girl appears. The girl introduces herself to him and says that she wants to take phonetics lessons from the professor, since she cannot get a job with her pronunciation. Eliza had heard the day before that Higgins was giving these lessons. She is sure that he will happily agree to work off the money that he threw into her basket yesterday without looking.

The bet made by Pickering and Higgins

Of course, it’s funny for him to talk about such amounts. But Pickering offers a bet to Higgins. He encourages him to prove that in a matter of months, as he claimed the day before, he can turn a street flower girl into a duchess. Higgins finds it tempting. In addition, the colonel is ready, if he wins, to pay the cost of Eliza’s education. The girl is taken by Mrs. Pierce to the bathroom to clean up.

Meeting with Eliza's father

B. Shaw ("Pygmalion") continues his work with Eliza's meeting with her father. The summary of this episode is as follows. After some time, Eliza's father comes to Higgins. This is a simple man, a scavenger. However, he amazes the professor with his innate eloquence. Higgins asks him for permission to keep his daughter and gives him 5 pounds for this. When Eliza appears in a Japanese robe, already washed, Dolittle does not recognize her at first.

Eliza's success with Mrs Higgins

Higgins takes the girl to his mother's house a few months later. The professor wants to find out whether it is already possible to introduce her to Mrs. Higgins, who is visiting Eynsford Hill with her son and daughter. These are the people with whom Higgins stood under the portico on the day he saw Eliza for the first time. However, they don't recognize the girl. At first, Eliza talks and behaves like a high society lady. But then she starts talking about her life and uses street language. Higgins tries to pretend that this is just new secular jargon, and thus smooths over the situation. The girl leaves the crowd, leaving Freddie in complete delight.

After this meeting, he begins to send Eliza letters on 10 pages. After the guests leave, Pickering and Higgins vying with each other to tell Mrs. Higgins how they teach Eliza, take her to exhibitions, to the opera, and dress her. She finds that they are treating this girl like a doll. Mrs. Higgins agrees with Mrs. Pearce, who believes that they are not thinking about anything.

Higgins wins the bet

After a few months, both experimenters take Eliza to a high-society reception. The girl is a dizzying success. Everyone thinks it's the Duchess. Higgins wins the bet.

Arriving home, the professor enjoys the fact that the experiment is finally finished, from which he is already a little tired. He talks and behaves in his usual rude manner, not paying the slightest attention to Eliza. The girl looks sad and tired, but still she is dazzlingly beautiful. Eliza's irritation begins to build.

Eliza runs away from home

Unable to bear it, the girl throws his shoes at the professor. She wants to die. The girl doesn’t know how to live, what will happen to her next. After all, she turned into a completely different person. Higgins says everything will work out. However, Eliza manages to hurt him. She throws the professor off balance and thereby avenges herself at least a little.

At night the girl runs away from home. In the morning, Pickering and Higgins lose their heads when they notice that Eliza is missing. They even involve the police in her search. Higgins feels like he has no hands without Eliza. He cannot find his things, does not know what tasks he has scheduled for the day.

The New Life of Dolittle the Scavenger (Pygmalion)

Mrs. Higgins comes to see her son. Then they report to Higgins about the arrival of the girl’s father. He has changed a lot and looks like a wealthy bourgeois. Dolittle attacks Higgins in indignation for the fact that, through his fault, he had to change his usual way of life and become a much less free person. It turned out that several months ago Higgins wrote to a millionaire in America, who founded branches of the Moral Reform League around the world. He said in a letter that a simple scavenger, Dolittle, is now the most original moralist in England. The American died, and before his death he bequeathed a share in his trust to this scavenger, on the condition that he would give up to 6 lectures a year in his League of Moral Reforms. Dolittle laments that he even has to marry the one with whom he has lived for several years without registering the relationship, since now he must look like a respectable bourgeois. According to Mrs. Higgins, the father will finally be able to take care of his daughter properly. However, Higgins does not want to hear about returning Eliza to Doolittle.

Return of Eliza

This play is an allusion (ironic) to the ancient myth “Pygmalion and Galatea”. A summary of further events is as follows. Mrs. Higgins reports that she knows where the girl is. She agrees to return on the condition that Higgins asks her for forgiveness. He does not agree to do this in any way. Eliza appears. The girl expresses gratitude to Pickering for treating her like a noble lady. After all, it was he who helped Eliza change, who had to live in the house of the ill-mannered, slovenly and rude Higgins. The professor is amazed. The girl adds that if Higgins continues to put pressure on her, she will go to Higgins’ colleague, Professor Nepean, and will be his assistant. Eliza threatens to inform Nepean about all of Higgins' discoveries. The professor finds that her behavior is now even more worthy and better than when the girl brought him shoes and looked after his things. Higgins is confident that they can now live together as “three friendly old bachelors.”

Let us describe the final events of the work "Pygmalion". A summary of the play was presented by going to his father's wedding. She, apparently, will still live in Higgins’s house, since she has managed to become attached to him, and he to her. And everything will continue as before for them.

This is how the work of interest to us ends, created by Bernard Shaw ("Pygmalion"). The summary gives an idea of ​​the main events of this world famous play. It consists of five acts. Bernard Shaw created Pygmalion in 1913. You can also find out a brief summary of it by watching one of the many productions. There is also a musical based on it ("My Fair Lady").

The play was based on a story whose main characters are Pygmalion and Galatea (myth). The summary of this story, however, has been significantly altered. In his Galatea, Professor Higgins does not see a person. He doesn't care what happens to her after the girl turns into a "duchess". However, Eliza, who initially showed sympathy for her creator, knows her worth. In Kuhn's book "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece" you can read the story of "Pygmalion and Galatea". The myth, a brief summary of which was taken as the basis for the play we are interested in, will help to better understand the work of B. Shaw.