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PYGMALION
REFERENCE TO CONTEXT

1. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e?

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act one.

Speaker: The speaker is Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl.

Listener: The listener is Mrs. Eynsford Hill, Freddy’s mother.

Analysis: Shaw here depicts the cockney dialect (dialect refers to a variety of a
language; here cockney is a variety of English) spoken by the lower
class people in Drury Lane (London). Shaw wanted people to learn
and speak Standard English. He disliked people speaking non-
standard English.

2. Cheltenham, Harrow, Cambridge, and India.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act one.

Speaker: The speaker is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Listener: The listener is Colonel Pickering, another linguist.

Analysis: The reader gets to know how efficient and knowledgeable Higgins is.
He is able to find out a person’s place of birth or place of upbringing
merely by listening to his speech. According to Shaw, only a good
linguist can bring about positive changes in society. He can make
people speak the standard language and make them more cultured.

3. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of
articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare
and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act one.

Speaker: The speaker is Henry Higgins.

Listener: The listener is Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl.

Analysis: Through these lines, one understands Shaw’s views of the English
language. He is angry that people do not speak Standard English.
Therefore, he feels that only a linguist can save the English society.
That is why he makes Higgins a person who cannot stand faulty
English.
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4. I can place any man within six miles. I can place him within two miles in
London. Sometimes within two streets.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act one.

Speaker: The speaker is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Listener: The listener is Colonel Pickering, another linguist.

Analysis: The reader gets to know how efficient and knowledgeable Higgins is.
His knowledge of Phonetics is very deep. He is able to find out a
person’s place of birth or place of upbringing merely by listening to
his speech. According to Shaw, only a good linguist can bring about
positive changes in society. He can make people speak the standard
language. This will make them more cultured.

5. In three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador's

garden party.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act one.

Speaker: The speaker is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Listener: The listener is Colonel Pickering, another linguist.

Analysis: This statement of Higgins marks the development of action in the

play. It is this statement that motivates Eliza to learn English. This
challenging statement is what gives rise to an important question
later – what determines a person’s identity?

6. I can pronounce twenty-four distinct vowel sounds, but your hundred and
thirty beat me.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act two.

Speaker: The speaker is Colonel Pickering, a linguist.

Listener: The listener is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Analysis: It is clear that Shaw made Higgins the central character of the play
only because he wanted his hero to be a linguist. He felt that only a
good linguist can make people more refined and educated. This will
surely result in a better society.

7. I won't give you more than a shilling. Take it or leave it.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act two.

Speaker: The speaker is Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl.

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Listener: The listener is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Analysis: Here, Shaw describes Eliza as a person who is very clear about what
she wants. She has an individuality of her own and speaks clearly
about what she can pay Higgins for her tuitions. In fact, she is
Higgins’ alter ego (a person’s second personality, which is different
from the first) in the play.

8. I have got her pronunciation all right, but you have to consider not only how a
girl pronounces, but what she pronounces.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act two.

Speaker: The speaker is Henry Higgins, Professor of Phonetics.

Listener: The listener is Mrs. Higgins, his mother.

Analysis: Higgins may not be a very polite sugar-tongued person. But as a

teacher, he is indeed effective. His teaching is holistic. He focuses
not just on pronunciation but also on the content and the manner of
speech.

9. No, you two infinitely stupid male creatures, the problem of what is to be
done with her afterwards.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act three.

Speaker: The speaker is Mrs. Higgins, the mother of Henry Higgins.

Listener: The listeners are Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering.

Analysis: Mrs. Higgins, like Mrs. Pearce, is logical in her thinking. Higgins and
Pickering are concerned only about making Eliza pronounce
correctly. But, Mrs. Higgins wants to know what will happen to Eliza
after the teaching. She means that once Eliza gets used to the upper
class or middle class life style, she cannot go back to her lower class
living. Therefore, she will face an identity problem.

10. What are you doing here to-day? It's my at-home-day, you promised not to
come.

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act three.

Speaker: The speaker is Mrs. Higgins, the mother of Henry Higgins.

Listener: The listener is Henry Higgins.

Analysis: Mrs. Higgins knows her son’s nature very well. He does not speak to
people politely. Sometimes, he is frank to the extent to being rude.
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So, her visitors feel uncomfortable. That is why Mrs. Higgins doesn’t
want her son to come home on the day when she receives visitors.

11. Men! Men! Men!

Reference: These lines are from Shaw’s comedy, Pygmalion, act three.

Speaker: The speaker is Mrs. Higgins, the mother of Henry Higgins.

Listener: There are no listeners. Mrs. Higgins reacts after Higgins and
Pickering leave.

Analysis: Mrs. Higgins is extremely fond of her son Henry Higgins. She also
knows that Pickering is a fine-natured person. But, as men, they are
self-centred. They are concerned only about their success at making
Eliza learn Phonetics. Mrs. Higgins, like Mrs. Pearce, is logical in her
thinking. But, Mrs. Higgins knows that once Eliza gets used to the
upper class or middle class life style, she cannot go back to her
lower class living. Therefore, she will face an identity problem.