Mr Doolittle: Character analysis

Introduction Physical and psychological description of Mr Doolittle Evolution of Doolittle Relationships Doolittle Pickering / Higgins Doolittle Eliza Doolittle Women His role in the play Why does he appear at this moment? What does he represent in the story? Conclusion

Mr Doolittle: Character analysis

Introduction
Today we are going to analyse Alfred Doolittle, a character from the play Pygmalion. We will begin with a little summary of the play, then Anne-Lucie will talk about the psychological and physical description of Doolittle. And finally, she will talk about his evolution in the play. After that I will talk about the relationships Mr Doolittle has with different characters of the play: Doolittle and Pickering/Higgins, Doolittle and Eliza and finally Doolittle and women in general. Apart from that we will try to answer two questions: Why does he appear at some specific moments? And what does he represent in the story? And finally I will finish with a little conclusion. Now I am going to introduce the book and make a little summary of Pygmalion. Pygmalion is a play, which was written in 1912 by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright. He wrote Pygmalion to understand if we are allowed to change someones life like Higgins does with Eliza in the play. Pygmalion is a story about Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl. One night she meets two men. The first one is Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and the second one is Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit. Eliza decides to become a lady, because she wants to have her own flower shop, but to achieve it she needs Higgins help. Higgins accepts to teach her how to become one of those famous ladies, and during this experience Pickering will be responsible for her.

Physical and psychological description of Mr Doolittle

First of all we know that Mr Doolittle is Elizas father and has had at least six wives. Then we learn that hes an alcoholic. Through Higgins joking recommendation, at the end of the play, Doolittle becomes a richly endowed lecturer to a moral society, transforming him from a lowly dustman into a picture of middle class morality. Mr Doolittle is a scoundrel who is willing to sell his daughter to make a few pounds, and he is one of the few honest characters in this play, he doesnt hide himself behind his appearance or his talk. We also know that he does not work hard and he does not want much money just enough to enjoy life. He is collecting dust instead of working at his trade. His proper trade is a navvy.

In this play, Alfred Doolittle appears two times and he is described differently each times. First description: Alfred Doolittle is an elderly but vigorous dustman, clad in the costume of his profession, including a hat with a back brim covering his neck and shoulders. He has well marked and rather interesting features, and seems equally free from fear and conscience. He has a remarkably expressive voice, the result of a habit of giving vent to his feelings without reserve. His present pose is that of wounded honor and stern resolution (p.41). Second description: Doolittle enters. He is resplendently dressed as for a fashionable wedding, and might, in fact, be the bridegroom. A flower in his buttonhole, a dazzling silk hat, and patent leather shoes complete the effect. He is too concerned with the business he has come on the notice Mrs Higgins. He walks straight to Higgins, and accost him with vehement reproach (p.87).

The first description shows us the poor Doolittle. He introduces himself to Pickering and Higgins in the costume of his profession and hes not very selfconfident, he isnt scared (he seems equally free from fear and conscience). In the second description, we have another Doolittle, the rich one. This time, Alfred introduces himself first to Pickering and Higgins, and then to Mrs Higgins, resplendently dressed as for a fashionable wedding. He has also a flower in his buttonhole, a dazzling silk hat, and patent leather shoes. We see that this time, Alfred is careful about his image. His attitude has also changed, hes more self-confident (He walks straight to Higgins, and accost him with vehement reproach). Another thing to say about these descriptions is that we have a lot of informations, a lot of details, about Mr Doolittle (but its the same for the other characters). In fact its to help the reader visualise the settings, that Shaw gives such detailed descriptions of the characters their appearance, the way they speak and their movement. The effect of such detail is to make the characters and events seem more real, so that people are more likely to be interested in them. This gives the impression that the play is about real people.

The evolution of Doolittle

Like we have seen with the two descriptions of Doolittle, there is an evolution. We see this evolution with the clothes (dustmans clothes and bourgeois clothes). Actually the evolution in the way hes clothed is caused by his evolution in social class. At the beginning hes a poor man who just wants enough money to enjoy life but at the end of the play, his status has evolved. He is in the upper class. But there are some problems. Mr Doolittle violates the principles of the bourgeois. He provokes audiences into rethinking conventional views about

morality: he has an illegitimate daughter and lives with a woman who is not his wife (Mr Doolittle is not married). This is the reason why he has no choice but to marry his woman, so that his life becomes moral and healthy, like a real bourgeois life. We can also see an evolution in the fact that Alfred becomes more self-confident. We can see that when he goes to talk to Higgins. Finally, there is also an evolution with how he considers his daughter Eliza. As we have already said, at the beginning Eliza was the property of Mr Doolittle, his object. Shes nothing for him. But at the end, she becomes his daughter (he calls her "Liza" or "Eliza" (p.96))

Relationships
Now Im going to explain the different relationships Doolittle has in the whole story. We will separate them in three parts. The first one is the relationship between Doolittle and Pickering and Higgins. In page 41, in act two, Doolittle appears for the first time to see Higgins. Eliza is gone and he first thinks that Higgins took his daughter to use her as a prostitute. He comes angrily to take her back. When Higgins says that he understands Doolittles position, and tells him that he can take her back, Doolittle protests. What he wants is only money, not everything else. Higgins doesnt care about Mr Doolittle, he just wants to be alone. (For example page 42 Higgins says: Take her away. Do you suppose Im going to keep your daughter for you? Or The police shall take you up. This is a planta plot to extort money by threats. I shall telephone for the police.), he just wants Doolittle to go away. So he gives him the money he wants. The second time he appears is at the end of the play, when Eliza is free. He comes to see Higgins to talk about money again. But this time, Doolittle comes to complain about his new wealth. Anne-Lucie explained that before: Higgins send a letter to a friend saying that the most original moralist at present in England was Alfred Doolittle. Higgins did that only to annoy Doolittle, and it worked wonderfully. When Higgins friend died, he gave Doolittle a share in his Predigested cheese Trust and now Doolittle is rich. He is very sad about his new position because he has to be a gentleman. The relationship between Doolittle and Higgins is based on money.Pickering has a nearly nonexistent relationship with Doolittle. The difference between Pickering and Higgins is that Pickering tries to understand the character of Mr Doolittle. Their relationship is not based on money; there is nothing between them apart from a sort of cordiality. At the end of the play, page 97, when Doolittle is going to marry his woman, he says to Pickering: I feel uncommon nervous about the ceremony, Colonel. I wish you'd come and see me through it. Pickering is like a support to him. Pickering and higgins particularity is that they take the paternal and fatherly role of Doolittle. Indeed they are the news fathers, or the real fathers of Eliza. Doolittle didnt take care of Eliza. But Higgins and Pickering take care of her: they teach her how to become a lady, how to speak, to eat, etc. They

educate her. Now Im going to talk about the second relationship: Doolittle and Eliza. Eliza is Alfreds daughter. In page 49 Higgins tells Doolittle: (read the passage). So we can see that Doolittle beats Eliza and neglects her and he is aggressive with her (p.49 part 2 or 3). Doolittle sells his daughter for only five pounds. She is nothing for him, just an object. She has no value to him and that is the reason why he sells his daughter. She lives alone and he lives with his woman. They dont depend on each other. Doolittle calls Eliza the girl. And Eliza calls him my father, nothing else. They are very formal to each other. But at the end of the play, when she is free and sees that he is going to marry his woman, their relationship changes for two reasons. First, now they are both civilized. The first time he sees her again, he says the girl again. But when he realizes she is noticing he is welldressed, he worries about what she thinks of him. Now he takes an interest in her. He reassures her about her future stepmother, etc. And now Eliza calls him dad, she asks how he can marry this woman, and finally she asks her father if she can forgive Higgins. We can see that in page 98: Pickering says to Eliza Before I go, Eliza, do forgive Higgins and come back us. She replies: I dont think dad would allow me. Would you, dad? So we can see that their relationship has evolved at the same time they became civilized. Secondly, Eliza is afraid of her stepmother because it is her that threw Eliza out. At the end of the play, Eliza doesnt want to go to her fathers wedding. Doolittle says that Eliza mustnt be afraid of her stepmother, because respectability has broken all the spirit out of her (p.97), and then Eliza accepts to go to the wedding. So perhaps because the relationship between Doolittle and his woman becomes better, the relationship between Eliza and his father can be better too. If at the beginning of the play they dont care about each other, at the end they begin to have a real family relationship. The vocabulary changes and the behaviour too. Finally Im going to talk about the relationship between Doolittle and his women: Elizas mother and Elizas stepmother. When Doolittle was out of work, Elizas mother used to give him four pence and tell him go out and not come back until he had drunk himself cheerful and loving-like (p.61). Doolittle was terrible and he used to beat Elizas mother too. We dont know if Elizas mother died or if she disappeared, but Doolittle has never married one of his six women. At that time, a person who was not married and had a child was unacceptable. Things like that can be possible only in a poor class. When Doolittle says to Pickering and Higgins that he is not married with his woman, Pickering says that it is immoral. At the beginning of the play, women are inferior to men for Doolittle and he beats them. About Elizas stepmother, Doolittle says the missus, that woman to talk about her, not my woman or my wife. He is like a slave for her and this is terrible for him, who thinks that women are inferior. But at the end, Doolittle becomes respectable: he has money, he doesnt beat his woman anymore, and he is going to marry his woman. The relationships between him and his women have changed, they

became moral.

His role in the play

Mr Doolittle has not a big role. For that reason, we can say that he wears well his name Doolittle means to do little.

Why does he appear at these moments? Like weve already said Mr Doolittle appears two times: at the beginning (p.41 49) and at the end (p. 87 -92/96 98). But why at these particular moments? The first is when Eliza wants to become independent. Before Mr Doolittles first apparition, Eliza wants to learn to speak better to have her own flower shop. To achieve that she goes to see Mr Higgins and Mr Pickering. Thats when Mr Doolittle appears. He wants to get money out of Higgins in exchange for Eliza (Alfred sells Eliza to Higgins). Mr Doolittles second appearance is when Eliza wants to leave Wimpole Street to marry Freddy. At this point, we see that Eliza becomes free and independent. Then Mr Doolittle appears and Eliza sees that her father has become rich. Thanks to that he can now "provide for Eliza" (Mrs Higgins says that. P.90) and that's probably the reason why he appears at this moment. He wants to show Eliza that he can help her and that he will be here for her. What does he represent in the story? First, hes the mouthpiece for the authors ideas. Though scandalous, Alfreds speeches are honest. At some points, it seems that he might even be Shaws voice criticizing society. (Alfreds proletariat status, given Shaws socialist leaning, makes the prospect all the more likely). The Doolittle character represents the poor society. He has no money or just enough to live and no clean clothes (first apparition: he wears his dustmans clothes). But at the end, he completely changes. He has enough money, too much even and has rich clothes. Through this evolution, the author shows us that everyone, even if they are poor, can have a better status if they have the opportunity or if they work toward it.

Conclusion
Now, Im going to draw a little conclusion and make a summary of our talk. An important thing to remember is that Doolittle is the mouthpiece for the authors ideas. Mr Doolittle is Elizas father. At the beginning of the play he is poor and Eliza is just an object to him and he sells her for five pence. Doolittle has chaotic relationships with his daughter or his woman, because to him women are inferior

and he goes as far as to beat them. The character of Doolittle evolves at the same time as his social class: at the end he becomes rich and has no choice but to be a gentleman. His relationships are better at the end of the play. Doolittle hasnt got a big role in the play, thats why his name means to do little. But Alfred appears always at crucial points in the play, when Eliza has a desire of emancipation. Finally, we can say that even if Alfred Doolittle is not a main character in the play, he is very important because he allows us to understand the crucial difference between the poor and high society in England at that time.