Pygmalion vs My Fair Lady- an analysis

Pygmalion vs My Fair Lady - an analysis

Background

( downloaded from Pygmalion (mythology) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, he is most familiar from Ovid's Metamorphoses, X, in which Pygmalion is a sculptor who falls in love with a statue he has made.

In Ovid's narrative, Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory. According to Ovid, after seeing the Propoetides prostituting themselves, he is 'not interested in women', but his statue is so realistic that he falls in love with it. He offers the statue presents and eventually prays to Venus (Aphrodite). She takes pity on him and brings the statue to life. They marry and have a son, Paphos, and, according to the author of Bibliotheke, a daughter, Metharme.

Ovid's mention of Paphos suggests that he was drawing on the same sources as the brief account of Pygmalion and Galatea in Bibliotheke, a Hellenic mythography of the second-century CE that was formerly attributed to Apollodorus. Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, and Galatea figures in the founding legend of Paphos in Cyprus.

Simultaneously, My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady. Higgins takes credit for Eliza's success, but she realizes that she can now be independent and does not need him.

The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a smash hit, setting a new record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. It has been called "the perfect musical."

Pygmalion vs My Fair Lady - the issues

a). social status issues

When we carefully read the play, Pygmalion, we see the different socialstatus among Mr. Freedy, Colonel Pickering and Professor Higgins. The former was lack of a title and the other two had been in high reputation due to good titles. (Colonel Pickering & Professor Higgins) From this viewpoint, we unanimously agree that Freedy belonged to the middle class. In other words, Freedy was simply like an ordinary man who was richer. This can possibly be dated back to the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution when many people earned great amounts of money by working hard. These people were called " middle-class people." They could appreciate fine arts in museums and attended concerts; they had the right to do the same thing as those upper-class people. Hence, we come to a conclusion that Freedy was in middle class instead of upper class because of his lack of title.

b). the attitude of lower class to the upper and middle classes

In ActⅠ, when situations were against Eliza, she would scream and shout to assert her rights and show her disapproval of those people belonging to upper class. In the following two examples are quoted from the play in ActⅠ:

★Ex 1: When one of the bystanders told Eliza that a note taker was taking down everything she said to Colonel Pickering. Eliza felt terrified and claimed hysterically that this was her right to do what she wanted to.

★Ex 2: Eliza was unwilling to be called a person with mendacity. When Colonel Pickering and Professor Higgins were about to leave, Eliza grabbed the last chance to ask Pickering to buy flowers and proclaimed her short lodging. This made Higgins become suspicious of Eliza because Eliza had said she could change half-a-crown. To protect herself, Eliza acted like a bad-temper child flinging her basket at Higgins to show strong remonstrance.

c). characteristics of the three classes and the relationship among them

The characterization skills for three classes Bernard Shaw used here can be discussed from 3 different aspects, containing costume, behavior and the use of language.

★Costume: Eliza's (lower class) clothes were shoddy, coarse and out of fashion. Even some parts of her costume had been torn for long periods of time. In contrast, Colonel Pickering and Professor Higgins were dressed in suits. However, it's quite difficult to tell the middle class only from how they wore because both upper and middle classes dressed themselves in similar ways.

★Behavior: It's no denying that Eliza behaved most rudely among these three classes. Eliza was not elegant in nature and often uttered wicked words to defend herself against others' bad treatment to her. Both middle and upper class people ever received education, so most of them were aware of how they themselves talked or acted. At least they behaved better than Eliza.

★Use of Language: In this part, we can see big contrasts among different social classes. Surely, everyone knows that Eliza used English with disgrace and when she was angry or was sweeping, English would become terrible and disgusting. As for the middle-class people, we suppose some of those bystanders belonged to this social class. Like one bystander, claiming that " The note taker aint a tec. He is a blooming busybody: that's what he is. I tell you, look at his boots. " In this sentence, we have no difficulty finding out which social class this man was involved in. He was not as bad as Eliza was, but some words in his sentence revealed this guy might not be really well educated. The upper-class man, Colonel Pickering, spoke in a polite way and also acted as a gentleman. In conclusion, the use of language among three classes helps readers to uncover the real identity for each character.

Conclusion:

Though both the play and the movie are presented in their own ways and styles, they are among the best productions in history. Personally I enjoyed both masterpieces although the play is certainly and undoubtedly, very 'dry' as it required my patience, time and 'courage' to read it as compared to the movie. Both are among the 'down memory lane' productions which somehow entertained me and other readers and audience, I supposed. In fact I still don't understand why, Pygmalion and My Fair Lady are chosen to be the best text for Literature subject for tertiary students as I had the similar experiences in learning and reviewing both productions during my days in UPSI.. once upon a time.

Memorable Quotations from My Fair Lady:

"Damn Mrs. Pearce, damn the coffee and damn you! And damn my own folly for lavishing my hard-earned knowledge and the treasure of my regard and intimacy on a heartless guttersnipe!" --Professor Higgins.

"I beg your pardon. Listen to me, my man. I don't like the tenor of that question. What the girl does here is our affair. Your affair is to get her back so she can continue doing it! Well, I'm dashed." --Colonel Pickering

"Do you mean to say I'm to put on my Sunday manners for this thing I created out of the squashed cabbage leaves of Covent Garden?" --Professor Higgins.

"Henry, don't grind your teeth." --Mrs. Higgins.

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she is treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins because he always treats me as a flower girl and always will. But I know I shall always be a lady to Colonel Pickering because he always treats me as a lady and always will." --Eliza.

"I know I'm a common, ignorant girl and you're a book learned gentleman, but I'm not dirt under your feet. What I done... what I did, was not for the taxis and the dresses, but because we were... pleasant together, and I come to... came... to care for you. Not to want you to make love to me and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like." --Eliza. "Well, of course. That's how I feel. And how Pickering feels." --Professor Higgins

submitted to:

Mr Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan

TSL 570 Course Tutor,

UiTm Perak.