Pygmalion: Act 3

“She's a triumph of your art and of her dressmaker's; but if you suppose for a moment that she
doesn't give herself away in every sentence she utters, you must be perfectly cracked about her.”

Knowledge Check
Can you answer these questions from memory? If not, skim and scan Act 3 to find the answers:

1. Describe Mrs. Higgins and her relationship with her son.

Higgins’ relationship with his mother would be described as an Oedipus complex. It is
established that Higgins is a misogynist, and this is seen through the way he talks to Eliza
as well as his Mrs. Pierce, dismissing their thoughts. He says younger women are a
nuisance. The only woman he seems to favor and speak to like she is on his level is his
mother.

2. How does Higgins behave during the social visit? Explain. What does this "gentleman's"
ungentlemanly behavior suggest about class differences?

Higgins is unmannered to his mother’s guests, not respecting the other people’s input in the
small talk and often disrupting the atmosphere. He only wants to discuss about himself and his
interests. Higher class interactions are meerly superficial conversations for people to show off
and brag about their wealth and high class possessions. In this case, Higgin’s product he wants
to show off is Eliza, and her ability to mimic the higher-class interactions.
3. What does Higgins mean when he says that people are really "savages"?

4. During the social visit with Mrs. Higgins and the Eynsford Hills, what does Liza say that is
shocking?

5. How do Freddy and Clara feel about Liza after meeting her, and why do they probably feel
this way?

6. Describe Neppomuck. Who is he, and what does Higgins think of him?

7. What do Neppomuck and the ambassador's wife conclude about Liza? What does it suggest
about class differences and about high society that Liza is so easily able to fool everyone at the
party?

8. What does Liza ultimately think of the party and of her success at the end of Act 3

Discussion Topic: small talk

In Act 3, Liza achieves the perfect upper-class accent, but she still doesn't grasp the art of polite
conversation. What topics of conversation are not appropriate in polite conversation? Why are
these topics taboo? What is inappropriate about Liza’s conversation, given that she obeys
Higgin’s instructions as to what topics to talk about? What is funny about Clara and Freddy's
reaction to Liza's "small talk"? Why do you think they have this reaction?

During this act, Higgins says, that it would ‘break up the whole show’ if people were to say what
they really thought. What does he mean by this statement?

Pygmalion in Pasadena, March 2015

The Dramatic Dimension – character types

In every work of fiction there are characters who either want to move the action forward (the
protagonists) or prevent the action from happening (the antagonists) and this is just as true for
drama as it is for novels. The audience feels empathy for the play’s protagonist(s) and wants to
see him or her achieve a goal. The antagonist(s) stands in the way, which creates tension or
conflict. The antagonist could be another character; it could also be a social force, or a hostile
environment.

In order to bring out the qualities of characters, playwrights often put two opposite characters
in close proximity to each other. The contrasting personalities of two characters in action
emphasize people’s different beliefs, values and qualities. Characters who are placed opposite
each other are known as foils.

When studying characters in your dramatic works, you will notice that some characters evolve
more than others. These are dynamic characters, who learn and change during their time on
stage. While some characters change in complex ways, others are static or flat. These
characters do not learn, change their behaviour, or grow during the course of the play.
Just as in novels, there are likely to be secondary or minor characters in most plays. These
characters have roles of varying importance. Sometimes they will be stereotypes, such as the
fool, clown or confidante. We call these characters stock characters.

Another terminology you might like to learn is eponymous character, where the character gives
their name to the whole play. Hamlet and Macbeth are examples of eponymous characters.

- Which characters perform which roles in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion?

Protagonist(s) Antagonist(s) Foil(s) Eponymous

Higgins Doolittle & Mrs.
Eliza Doolittle Pierce
Eliza & Mrs. Higgins
Dynamic Flat / Static Stock
Higgins Nepommuck
Eliza Doolittle

Act 3 Study Questions: Character types

1. Dialogue and stage directions are the most straightforward ways a playwright has to
express character.

Choose a minor character: Mrs Higgins, Mrs Eynsford Hill, Clara or Freddy. Describe this
character based on their dialogue and stage directions in this scene.
Clara was a rude character and she was desperate to make a display of her class. She had a
short temper and felt the need to assert her dominance and superiority through insults. She
blatantly expressed her distaste for lower classes in front of them, like when she was speaking
to Eliza. Her rudeness was expressed when she was speaking to Freddy, her own brother. It did
not matter who it was and which class they would be categorized in, she was simply a rude and
unbecoming person.

2. Colonel Pickering is meant to be Henry Higgins’ foil. In what way(s) are the speech or
actions of Higgins and Pickering contrasted in Act 3? Find and explain at least one clear
example.
Higgins and Pickering talk about their experiment with Liza in very different natures. Higgins
is always more mocking and Pickering is much more sincere. When Pickering is ensuring
Mrs. Higgins about their project, he says “We take Liza very seriously,” and Higgins adds on
 to it by saying “Yes, she regularly fills up our lives.” The way this is said feels more
humorous. In this way, Pickering Is Higgins’ foil.

3. Pygmalion is the title of the play, derived from the Greek myth of Pygmalion as recorded
by Ovid in his book Metamorphoses – do you think it is meant to be, in a way,
eponymous? Which character or characters are most likely to represent Ovid’s
Pygmalion? Explain your opinion.
The most obvious characters are Higgins as Pygmalion, and Eliza as Galatea. Higgins is incredibly
misogynistic and only views women as objects. He shows no love for women in the play. He
sees Eliza as an experiment at first, the way Pygmalion treats his statue as just another artwork.
They both fall in love with their own creations solely for the idea of the object they
transformed, and not for the women themselves. However, the big difference is that Eliza is
clearly against Higgins' ideas of her and shows frustration till the very end, when she leaves
him.

4. The ambassador’s ball is filled with stock characters. Find examples. What is their role in
this scene?

Lang and Lit Conceptual Guiding Question

In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative?

Derived from the latin words trans and forma (meaning ‘across’ and ‘form’) the word
‘transform’ essentially means to ‘change form’. Transformation is one of the seven key
concepts that underpin your studies in English Language and Literature, and this section will
focus on what transformation means in terms of Pygmalion. Read the following list of
definitions taken from the IB guide. Decide how (or even whether) the definition can be applied
to G.B. Shaw’s play:

Transformation means: Relevant to How?

Pygmalion?

A work causes a reader to Yes Pygmalion explores Eliza’s life and all of the
change perspective on an harsh judgements and accusations she
issue, topic or theme. experiences because of her social status. It
changes the readers perspective of the
circumstances of the lower class.
A work provokes discussion Yes Shaw’s intention with Pygmalion was to show
 or action within a mass mass audiences the role that accents and
audience. phonetics play in societal treatment, and how
speech is telling of the superficiality of the upper
class. In relation with Shaw’s connection to the
Fabian society, this message aims to steer mass
audiences towards a peaceful socialist
revolution. Shaw’s tone throughout the play is
also very ironic, sarcastic, and has biting humor,
which gets audiences to read deeper meanings
in the text.
A text type, or conventions Yes The altered text types or conventions within a
within a text type, are text type in this novel are all based off of shaw’s
altered for a new purpose. Shavian alphabet where the spelling is specific to
their own dialect and punctuation differs from
the normal English language. this is to show the
type of language Shaw goes by and truly believes
in, and it also shows his dedication to fix the
complicated dialect of the conventional spelling
of Latin American.
A work is translated from Yes Pygmalion was translated from an earlier version
one language to another. to a later version so the English and language
was altered to ensure that it would be able to be
read by a different generation and a new society.

Read the original myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, as recorded by Ovid in his book
Metamorphosis (8AD) and translated in 1717 by John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison
and William Congreve.

Make notes next to the myth as to the elements Shaw has borrowed, adapted, incorporated or
changed in his play Pygmalion. How have these elements been altered for a new purpose,
might provoke discussion or help you form or change an opinion?

Pygmalion loathing their lascivious life, Well pleas'd to want a consort of his bed.
Abhorr'd all womankind, but most a wife: Yet fearing idleness, the nurse of ill,
So single chose to live, and shunn'd to wed, In sculpture exercis'd his happy skill;
And carv'd in iv'ry such a maid, so fair, And an embroider'd zone surrounds her slender waste.
As Nature could not with his art compare, Thus like a queen array'd, so richly dress'd,
Were she to work; but in her own defence Beauteous she shew'd, but naked shew'd the best.
Must take her pattern here, and copy hence. Then, from the floor, he rais'd a royal bed,
Pleas'd with his idol, he commends, admires, With cov'rings of Sydonian purple spread:
Adores; and last, the thing ador'd, desires. The solemn rites perform'd, he calls her bride,
A very virgin in her face was seen, With blandishments invites her to his side;
And had she mov'd, a living maid had been: And as she were with vital sense possess'd,
One wou'd have thought she cou'd have stirr'd, but strove
Her head did on a plumy pillow rest.
With modesty, and was asham'd to move. The feast of Venus came, a solemn day,
Art hid with art, so well perform'd the cheat, To which the Cypriots due devotion pay;
It caught the carver with his own deceit: With gilded horns the milk-white heifers led,
He knows 'tis madness, yet he must adore, Slaughter'd before the sacred altars, bled.
And still the more he knows it, loves the more: Pygmalion off'ring, first approach'd the shrine,
The flesh, or what so seems, he touches oft, And then with pray'rs implor'd the Pow'rs divine:
Which feels so smooth, that he believes it soft. Almighty Gods, if all we mortals want,
Fir'd with this thought, at once he strain'd the breast,If all we can require, be yours to grant;
And on the lips a burning kiss impress'd. Make this fair statue mine, he wou'd have said,
'Tis true, the harden'd breast resists the gripe, But chang'd his words for shame; and only pray'd,
And the cold lips return a kiss unripe: Give me the likeness of my iv'ry maid.
But when, retiring back, he look'd again, The golden Goddess, present at the pray'r,
To think it iv'ry, was a thought too mean: Well knew he meant th' inanimated fair,
So wou'd believe she kiss'd, and courting more, And gave the sign of granting his desire;
Again embrac'd her naked body o'er; For thrice in cheerful flames ascends the fire.
And straining hard the statue, was afraid The youth, returning to his mistress, hies,
His hands had made a dint, and hurt his maid: And impudent in hope, with ardent eyes,
Explor'd her limb by limb, and fear'd to find And beating breast, by the dear statue lies.
So rude a gripe had left a livid mark behind: He kisses her white lips, renews the bliss,
With flatt'ry now he seeks her mind to move, And looks, and thinks they redden at the kiss;
And now with gifts (the pow'rful bribes of love), He thought them warm before: nor longer stays,
He furnishes her closet first; and fills But next his hand on her hard bosom lays:
The crowded shelves with rarities of shells; Hard as it was, beginning to relent,
Adds orient pearls, which from the conchs he drew, It seem'd, the breast beneath his fingers bent;
And all the sparkling stones of various hue: He felt again, his fingers made a print;
And parrots, imitating human tongue, "Twas flesh, but flesh so firm, it rose against the dint:
And singing-birds in silver cages hung: The pleasing task he fails not to renew;
And ev'ry fragrant flow'r, and od'rous green, Soft, and more soft at ev'ry touch it grew;
Were sorted well, with lumps of amber laid between:Like pliant wax, when chasing hands reduce
Rich fashionable robes her person deck, The former mass to form, and frame for use.
Pendants her ears, and pearls adorn her neck: He would believe, but yet is still in pain,
Her taper'd fingers too with rings are grac'd, And tries his argument of sense again,
Presses the pulse, and feels the leaping vein. The Goddess, present at the match she made,
Convinc'd, o'erjoy'd, his studied thanks, and praise, So bless'd the bed, such fruitfulness convey'd,
To her, who made the miracle, he pays: That ere ten months had sharpen'd either horn,
Then lips to lips he join'd; now freed from fear, To crown their bliss, a lovely boy was born;
He found the savour of the kiss sincere: Paphos his name, who grown to manhood, wall'd
At this the waken'd image op'd her eyes, The city Paphos, from the founder call'd.
And view'd at once the light, and lover with surprise.

Passage Study
Prepare for your Independent Oral by marking up this passage. Create a 5-minute talk to give to
others in your class. Alternatively, prepare for Paper 2 by writing an analysis of this passage.
Use the guiding question to help you:

A long and painful pause ensues.

MRS. HIGGINS [at last, conversationally] Will it rain, do you think?

LIZA. The shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in an
easterly direction. There are no indications of any great change in the barometrical situation.

FREDDY. Ha! ha! how awfully funny!

LIZA. What is wrong with that, young man? I bet I got it right.

FREDDY. Killing!

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. I'm sure I hope it won't turn cold. There's so much influenza
about. It runs right through our whole family regularly every spring.

LIZA [darkly] My aunt died of influenza: so they said.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [clicks her tongue sympathetically]!!!

LIZA [in the same tragic tone] But it's my belief they done the old woman in.
 MRS. HIGGINS [puzzled] Done her in?

LIZA. Y-e-e-e-es, Lord love you! Why should she die of influenza? She come through
diphtheria right enough the year before. I saw her with my own eyes. Fairly blue with it, she
was. They all thought she was dead; but my father he kept ladling gin down her throat til she
came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [startled] Dear me!

LIZA [piling up the indictment] What call would a woman with that strength in her have
to die of influenza? What become of her new straw hat that should have come to me?
Somebody pinched it; and what I say is, them as pinched it done her in.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. What does doing her in mean?

HIGGINS [hastily] Oh, that's the new small talk. To do a person in means to kill them.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [to Eliza, horrified] You surely don't believe that your aunt was
killed?

LIZA. Do I not! Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin, let alone a hat.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. But it can't have been right for your father to pour spirits down
her throat like that. It might have killed her.

LIZA. Not her. Gin was mother's milk to her. Besides, he'd poured so much down his own
throat that he knew the good of it.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. Do you mean that he drank?

LIZA. Drank! My word! Something chronic.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. How dreadful for you!

LIZA. Not a bit. It never did him no harm what I could see. But then he did not keep it up
regular. [Cheerfully] On the burst, as you might say, from time to time. And always more
agreeable when he had a drop in. When he was out of work, my mother used to give him
fourpence and tell him to go out and not come back until he'd drunk himself cheerful and
loving-like. There's lots of women has to make their husbands drunk to make them fit to live
with. [Now quite at her ease] You see, it's like this. If a man has a bit of a conscience, it always
takes him when he's sober; and then it makes him low-spirited. A drop of booze just takes that
off and makes him happy. [To Freddy, who is in convulsions of suppressed laughter] Here! what
are you sniggering at?

FREDDY. The new small talk. You do it so awfully well.

Guiding Question:

- What do Liza’s words and behaviour – as well as the reactions of different characters in this
scene – reveal about the way people communicate with each other?