Eliza Doolittle Pygmalion. Pygmalion (play) Man with a notebook

The work of Bernard Shaw "Pygmalion" tells the reader about how people's lives change thanks to education. Characters: Eliza Doolittle, poor flower girl; her father, a scavenger; Colonel Pickering; young man - scientist Henry Higgins; Mrs Hill with her daughter and son Freddie. The events take place in London.
… On a summer evening it rains like a bucket. People run to the portico of the church, hoping to take shelter there from the rain. Among them - an elderly lady, Mrs. Hill and her daughter. The lady's son, Freddie, runs to look for a taxi, but on the way he stumbles upon a young girl, street flower girl Eliza Doolittle. He knocks the basket of violets out of her hands. The girl scolds loudly. Someone writes her words in a notebook. Someone says that this man is a police informer. It is later revealed that the man with the notebook is Henry Hingins, author of The Higgins Universal Alphabet. Hearing this, one of those standing at the church, Colonel Pickering, is interested in the personality of Hingins. For a very long time he wanted to meet Hingins, since he himself is fond of linguistics. At the same time, the flower girl continues to lament over the flowers that have fallen to the ground. Higgins tosses a handful of coins into her basket and leaves with the Colonel. The girl is sincerely glad - by her standards, she now has a huge fortune.
The next morning, Higgins demonstrates his phonographic equipment to Colonel Pickering at his home. The housekeeper reports that a "very simple girl" wants to talk to the professor. Eliza Doolittle appears. She wants to take phonetics lessons from the professor, as her pronunciation does not allow her to get a job. Higgins wants to refuse, but the Colonel offers a bet. If Higgins can “turn a street flower girl into a duchess” in a few months, then Pickernig will pay for her education in full. This offer seems very tempting to Higgins, and he agrees.
Two months pass. Higgins brings Eliza Doolittle to his mother's house. He wants to find out if it is already possible to introduce a girl into secular society. The Hill family is visiting Higgins' mother, but no one recognizes the flower girl who has come. The girl at first speaks like a high-society lady, but then she switches to street jargon. The guests are surprised, but Higgins manages to smooth things over: he says that this is the new secular jargon. Eliza causes complete delight of the audience.
A few months later, both experimenters take the girl to a high-society reception. Eliza has a dizzying success there. Thus, Higgins wins the bet. Now he does not even pay attention to Eliza, which causes her irritation. She throws her shoes at him. The girl seems that her life has no meaning. She runs away from the Higgins house at night.
The next morning, Higgins discovers that Eliza is not there, trying to find her with the help of the police. Without Eliza, Higgins is “as if without hands”: he cannot find where his things are, what day to assign things to. Higgins' mother knows to find her. The girl agrees to return if Higgins asks her forgiveness.
As a result, Eliza Doolittle returns to the Higgins house, and now she is by no means considered a stupid girl, but is valued and respected as a person.
Thus ends the work of B. Shaw "Pygmalion".

"Pygmalion"- one of the most famous plays by Bernard Shaw, written in 1912

"Pygmalion" summary by chapter

First act

A summer downpour gathered under the portico of St. Pavel's motley company, including a beggar street flower girl, an army colonel and a man with a notebook. The latter entertains himself and those around him, unmistakably guessing where someone comes from and where else he has been. The colonel, intrigued, finds out that he is facing the famous phonetic specialist, Professor Henry Higgins - by the peculiarities of pronunciation, he is able to determine the origin of any Englishman.

It turns out that the colonel is a well-known amateur linguist named Pickering, the author of the book Conversational Sanskrit, and he came to London specifically to meet the professor. Higgins has a very high opinion of Pickering's book, and the new friends are about to go out to dinner at the Colonel's hotel when the flower girl asks to buy something from her. Satisfied, Higgins, without looking, throws a handful of coins into her basket and leaves with the colonel. The girl is shocked - she never had such huge money, according to her concepts.

Second act

Higgins' apartment in Wimpole Street, next morning. Higgins demonstrates to Colonel Pickering his recording equipment (phonograph). Mrs. Pierce, Higgins' housekeeper, reports that a girl has come to the professor. Yesterday's flower girl appears, introduces herself as Eliza Doolittle and asks to teach her the correct pronunciation in order to get a job in a flower shop.

Higgins treats the situation as a ridiculous, if amusing incident, but Pickering is genuinely moved and offers Higgins a bet. Let Higgins prove that he really is the greatest specialist (as he boasted before) and in six months he can turn a street flower girl into a lady, and at a reception at the embassy he will successfully pass her off as a duchess. Pickering is also willing, if Higgins wins the bet, to pay the cost of Eliza's education. Higgins is unable to resist the challenge and agrees. Eliza, accompanied by Mrs. Pierce, goes to the bathroom.

After some time, Eliza's father, a scavenger, a drinker and a completely immoral type, comes to Higgins. He demands five pounds for non-intervention, otherwise the fate of Eliza does not bother him. Doolittle impresses the professor with his natural eloquence and convincing justification for his lack of conscience, for which he receives his compensation. When clean Eliza appears in a Japanese robe, no one recognizes her.

Third act

Several months have passed. Eliza proved to be a diligent and capable student, her pronunciation almost perfect. Higgins wants to know if it is already possible to introduce a girl into secular society. As a first test, he brought Eliza to his mother's house on her reception day. She is strictly ordered to deal with only two topics: weather and health.

At the same time, the family of Mrs. Higgins' friend, Mrs. Einsford Hill, appears there with her daughter and son Freddie. Eliza at first behaves impeccably and speaks in memorized phrases, but then she becomes inspired and moves on to stories from her life experience, while using vulgar folk expressions. Higgins, saving the day, reveals that this is the new social jargon.

After the departure of Eliza and other guests, Higgins and Pickering enthusiastically tell Mrs. Higgins about how they work with Eliza, take them to the opera, to exhibitions, what funny remarks she makes after visiting exhibitions. Eliza, it turns out, showed a phenomenal ear for music. Mrs. Higgins indignantly remarks that they are treating the girl like a living doll.

As a result of Eliza's first "public appearance," Mrs. Higgins informs the professor, "She is a masterpiece of your art and that of her dressmaker. But if you really do not notice that she gives herself away with every phrase, then you are just crazy. The linguist friends leave the house somewhat disappointed. Elisa's training continues, taking into account the mistakes made. Enamored Freddie bombards Eliza with ten-page letters.

Fourth act

A few more months passed, and the moment of the decisive experiment came. Eliza, in a luxurious dress and - this time - with impeccable manners, appears at a reception at the embassy, where she has a dizzying success. All the aristocrats present take her for a duchess without a shadow of a doubt. Higgins won the bet.

Arriving home, Pickering congratulates Higgins on his success, it never occurs to either of them to thank Eliza, who has put in so much effort on her part. Eliza is irritated and worried. She can no longer lead her old life and does not want to, but she has no means for a new one. The contrast between enchanting success at the reception and neglect at home is too great.

When Higgins leaves and soon returns in search of slippers, Eliza explodes and launches the slippers at Higgins. She tries to explain the tragedy of her situation: “What am I good for? What have you prepared me for? Where will I go? What will happen next? What will happen to me? But Higgins is incapable of understanding someone else's soul. Eliza leaves the Higgins house at night.

Fifth act

Mrs Higgins' house. Higgins and Pickering arrive, complaining about Eliza's disappearance. Higgins admits that he feels without Eliza as without arms. He does not know where his things are, nor what he has scheduled for that day.

A servant announces the arrival of Eliza's father. Doolittle has changed a lot, now he looks like a wealthy bourgeois. He lashes out indignantly at Higgins for the fact that through his fault he had to change his usual way of life and become because of this much less free than before. It turns out that a few months ago Higgins wrote to America a millionaire philanthropist, the founder of the Moral Reform League, that the most original moralist in all of England was Alfred Doolittle, a simple scavenger. The millionaire had recently died, and in his will left Dolittle an income of three thousand pounds a year, on the condition that Dolittle lecture in his League. Now he is a wealthy bourgeois and is forced, contrary to his convictions, to abide by the canons of traditional morality. Today, for example, he officially marries his long-term cohabitant.

Mrs. Higgins expresses relief that the father can now take care of his daughter and that Eliza's future is safe. She confesses that Eliza is here in the upper room. Higgins, however, does not want to hear about "returning" Dolittle Eliza.

Eliza appears. Everyone leaves her alone with Higgins, and a decisive explanation takes place between them. Higgins is unrepentant, demands that Eliza return, and asserts his right to be cavalier. Eliza is not happy with this: “I want a kind word, attention. I know, I am a simple, dark girl, and you are a gentleman and a scientist; but still I am a man, and not an empty place. Eliza reports that she has found a way to gain independence from Higgins: she will go to Professor Nepin, a colleague of Higgins, become his assistant and reveal to him the teaching method developed by Higgins.

Mrs. Higgins and guests return. Higgins defiantly instructs Eliza on her way home to buy cheese, gloves and a tie. Eliza contemptuously replies "Buy it yourself" and goes to her father's wedding. The play ends with an open ending

Bernard Show

Pygmalion

A novel in five acts

Characters

Clara Einsford Hill, daughter.

Mrs Einsford Hill, her mother.

Passerby.

Eliza Doolittle, flower girl.

Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father.

Freddie, son of Mrs Eynsford Hill.

Gentleman.

Man with a notebook.

Sarcastic passer-by.

Henry Higgins, professor of phonetics.

Pickering, colonel.

Mrs Higgins, Professor Higgins' mother.

Mrs Pierce, Higgins' housekeeper.

Several people in the crowd.

Housemaid.

Act one

Covent Garden. Summer evening. Rain like a bucket. From all sides, the desperate roar of car sirens. Passers-by run to the market and to the church of St. Paul, under the portico of which several people had already taken refuge, including old lady with daughter Both are in evening wear. 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 that he makes 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 all cold. Where did Freddy go? Half an hour has passed and he's still gone.

Mother (to the right of the daughter). Well, not half an hour. But still it would be time for him to fetch a taxi.

passerby (to the right of the elderly lady). Don't expect it, lady: now, after all, everyone from the theaters is coming; he couldn't get a taxi before half past twelve.

Mother. But we need a taxi. We can't stand here until half past eleven. It's just outrageous.

Passerby. Yes, what am I doing here?

Daughter. If Freddie had even a shred of intelligence, he would have taken a taxi from the theater.

Mother. What is his fault, poor boy?

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

Flying in 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. So you didn't get a taxi?

Freddie. Nowhere, even die.

Mother. Oh, Freddy, really, really not at all? You must have searched badly.

Daughter. Ugliness. Will you order us to go get a taxi ourselves?

Freddie. I'm telling you, there isn't one anywhere. The rain came so unexpectedly, everyone was taken by surprise, and everyone rushed to the taxi. I walked all the way to Charing Cross, and then the other way, almost to Ledgate Circus, and saw no one.

Mother. Have you been to Trafalgar Square?

Freddie. There are none in Trafalgar Square either.

Daughter. Have you been there?

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

Daughter. You haven't been anywhere!

Mother. True, Freddie, you are 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. But what are we to do? Do you think we should stand here all night in the wind, almost naked? It's disgusting, it's selfish, it's...

Freddie. Okay, okay, I'm going. (He opens his umbrella and rushes towards the Strand, but on the way he runs into a street flower girl, in a hurry to take shelter from the rain, and knocks a basket of flowers out of her hands.)

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

Flower girl. Where are you going, Freddy! Take your eyes in hand!

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 on the plinth of the column to the right of the elderly lady and begins to shake and straighten the flowers.)

She is by no means attractive. She is eighteen or twenty years old, no more. She is wearing a black straw hat, badly damaged in its lifetime by London dust and soot, and hardly familiar with a brush. Her hair is of some mouse color, not found in nature: water and soap are clearly needed here. A reddish black coat, narrow at the waist, barely reaching the knees; underneath, a brown skirt and a canvas apron are visible. Shoes, apparently, also knew better days. No doubt, she is clean in her own way, but next to the ladies she definitely looks like a mess. Her 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 my son's name is Freddie?

Flower girl. Oh, so this is your son? Nothing to say, you brought him up well ... Is this really the case? He scattered all the flowers around the poor girl and ran away, like a nice little one! Now pay up, mother!

Daughter. Mom, I hope you don't do something like that. Still missing!

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

Daughter. No. I only have a sixpence.

flower girl (with hope). Don't worry, I'll have change.

Mother (daughter). Give it to me.

The daughter is reluctant to part with the coin.

So. (To the girl.) Here's some flowers for you, my dear.

Flower girl. God bless you, lady.

Daughter. Take change from her. These bunches 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 the name of this young man?

Flower girl. And I don't know.

Mother. I heard you call him by his first 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 beside his basket.)

Daughter. Wasted sixpence! Really, mother, you could save Freddie from this. (Squeamishly retreats behind the column.)

Elderly gentleman - a pleasant type of old army man - runs up the steps and closes the umbrella, from which water flows. He, like Freddie, has completely wet trousers at the bottom. He is in a tailcoat and a light summer coat. She takes a free place at the left column, from which her daughter has just moved away.

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

Bernard Shaw had a great sense of humor. About himself, the writer said: My way of joking is to tell the truth. Nothing in the world is funnier«.

The show was quite consciously guided by the creative experience of Ibsen. He highly appreciated 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, tense discussions. However, he not only, like Ibsen, raised questions, but also tried to answer them, and to answer them like a writer full of historical optimism. According to B. Brecht, in Shaw's plays "faith in the infinite possibilities of mankind on the path to perfection plays a decisive role."

Shaw's career as a playwright began in the 1890s. Shaw's first drama, The Widower's House (1892), was also staged at the Independent Theatre, which marked the beginning of the "new drama" in England. It was followed by Red tape (1893) and Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893-1894), which, together with Widower's Houses, made up the cycle of Unpleasant Plays. The plays of the next cycle, “Pleasant Plays”: “Arms and a Man” (1894), “Candida” (1894), “The Chosen One of Fate” (1895), “Wait and see” (1895-1896) were just as sharply satirical.

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

Ibsen portrayed life mainly in gloomy, tragic colors. The show is mocking even where it is about 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, depriving him of "the ability to discover the essence of life, to awaken thoughts, to educate feelings." The show holds comedy in high regard, calling it "the most refined form of art". In Ibsen's work, according to Shaw, it is transformed into tragicomedy, "into a genre even higher than comedy." Comedy, according to Shaw, denying suffering, educates the viewer in a reasonable and sober attitude towards the world around him.

However, preferring comedy to tragedy, Shaw in his artistic practice rarely stays within the boundaries of one comedy genre. 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 that could confront readers with the pressing issues of our time, could rip off all the masks and veils of society. When B. Shaw, first as a critic, and then as a playwright, introduced a systematic siege of the drama of the 19th century, he had to fight against the worst of the current conventions of theater criticism of that time, convinced that there was no place for intellectual seriousness on the stage, that the theater is a kind of superficial entertainment, and a playwright is a person whose task is to make harmful sweets out of cheap emotions.

In the end, the siege succeeded, intellectual seriousness prevailed over the confectionary view of the theatre, and even its supporters were forced to assume the attitude of intellectuals, and in 1918 Shaw wrote: “why did it take a colossal war to win people over to my works? »

The show intended to create a good character - a realist. He sees one of the tasks of his dramaturgy in creating images of "realists", practical, restrained and cold-blooded. The show has always and everywhere tried to annoy, anger, the audience, using its own chauvian method.

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

In Mrs. Warren's Profession, Shaw outlined his understanding of the real position of women in society, saying that society should be arranged so that every man and every woman can support themselves by their labor, without trading their attachments 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 artistic method of Bernard Shaw is based on paradox as a means of overthrowing dogmatism and prejudice (“Androcles and the Lion”, 1913, “Pygmalion”, 1913), traditional representations (historical plays “Caesar and Cleopatra”, 1901, 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 "the other island of John Bull", as his play (1904) is titled. However, he left his native place forever at the age of twenty. In London, Shaw became close to the 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 situations in it from their own life experience, and provoke a discussion that would go far beyond the private case shown from the stage. The collisions of this drama, in contrast to Shakespeare's, which Bernard Shaw considered obsolete, should be of an intellectual or socially accusatory nature, distinguished by emphasized topicality, and the characters are important not so much for their psychological complexity as for their type traits, manifested fully and clearly.

Second important question plays - how speech affects human life. What gives a person the correct pronunciation? Is it enough to learn how to speak correctly to change 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 has spoken so far, to make him a completely different, new creature. After all, this means destroying the abyss that separates class from class and soul from soul.

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

Undoubtedly, Pygmalion is the most popular play by B. Shaw. In it, the author showed us the tragedy of a poor girl who knows poverty, who suddenly finds herself among high society, becomes a true lady, falls in love with a 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 main character. The skill of B. Shaw, with which he shows us the psychology of people, as well as everything vital important issues the society in which he lived will not leave anyone indifferent.

All Shaw's plays meet the most important requirement that Brecht presented to modern theater, namely: the theater should strive to "depict the nature of man as amenable to change and dependent on class. How Shaw was interested in the relationship of character and social position is especially proved by the fact that he even made a 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 turned from a street girl into a society lady thanks to the professor of phonetics Higgins, is perhaps more known today than the Greek myth.

Man is created by man - such is the lesson of this, by Shaw's own admission, "intensely and deliberately didactic" play. This is the very lesson that Brecht called for when he demanded 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 variability of human nature and dependence on class is nothing but the doctrine of the social determinism of the individual. The play "Pygmalion" is a good guide that deals with 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, which Shaw skillfully solves in Pygmalion, was the question of "is a person a changeable being." 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 the transition from one extreme to another. 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 also possible. The second important question of the play is how speech affects human life. What gives a person the correct pronunciation? Is it enough to learn how to speak correctly to change 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 from what he has spoken so far, to make him a completely different, new being. After all, this means destroying the abyss that separates class from class and soul from soul.«.

As the play shows and constantly emphasizes, the dialect of East London is incompatible with the being of a lady, just as the language of a lady cannot be with the being of a simple East London flower girl. When Eliza forgot the language of her old world, Return trip. Thus, the break with the past was final. Eliza herself, in the course of the play, is clearly aware of this. Here 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 came of it«.

Bernard Shaw paid much attention to the problems of language. The play had a serious task: Shaw wanted to draw the attention of the English public to the issues of phonetics. He advocated the creation of a new alphabet, which 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 repeatedly 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 a new alphabet, which was selected by a special committee from all the options proposed for the prize. Shaw, perhaps, was the first to realize the omnipotence of language in society, its exclusive social role, which psychoanalysis indirectly spoke about in the same years. It was Shaw who said this in the poster-edifying, but no less ironic and fascinating Pygmalion. Professor Higgins, albeit in his narrow specialized field, nevertheless outstripped structuralism and post-structuralism, which in the second half of the century would make the ideas of "discourse" and "totalitarian language practices" their central theme.

In Pygmalion, Shaw connected two topics that were equally exciting for him: 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. As long as Eliza emits vowel sounds like "ah - ay-ah - oh - 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 human language are no less important in this respect is shown by the first major failure of both phoneticians in their efforts at reformation. 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 straw hat, the new one that I was supposed to get? Stolen! So I say, whoever stole the hat, he also killed the aunt” - even with excellent pronunciation and intonation, are not English for ladies and gentlemen.

Higgins acknowledges that along with the 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 for an appointment with Mrs. Higgins has the only mistake - Eliza does not know what they are talking about in society in this language. “Pickering also acknowledged that it was not enough for Eliza to have ladylike pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. She must still develop in herself the characteristic interests of a lady. As long as her heart and mind are filled with the problems of her old world - the straw hat murders and the favorable effect of 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 says that the human character is determined by the totality of personality relations, language relations are only a part of it. In the play, this thesis is concretized by the fact that Eliza, along with language lessons, also learns the rules of behavior. Consequently, Higgins explains to her not only how to speak the language of a lady, but also, for example, how to use a handkerchief.

If Eliza does not know how to use a handkerchief, and if she is reluctant to take a bath, then it should be clear to any spectator that a change in her being also requires a change in her daily behavior. The extralinguistic relations of people of different classes, so the thesis says, 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. The show has found this remedy in the systematic application of a kind of alienation effect, forcing its characters from time to time to act in an alien environment, then to return them step by step to their own environment, skillfully creating at first a false representation of their true 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 auditorium. This impression is reinforced by the reactions of the ladies and gentlemen on stage.

Thus, Shaw makes Mrs. Eynsford Hill visibly worried when she watches how a flower girl she does not know, when they meet on the street by chance, calls her son Freddie "dear friend." “The ending of the first act is the beginning of the “re-education process” of the prejudiced viewer. It seems to indicate only mitigating circumstances that must be taken into account when condemning the accused Eliza. The proof of Eliza's innocence is only given in the next act through her transformation into a lady. Those who really believed that Eliza was obsessive because of her innate baseness or venality, and who could not correctly interpret the description of the environment at the end of the first act, will be opened by the self-confident and proud performance of the transformed Eliza. The extent to which Shaw takes into account prejudice in re-educating its readers and viewers can be proven by numerous examples.

The widely held opinion of many wealthy gentlemen, as you know, is that the inhabitants of the East End are to blame for their poverty, because they do not know how to "save". Although they, like Eliza in Covent Garden, are very greedy for money, but only in order to spend it again wastefully on absolutely unnecessary things at the first opportunity. They have no idea at all to use the money prudently, for example, for vocational education. The show seeks to reinforce this prejudice, as well as others, first. Eliza, having barely got any money, already allows herself to go home by taxi. But immediately begins an explanation of Eliza's real attitude to money. The next day, she hurries to spend them on her own education. “If a 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 when the environment is changed or changed. 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 one. As the first step in his re-education plan, Higgins orders a bath in which Eliza is freed from her legacy.
East End.

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

At the end of the play, when Eliza, in all likelihood, has finally turned into a lady, her father suddenly appears. Unexpectedly, a check takes place that gives an answer to the question of whether Higgins is right, considering it possible for Eliza to return to her former life: (Doolittle appears in the middle window. Casting a reproachful and dignified look at Higgins, he silently approaches his daughter, who sits with her back to the windows and therefore does not see him.) Pickering. He's incorrigible, Eliza. But you don't roll, do you? 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 splendor, all her restraint immediately evaporates.) Woo-aaaaaaa! Higgins (triumphantly). Aha! Exactly! U-u-aaaa-u! U-u-aaaa-u! Victory! Victory!".

The slightest contact with just a part of her old world turns the reserved and seemingly ready for sophisticated behavior of the lady for a moment back into a street child who not only reacts as before, but, to her own surprise, can again say, the sounds of the street seemed already forgotten. In view of the careful emphasis on environmental influences, the viewer could easily get the false impression that the characters in the world of Shaw's characters are entirely amenable to environmental constraint.

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

It was important to Shaw to show that all the qualities of Eliza that she reveals as a lady can already be found in the flower girl as natural abilities, or that the qualities of the flower girl can then be rediscovered in the lady. The concept of Shaw was already contained in the description of Eliza's appearance. At the end of a detailed description of her appearance, it is said: “Without a doubt, she is clean in her own way, but next to the ladies she definitely seems to be a mess. Her 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.

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

As a shareholder in the Friend of the Stomach Cheese Trust and a prominent spokesman for Wannafeller's World Moral Reform League, he actually 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 thesis about the presence of natural abilities and their importance for the creation of characters is demonstrated by the example of the Higgins-Pickering couple. They are both socially gentlemen, but with the difference that Pickering is also 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.

Higgins treats her rudely, impolitely, unceremoniously from the very beginning. In her presence, he refers to 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 it in the dustbin. The only norm of conversation with her is an imperative form, and the preferred way to influence Eliza is a threat. Pickering, a born gentleman, on the contrary, in his treatment of Eliza from the very beginning shows tact and exceptional courtesy. He does not allow himself to be provoked into an unpleasant or rude statement either by the obsessive behavior of the flower girl or by Higgins' bad example. Since no circumstances explain these differences in behavior, the viewer must assume that perhaps there is still something like an innate tendency to rude or delicate behavior.

To prevent the false conclusion that Higgins' rude behavior towards Eliza is due solely to social differences between him and her, Shaw makes Higgins behave noticeably harsh and impolite among his peers as well. Higgins makes little effort to hide from Mrs., Miss, and Freddie Hill how little he considers them and how little they mean to him. Of course, the show allows Higgins' rudeness to manifest itself in society in a significantly modified form. For all his innate propensity for cavalier truth-telling, Higgins does not allow such rudeness there as we see in his treatment of Eliza. When his interlocutor Mrs. Einsford Hill, in her narrow-mindedness, believes that it would be better "if people could be frank and say what they think," Higgins protests with the exclamation "God forbid!" and the objection that "it would be indecent". The character of a person is determined not directly by the environment, but through interpersonal, emotionally colored 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 that Shaw attaches to this very issue is confirmed by its placement at the center of the dramatic action.

In the beginning, Eliza is for Higgins a piece of dirt that can be wrapped in newspaper and thrown into the dustbin, in any case, "a grimy, filthy slobber" who is forced to wash like a dirty animal, despite her protests. Washed and dressed, Eliza becomes not a person, but an interesting experimental object on which a scientific experiment can be performed. In three months Higgins made a countess of Eliza, he won his bet, as Pickering puts it, it cost him a lot of effort. That Eliza herself was participating in this experiment and, as a person, was highly bound by obligation, does not reach his consciousness - as, indeed, also Pickering's consciousness - until the onset of open conflict, which forms the dramatic climax of the play. To his great surprise, Higgins must conclude that between him and Pickering, on the one hand, and Eliza, on the other, a human relationship has arisen that has nothing more to do with the relationship of scientists to their objects and which can no longer be ignored, but can only be resolved with pain in the soul. “Leaving aside 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 did a good job of her role as a noble lady and is no longer needed - she just needs to 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 talk like a lady, but because she entered into human relations 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 states something quite the opposite: “A lady differs from a flower girl not in how she carries herself, but in how 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, and so on. These are abilities that can be easily acquired without outside help. Pickering's courteous address brought about that inner change which distinguishes 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 problematic. If the treatment of a person were the decisive factor, then Higgins would have to make all the ladies he meets flower girls, and Pickering all the flower girls he meets.

The fact that both of them are not endowed with such magical powers is quite obvious. Higgins does not show Pickering's sense of tact, either towards his mother or towards Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, without thereby causing a slight change in their characters. Pickering, in Acts I and II, treats the flower girl Eliza with a not-too-refined courtesy. On the other hand, the play clearly shows that behavior alone does not determine the essence either. If only conduct 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 doesn't stop being a gentleman just because he treats Eliza tactlessly, just as Eliza can't turn into a lady just because she behaves like 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 person, are clearly refuted by the play.

The instructiveness of the play lies in the synthesis - the determining factor for the essence of a person is his social attitude towards other people. But the social relation is something more than the one-sided behavior of man and the one-sided treatment of him. Public attitude includes two sides: behavior and appeal. Eliza from a flower girl becomes a lady 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 relation is clearly revealed only at the end of the play and at its climax. Eliza realizes to herself that in spite of the successful completion of her studies in the language, in spite of the radical change of environment, in spite of the constant and exclusive presence among the recognized gentlemen and ladies, in spite of the exemplary treatment of her by a gentleman, and in spite of her own mastery of all forms of behavior , it has not yet turned into real lady, and became only a maid, a secretary or an interlocutor of two gentlemen. She makes an attempt to escape 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 that she is faced with a choice between returning to the street or submitting to Higgins. This is symbolic for her: then she will have to give him shoes all her life. Just what Mrs. Higgins warned against happened, drawing the attention of her son and Pickering to the fact that a girl who speaks the language and manners of a lady is not yet truly a lady if she does not have the appropriate income. Mrs. Higgins saw from the very beginning that the main problem of turning a flower girl into a society lady could be solved only after her "re-education" was completed.

The essential property of a "noble lady" is her independence, which can only be guaranteed by an income independent of any personal labor. The interpretation of the Pygmalion ending is obvious. It is not of an anthropological nature, like the preceding theses, but of an ethical and aesthetic order: what is desirable is not the transformation of the slum-dwellers into ladies and gentlemen, like the transformation of Dolittle, but their transformation into a new type of ladies and gentlemen, whose self-esteem is based on their own labor. Eliza, in the pursuit of work and independence, is the embodiment of the new ideal of a lady, which, in essence, has nothing to do with the old ideal of a lady of aristocratic society. She did not become a countess, as Higgins had 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 even seems to have forgotten about the original desire for a different result and the desire to make a countess out of Eliza. “I want to boast that the play Pygmalion enjoyed the greatest 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-satisfied sages who, like parrots, say 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 to oppose deliberately misinterpreting them. In the case of Pygmalion, the fight revolved around the question of whether Eliza would marry Higgins or Freddie. If Eliza is given in marriage to Higgins, then a conditional comedic conclusion and an acceptable end are created: Eliza's re-education ends in this case with her "bourgeoisification".

Anyone who passes off Eliza as a poor Freddie must at the same time recognize Shaw's ethical and aesthetic theses. Of course, critics and the theater world were unanimous in favor of a "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 ...

This work tells how two linguists taught the correct English pronunciation simple girl selling flowers on the streets of London. Eliza, as the girl was called, entered high society and became one of the most fashionable and interesting ladies, whom many young rich women began to imitate. The girl falls in love with one of her teachers, and the reader has reason to think that they are destined to be together.

The main idea of the play is that those who were lucky enough to be born noble and rich are not always better and smarter than those who do not belong to high society.

Read the summary of Bernard Shaw Pygmalion

In London, at the entrance of the theater, several people took shelter from the rain. It's a high society family called Hill who wants to leave the theater in a taxi. A mother and daughter are afraid that the rain will ruin their dresses and wait until their son and brother named Freddie finds a taxi. Poor Freddy can't seem to find a car for them.

In the same place, two linguists known for their scientific work are waiting out the rain, one of whom is called Professor Higgins, and the other is Mr. Pickering. They know about each other's work and are lucky enough to get to know each other. Near the theater next to them is a simple unkempt girl named Eliza selling flowers.

While all these people are trying to find a taxi and leave, one of the men accidentally pushes the girl and she drops her flowers. The girl swears, and linguists talk about her pronunciation. One inadvertently thrown phrase of Professor Higgins makes the girl seriously think about her life. The professor said that in a short time he could teach a girl such a pronunciation that she would be hired to work in the most fashionable flower shop in London.

The next morning, Eliza managed to find Mr. Higgins. She wants to learn right English language to work in a good place. The professor doesn't want her money, but the idea seems interesting to him, besides, Mr. Pickering wants to experiment and wants to have an argument with him.

Professor Higgins leaves Eliza at his house and entrusts her to his housekeeper. His bet with Mr. Pickering is to teach the girl to talk like a duchess.

Eliza's father appears, the scavenger who came to Mr. Higgins, for her. An amusing dialogue ensues between them, in which the scavenger strikes Mr. Higgins with originality of thoughts and judgments.

A month later, Professor Higgins, wanting to conduct an experiment, introduces Eliza to his mother in order to understand from her reaction whether the girl will be accepted in the world. There, she is accidentally introduced to the Hill family. This is the same family that stood at the entrance to the theater on a rainy day.

Of course, they do not recognize in a beautiful fashion girl that same mess and have a conversation with her. At first, Eliza speaks like a real lady, and then, carried away, she begins to use familiar expressions and talks about her life. Everyone thought it was fashionable social jargon. Mrs. Hill's daughter even tries to imitate Eliza's mannerisms, and her son, Freddie, falls in love with her.

After some time, friends represent Eliza in high society, where she receives attention. Professor Higgins realizes that he has won his bet.

When Eliza realizes that she was taught, dressed up and taken out only for the sake of experience, she throws his own shoes at Higgins. He turned her life upside down, and did not even notice how she fell in love with him!

Eliza leaves the house, and Higgins feels completely lost without her.

Eliza's father, Mr. Doolittle, deserves special attention. He is just a scavenger, but he has very original ideas about morality. Jokingly, Higgins casually mentioned to one of his millionaire friends that Mr. Doolittle was one of the most entertaining and original moralists in England.

The millionaire included Dolittle in his will on the condition that he lecture on morality and ethics. And now Doolittle has become rich, but has lost his freedom. He has to wear fashionable clothes, lecture on morality and, most importantly, live by the burdensome rules of a decent society. As the former scavenger lectures on morality and ethics, he himself will now have to tie the knot. family life with the woman with whom he had previously lived just like that.

In the end, Eliza returns to Higgins, and the reader is led to believe that the two will be happy.