And this list does not include the opinions that Shaw could always be counted on to hold about any topic, and which this flamboyant public figure was always most willing to share. Shaw's most lasting contribution is no doubt his plays, and it has been said that "a day never passes without a performance of some Shaw play being given somewhere in the world.
In that way, he created the conditions for later playwrights to write seriously for the theater. Of all of Shaw's plays, Pygmalion is without the doubt the most beloved and popularly received, if not the most significant in literary terms.
Several film versions have been made of the play, and it has even been adapted into a musical. Two trials for Eliza follow. The first occurs at Higgins' mother's home, where Eliza is introduced to the Eynsford Hills, a trio of mother, daughter, and son. The son Freddy is very attracted to her, and further taken with what he thinks is her affected "small talk" when she slips into cockney.
Higgins worries that the experiment will lead to problems once it is ended, but Higgins and Pickering are too absorbed in their game to take heed. A second trial, which takes place some months later at an ambassador's party and which is not actually staged , is a resounding success.
The wager is definitely won, but Higgins and Pickering are now bored with the project, which causes Eliza to be hurt. She throws Higgins' slippers at him in a rage because she does not know what is to become of her, thereby bewildering him. He suggests she marry somebody. She even tells Higgins that she, in turn, could pass on to others what he has taught her with his methods. Higgins, bitter, declares: "I tell you that I created this thing from the crushed cabbage leaves of Covent Garden; and now she pretends to play the lady with me.
You see it was so very difficult for me with the example of Professor Higgins always before me. I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation. And I should never have known that ladies and gentlemen didn't behave like that if you hadn't been there.
The first lesson of this story, therefore, is that the professionalism of linguist Henry Higgins was not enough. Eliza could not become a lady simply by learning to speak refined English. She also had to learn, following Pickering's example, how to control her attitude towards other people. In today's dialect, we would say that Higgins taught Eliza "hard skills" and Pickering "soft skills"! Eliza also says: "[ Your calling me Miss Doolittle. That was the beginning of self-respect for me.
And there were a hundred little things you never noticed, because they came naturally to you. Things about standing up and taking off your hat and opening doors To Pickering's astonishment, she added: "You see 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 can be a lady to you, because you always treat me like a lady, and always will. And this is the famous "Pygmalion effect": believing in a person's ability to succeed in what they have undertaken increases their probability of success!
Here, however, the analogies end. Shaw's "Galatea," Eliza, develops a soul of her own and a fierce independence from her creator. In the popular film version and in the even more popular musical comedy version My Fair Lady , the ending allows the audience to see a romantic love interest that blends in with the ancient myth. This, however, is a sentimentalized version of Shaw's play.
Shaw provided no such tender affection to blossom between professor and pupil. Shaw ultimately wrote a preface to almost all of his plays that he considered important.
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