DRAMA II MODERN DRAMA Lecture 21 1

SYNOPSIS 1. A Conclusive Talk 2. George Bernard Shaw 3. The Myth Behind the Play 4. Contextual Background 5. George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy 6. Plot Overview 7. Characters, Role, Relationship, Conflicts & Significance 8. Themes and the major Conflicts 2

PYGMALION George Bernard Shaw 3

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 14 Waiting for Godot By Samuel Beckett 3. Samuel Beckett’s Biography An Overview of Waiting for Godot 4. Characters in the Play Setting of the Play Beckett’s Theatrical Concept and Style 4

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 15 SUMMARY: Waiting for Godot 2. Summary and Analysis Act I: Introduction & Pozzo and Lucky's Entrance Act II: Introduction & Pozzo and Lucky's Entrance 3. Discussion Questions / Aspects to be analyzed 5

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 16 SUMMARY: Waiting for Godot (Conti…) 2. Summary and Analysis Act I: Introduction & Pozzo and Lucky's Entrance Act II: Introduction & Pozzo and Lucky's Entrance 3. Discussion Questions / Aspects to be analyzed 6

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 17 Absurdist Drama Dialogue and Language/Humor of Absurdist Drama Plot & Structure of Absurdist Drama THEMES in Waiting for Godot Aspects to Consider 7

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 18 1.Waiting for Godot Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory 2.Setting 3.Waiting for Godot Genre, TONE, STYLE & Title 4.Waiting for Godot as Booker’s Seven Basic Plots Analysis: Tragedy Plot 5.Social Acceptance of Waiting for Godot Critical Analysis 8

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 19 An Introduction to 1. Philosophical Background of Waiting for Godot  Theatre of Absurd  Existentialism  The Paradox of Consciousness 2. Becket: Critical Analysis (Analytical Mapping)  Characters 9

A Conclusive Talk Waiting for Godot Lecture 20. Analytical Mapping: Social Significance 2. Philosophical Background: Themes A.Social B.Psychological C.Religious 3. Dramatic references: Themes 10

George Bernard Shaw  George Bernard Shaw ( ) was the third and youngest child (and only son) of George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth Gurly Shaw.  Technically, he belonged to the Protestant “ascendancy”—the landed Irish gentry—but his impractical father was first a sinecured civil servant and then an unsuccessful grain merchant 11

George Bernard Shaw  George Bernard grew up in an atmosphere of genteel poverty, which to him was more humiliating than being merely poor 12

 Another historical point that may have some importance is that in 1872 his mother left her husband and took her two daughters to London, following her music teacher, George John Vandeleur Lee, who from 1866 had shared households in Dublin with the Shaws.  Whatever we may feel about this, it shows him close to an exceptionally independent woman George Bernard Shaw 13

 In 1876 Shaw resolved to become a writer, and he joined his mother and elder sister (the younger one having died) in London. Shaw in his 20s suffered continuous frustration and poverty.  He depended upon his mother's pound a week from her husband and her earnings as a music teacher. George Bernard Shaw 14

George Bernard Shaw He spent his afternoons in the British Museum reading room, writing novels and reading what he had missed at school, and his evenings in search of additional self education in the lectures and debates that characterized contemporary middle-class London intellectual activities. His fiction failed utterly. The semiautobiographical and aptly titled Immaturity (1879; published 1930) repelled every publisher in London. 15

 His next four novels were similarly refused, as were most of the articles he submitted to the press for a decade.  Shaw's initial literary work earned him less than 10 shillings a year. A fragment posthumously published as An Unfinished Novel in 1958 (but written 1887– 88) was his final false start in fiction.  Despite his failure as a novelist in the 1880s, Shaw found himself during this decade. He became a vegetarian, a socialist, a spellbinding orator, a polemicist, and tentatively a playwright George Bernard Shaw 16

 Before long, Shaw had become one of the most sought-after public speakers in England. He argued in his pamphlets in favor of equality of income and advocated the equitable division of land and capital. He believed that property was "theft" and felt, like Karl Marx, that capitalism was deeply flawed and was unlikely to last.  Unlike Marx, however, Shaw favored gradual reform over revolution. And there we see Alfred Doolittle, common dustman. George Bernard Shaw 17

 In one pamphlet written in 1897, he predicted that socialism "will come by prosaic installments of public regulation and public administration enacted by ordinary parliaments, vestries, municipalities, parish councils, school boards, etc." George Bernard Shaw 18

 In 1892, Shaw wrote his first play, Widowers' Houses, about the evils of slumlords. The play was attacked savagely by people who opposed his politics.  It was then that Shaw knew he was a good playwright--he must have been to have upset so many people with his social commentary.  He went on to revolutionize the English theater by concentrating his writing on various social issues at a time when most other playwrights were writing "sentimental pap." George Bernard Shaw 19

PYGMALION The Myth Behind the Play 20

The Myth Behind the Play  There is never any overt reference in the play to Pygmalion; Shaw assumes a classical understanding.  According to the Mythology Guide “Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the relation with them, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman could be compared to it in beauty.Mythology Guide  It was indeed the perfect sem-blance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself, and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. 21

 Pygmalion admired his own work, and at last fell in love with the counter-feit creation. Oftentimes he laid his hand upon it, as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not even then believe that it was only ivory.  The festival of Venus was at hand, a festival celebrated with great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked,and the odor of incense filled the air.  When Pygmalion had performed his part in the solemnities, he stood before the altar and timidly said, "Ye gods, who can do all things, give me, I pray you, for my wife" he dared not say "my ivory virgin," but said instead "one like my ivory virgin." Venus, who was present at the festival, heard him The Myth Behind the Play 22

 While he stands astonished and glad, though doubting, and fears he may be mistaken, again and again with a lover's ardor he touches the object of his hopes.  It was indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the finger and then resumed their roundness. Then at last the votary of Venus found words to thank the goddess, and pressed his lips upon lips as real as his own. The Myth Behind the Play 23

The Play Itself: PYGMALION  One of the most popular plays of Bernard Shaw, first performed in 1913 in Vienna and published and performed in London in

Is it a Romance?  Shaw says “NO!”  The Text says “Yes!” 25

PYGMALION Contextual Background 26

Pygmalion: Background Pygmalion is set in London, England, around the beginning of the twentieth century. 27

During this time in London, working-class people like Eliza Doolittle Pygmalion: Background lived in slums had no heat or hot water had to put coins in a meter to get electric light 28

Pygmalion: Background The class structure in England at this time was very rigid. upper class middle class working class 29

Pygmalion: Background The government did provide some schooling. However, an education did not teach the proper speech that was considered a sign of the upper class. 30

Pygmalion: Background The way that many working-class people spoke was an obstacle to their becoming middle class. 31

Pygmalion: Background In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a gifted, young sculptor who resolved never to marry. 32

Pygmalion: Background But after Pygmalion created a statue of a beautiful woman, he fell in love with the statue. Miserable because he loved a lifeless object, he appealed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. 33

Pygmalion: Background Sympathetic to the young artist’s plight, Aphrodite turned the statue into a live woman. Pygmalion named the beautiful maiden Galatea, and the two were married. 34

PYGMALION George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy 35

George Bernard Shaw  “ I must warn my readers that my attacks are directed against themselves, not against my stage figures.”  -Shaw 36

George Bernard Shaw Shaw wanted to force his viewers to face the reality of unpleasant events. He promoted the “unpleasant” plays by publishing a long preface in which he could argue his views. Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in He continued to write until he was

Meg Williams What we believe influences how we behave Likewise, how we behave impacts what people think about us. In turn, this affects how others behave towards us. Ultimately, how they behave towards us reinforces what we believed about ourselves in the first place 38

PYGMALION Plot Overview 39

Pygmalion: Introduction In this play, George Bernard Shaw uses humor and lively characterization to explore how language, class structure, education, and gender influence how people are seen by society. 40

Pygmalion: Introduction The two main characters are Eliza Doolittle—a poor but proud flower girl with a cockney accent — a way of speaking associated with the working classes. Henry Higgins—an arrogant and insensitive linguistics professor 41

Pygmalion: Introduction Eliza comes to Higgins’s house to ask him to give her speech lessons. She wants to learn to speak properly so that she can get a job in a flower shop instead of selling flowers on the street. 42

Pygmalion: Introduction Higgins decides to take the girl on as a professional challenge. He boasts to his associate Colonel Pickering that with six months of lessons, Eliza could be passed off as a duchess. 43

Pygmalion: Introduction Higgins has Eliza move into his home. With the help of Pickering and the housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, he teaches Eliza the proper speech and manners of the upper class. 44

Pygmalion: Introduction Although Eliza wants to learn, there is tension between her and Higgins. She also wants to be treated with respect—as a person. Higgins, however, persists in treating her as a project and an object. 45

Pygmalion: Introduction If Higgins’s experiment succeeds, where will Eliza go from there? Will Eliza and Henry Higgins become friends, or will their differences drive them apart? Will learning to speak like a duchess allow her to live like one? 46

Characters, Role, Relationship, Conflicts & Significance A Look at the Play 47

Eliza Doolittle Protagonist, poor flower girl who wishes to be rich and happy Role Daughter of Alfred, experiment subject to Higgins and Pickering, possibly means more to Higgins Relationship Cannot change her inner characteristics to suit the newly changed outer appearance. Argues with Higgins on this subject Conflict Is able to stay true to herself and to not conform to please society. Significance 48

Mr. Higgins Antagonist, Professor of phonetics and tries to teach Eliza the proper ways of society. Role Friend to Higgins, wishes to be friends with Eliza Relationship He tries to change Eliza's personality but she wont let him. He also has a hard time understanding women. Conflict His actions show that no one can change another's character Significance 49

Col. Pickering Another researcher of phonetics Role Friend to Higgins, and a friend to Eliza Relationship Trying to get Eliza and Higgins to understand each other Conflict He did not change his morals to suit Higgins' needs Significance 50

Mrs. Pearce Motherly figure, and Housekeeper Role Protector of Eliza, and keeps Higgins in line Relationship Has trouble in trying to reason with Higgins Conflict Is a role model to Eliza Significance 51

Freddy Hill Ideal image of a man at the time (to Eliza) Role has feelings for Eliza over time, they marry Relationship Argues with the people of his society on his choice of Eliza. Conflict Gives hope to Eliza Significance 52

PYGMALION Class Representation 53

kind, polite, generous, enthusiastic, eager, confident impatient, rude, confident, superior, self-important anxious, eager, emotional, ambitious, unsure 54

CharacterPosition in society Evidence in the play Eliza Lower class Language: calls gentleman “sir” and “cap’in” (or captain) which is a compliment Behaviour: respectful to people of higher class 55

CharacterPosition in society Evidence in the play Henry Higgins Language: calls Eliza “you silly girl” and Pickering “my dear man” (an equal and friend) Behaviour: rude (and patronizing) to lower class; polite to same or upper class Middle class 56

CharacterPosition in society Evidence in the play Colonel Pickering Upper class Language: prepared to begin a conversation with Henry, whom he does not know; generous with praise to him Behaviour: generally confident and polite; but ignores Eliza 57

Words to know Phonetics Dialect Cockney Dramatist Fin de siecle Social satire Aestheticism Fabian society Shavian Naturalism Fabian Society 58

PYGMALION Themes and the Major Conflicts 59

Major Conflicts Conflicts Status Divide Gender Relations Self Consciousness Social Snobbery 60

Major Conflicts 1. Status Divide  The nature of class structure  Upper Class: Higgins, Col. Pickering, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Clair and Freddy Eynsford Hill.  Middle Class: Mrs. Pierce She does not, however, represent “middle-class morality” alone. In many ways that is also a quality of Higgins’ and Col. Pickering’s class.  Lower Working Class: Eliza, Alfred Doolittle and his never seen but often heard about “wife.” and Eliza’s step- mother. 61

Major Conflicts 1. Status Divide  A vast gulf between the poor and even the lower upper class.  Higgins’ “cast-off” change is a fortune to Eliza who assumes later that he must have been drunk.  Eliza’s belief that riding in a taxi is the ultimate badge of upper class quality of life. 62

Major Conflicts 2. Gender Relations/Differences  The relationship between genders  “No, no, no, you two infinitely stupid male creatures!” 63

Major Conflicts 2. Gender Relations/Differences Gender Differences  Neither Col. Pickering nor Henry Higgins have a clue about the situation they are putting Eliza or themselves into.  Mrs. Pierce recognizes that Higgins is immorally using the power granted him by his patriarchal culture to pressure Eliza, a presser which if she gives in could lead her to a life of wickedness. 64

Major Conflicts 3. Self-consciousness Self Perception  Eliza’s sense of worth  She is infected with the lie. 65

 Eliza learns that women in the upper classes in fact do not have the independence that women of the lower classes do. They must be connected to a man in some way to be respectable within “middle-class morality.”  Eliza rejects being a “gold-digger” and Higgins rejects female “puppy-dog” tricks.  Only a working skill frees Eliza. Major Conflicts 3. Self-consciousness 66

Major Conflicts 3. Self-consciousness  Eliza has a powerful sense of her value: “I’m a good girl I am!” Therefore she will never become a “kept woman.”  She has ambition willing to give up two thirds of her daily income to improve herself.  But she is infected with class-prejudice  Put the girls in their place just a bit  You’re going to allow yourself to marry that low born woman? 67

Major Conflicts 4. Social Snobbery  Eliza’s Struggle  To work at a flower-shop  She is infected by social snobbery herself.  Discovers that a rise in culture means a loss of independence (as does her step-mother).  Eventually achieves independence. Probably the most Important conflict in the play: the class system is Eliza’s primary antagonist 68

PYGMALION Review 69

Review Lecture George Bernard Shaw 2. The Myth Behind the Play 3. Contextual Background 4. George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy 5. Plot Overview 6. Characters, Role, Relationship, Conflicts & Significance 7. Themes and the major Conflicts 70