Pygmalion

A Greek story Picture 1: Pygmalion, a gifted artist, dislkes women. One day he makes a statue of a beautiful woman with ivory. Picture2: when he finishes the statue, he falls in love with it and goes to the Greek goddess to ask her to make the statue into a real woman. Picture3: As a result of his prayers, the goddess agrees to help him and makes the statue into a woman.(His wish is granted.) The two marry and live happily ever after.

the Greek story the play The play, made into a film called My Fair Lady by Shaw has the same theme as the Greek story.

In the greek story Because of Pygmalion’s continuing effort, the statue was made into a real woman.He fell in love with the woman(statue) he created himself. Because of Pygmalion’s continuing effort, the statue was made into a real woman.He fell in love with the woman(statue) he created himself. In the play Because of Professor Higgins’s continuing effort, Eliza’s English improved gradually. Because of Professor Higgins’s continuing effort, Eliza’s English improved gradually. As a result, he made Eliza so elegant and graceful that he also fell in love with the girl he created himself. As a result, he made Eliza so elegant and graceful that he also fell in love with the girl he created himself.

Background knowledge: A teacher creates a new person by teaching her in the same way that an artist creates a statue from stone. Both the statue and the student depend on their creator for their new life; the statue becomes a woman; Eliza becomes an accepted member of the upper class. Pygmalion is the creator of the statue and Henry Higgins of Eliza.

This play takes places in 1914 just before World War I. So it was written at a time when social classes were fixed and it was extremely difficult to move from one social class to another. First, you needed money. But even if you had money, it was unlikely that a higher social class would readily accept you. Money earned in trade was not considered to be as important as family connections. So a poor duke or lord was often considered more important than a rich businessman. A second important way of telling a person’s class was his clothes. A third was the way a person spoke.

1. Come over here, captain, and buy some flowers from a poor girl. 2.I haven’t done anything wrong by speaking to that gentleman. 3.I thought maybe you were a policeman in disguise. 4.How do I know whether you wrote down what I said accurately? 5. A shop assistant? Now that’s something I would like to be! Ex5 on P31