1. George Bernard Shaw

2.  1856-1950  Irish playwright, critic, political activist and founder of the London School of Economics.  The only person ever to win a Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar for the film version of his play, Pygmalion.  He rejected payment for the Nobel Prize and rejected an invitation to be knighted for his works of literature.  Wished to eliminate classism and was a speaker on eugenics… until it became a sore subject.

3.  Why did Shaw choose this title?  Get us to the Greeks!  “Pygmalion (Greek mythology) a king who created a statue of a woman and fell in love with it; Aphrodite brought the sculpture to life as Galatea” obtained from: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwnwordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn After seeing other women prostituting themselves, Pygmalion, a sculptor, carved a woman out of ivory and wished he could marry her. After an offering to the gods, Cupid put his ring on her finger, and the statue came to life as Galetea. What significance may this have in the play?

4.  Eliza Doolittle – Cockney flower girl  Henry Higgins – Professor of Phonetics, author of the “Universal Alphabet”  Colonel Pickering - civilized gentleman, passionate about phonetics, author of Spoken Sanskrit  Alfred Doolittle – Eliza’s father, married 6 times, money hungry  Freddy Ensford Hill – infatuated with Eliza, gentleman at his mother and sister’s will.  Mrs. Higgins – Henry’s kind mother

5.  In order to understand the overwhelming importance of speech in this play, it is imperative to understand accents.  Accents serve as IDENTITY of characters, including their upbringing, educational level and even geographic location.  To check out the dialects and accents of both Higgins and the Doolittles, check out this link.  http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/en gland.htm http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/en gland.htm

6.  Cockney Accent history: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/CockneyEngl ish.html http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/CockneyEngl ish.html  How to speak with a British Accent: http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British- Accent http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British- Accent  Phonetics is the study of the articulation of words and the acoustics of how they sound.

7.  Colloquialism  Local color  Slang  Linguistics  How is speech affected in certain areas?  Provide examples! What does education have to do with speech? How is speech part of one’s own identity?

8.  A “Self fulfilling prophesy” or the “Pygmalion effect” is a simple concept with which you may be familiar in other social settings.  Read this article and be prepared to answer the questions that follow.  http://www.accel- team.com/pygmalion/index.html http://www.accel- team.com/pygmalion/index.html

9.  For class work, break into groups of 3 or 4 and analyze ten words or phrases that we would consider colloquialisms of the “coal region” mark them down and define what they mean in our own communication. Consider words, item names, directions and activities!

10.  Let’s take a look at some familiar territory mentioned in the text! Covent Garden Opera House Area

11. St. Paul’s Cathedral, Central London

12. Wimpole Street… Henry Higgins’ Apartment

13. Lisson Grove: Home of Henry Higgins

14. LUDGATECIRCUSLUDGATECIRCUS

15. Southampton Street

16. Trafalgar Square

17. Drury Lane… Theatre District

18.  Money and lifestyle went hand in hand in this society. Class and distinction were defined by family status which often relied on “old money.” If one was born without status, it was rare that he or she would ever be able to climb the social ladder. Those who did (often referred to as “social climbers”) rarely found true friendships among the upper class.  For some information about money and lifestyle of the time, let’s check out http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/curr ency.html http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/curr ency.html

19.  Allusion  Didactic  Torrents  Gumption  Plinth  Deprecating  Mendacity  Rebuking  Petulance  Malice  Stupent  Genteel  Follies  Elocution  Presumptuous  Diffident  Audacity  Pretension  Estheticism  Bravado  Cynical  Pedantic  Infatuated  Ignorant  Repudiate  Rogue  Vexation  Impudence