Explanation of Best Quotes of Pygmalion

Mingling of genres
More quotes         
 Pygmalion as a Problem Play       
 Eliza Doolittle





     1)   “Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech; that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible; and don’t sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.”

These words are spoken by Higgins in G.B.Shaw’s famous play Pygmalion, Act I. Eliza, a flower girl is infuriated when she finds Higgins noting down her spoken words. Even she warns him of not doing so, to this Higgins sternly replies. He remarks that Eliza’s pronunciations of English words are so bad that it depresses and disgusts an educated person. He asks her to remember that she is a human being and god has given her the gift of speaking clearly with well defined words and sounds. However, she is uttering words like a pigeon while she is speaking a great language in which Shakespeare and Milton wrote and in which the Bible has been translated. By this, he means that this great language should not be spoken in such a bad manner. Hence, in the above lines Shaw wants to bring forth us the problem of language; the problem of correct speech and manners which clearly shows the difference between the high class and the low class people.

2)   “Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate insult to the English language. I could pass you off as the queen of Sheba.”

These words are spoken by Higgins in G.B.Shaw’s play Pygmalion; Act I. Higgins is a professor of phonetics and a specialist in the dialects of London. He amazes people by telling them where they belong just by listening few words from them. Further, he claims that he can train the flower girl who was sitting there in such a way that she would appear to be duchess. His words attract Eliza and she asks him to clarify. Higgins tells her that he can definitely transform her speech in three months. At present she is no better than a crushed cabbage leaf. Also, he regards her as a disgrace to the fine English architecture of the pillars of the church. That is she seems to be an insult to the English language. Next he claims that if he were to train her for three months she would appear to everyone as a queen. This is the beginning of the main incident of the play where Higgins arouses queer anxiety and interest in the poor flower girl to learn correct speech and manners of high class society.

3)   “Oh Yes! Quite a fat one. This is an age of upstarts. Men begin in Kentish Town with 80 pound a year, and end in Park Lane with a hundred thousand. They want to drop Kentish Town; but they give themselves away every time they open their mouths. Now, I can teach them.

These words are spoken by Higgins in G.B.Shaw’s play Pygmalion; Act I. Higgins is a professor of phonetics and a specialist in the dialects of London. While taking shelter from rain in the portico of St. Paul’s Church he staggers people by telling them which place they belong by just hearing few words. To this Colonel Pickering asks him whether he can earn money by making use of his knowledge. Higgins replies he can earn a lot. He explains that there are many persons who were born and brought up in slum areas (Kentish Town) of London but as they become rich they move to Park Lane, a fashionable locality. When these people start earning thousand pounds a year, they do not want others to know that once they belonged to slums. However, when they speak English they speak the dialect of their childhood. Their dialect betrays their origin. Higgins says that he can earn money by teaching them to speak in correct, refined and cultured manner.

4)   “The great secret Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls; in short behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third class carriages and one soul is as good as another.”

The above mentioned lines are spoken by Higgins in G.B.shaw’s play Pygmalion; Act V. Higgins tells Eliza that there are all kinds of people in each class (upper, middle or lower) consisting of both good and bad. They all should be treated similarly as everyone is as good as another. He explains Eliza that he treats her no differently than he treats others. While it may be insensitive it is just his way. He expresses a highly moral and worthwhile ideal, that people no matter their gender or class are fundamentally equal and should be treated equally. This is the main theme of the play where the author criticizes the class distinctions. This also reveals the good-heartedness of Higgins.

5)   “I can’t I could have done it once but now I can’t go back to it. You told me, you know that when a child is brought to a foreign country, it picks up the language in a few weeks and forgets its own well. Well, I am a child in your country.”

The above mentioned lines are spoken by Eliza in G.B.Shaw’s play Pygmalion; Act V.  After the Ambassador’s Party Eliza exchanges hot words with Higgins and leave the place. The next morning Higgins and Pickering starts search for Eliza and finds her in his (Higgins) mother’s house. At this time Eliza was very formal. She makes it clear to Pickering that she has learnt courtesy and good manners, while Higgins was always setting a bad example before her. She wants Higgins to address her as ‘Miss Doolittle” and not Eliza. To this, Higgins gets annoyed and uses abusive words. Pickering suggests Eliza to reply back in the same manner. But Eliza says that she could not do so. Higgins and Pickering have trained her to speak correct and refined English. Now she cannot go back to her former uncultured way of speaking. She reminds Pickering his words that a child adopts a foreign language in a foreign country and forgets his mother tongue. She is that child. While she lived in slums she spoke a barbaric language. But when she came in Higgins’s house she learnt educated higher class English and she forgot her old speech. As such, she cannot talk to Higgins in uncultured manner. Therefore, the above lines throw light on the character of Eliza.

6)   ”All I ask is my rights as a father; and you’re the last man alive to expect me to let her go for nothing; for I can see you’re one of the straight sort, Governor. Well, what’s a five pound note to you? And what’s Eliza to me?

The above lines are spoken by Alfred Doolittle in G.B.Shaw’s play Pygmalion, Act II. Alfred Doolittle came to know that Eliza is going to stay with Higgins in his house. The reasons given by Eliza for taking such a step do not please Doolittle. Rather he does not pay any heed to it, but he sees an opportunity to make some money from Higgins. From his point of view, his rights as a father amount to nothing more than the money he can get for Eliza. Doolittle asks for five pound in exchange for Eliza. Hence, by the above situation and Doolittle’s morally corrupt attitude, Shaw brings forth the dark side of Victorian era; the society in which prostitution and child-trafficking was openly practiced.

7)   “I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. Now you’ve made a lady of me I’m not fit to sell anything else. I wish you’d left me where you found me.”

These lines are spoken by Eliza in G.B.Shaw’s play Pygmalion; Act V. Higgins a Professor of phonetics teaches Eliza (who sells flowers) to speak English in a correct and refined form; also the manners and etiquette of upper class. Now she finds a great change in her personality, her way of speaking and manners. Everyone recognizes her as a queen. At this moment, she realized that what Higgins has told he did of transforming her but what’s next now. She cannot go back to her old life and sell flowers and now she has no work left for her, other than getting married and remain in upper class. She realizes the decrease in responsibilities and usefulness she will have and regrets her for Higgins changing her social status. Therefore, through Eliza Shaw beautifully brings forth the difference between upper and lower class women. The latter ones hold many works and responsibilities than those of upper class.