by g.b. shaw pygmalion. background & ovid information: source= ovid’s metamorphoses, x (8...
TRANSCRIPT
By G.B. ShawPYGMALION
Background & Ovid
Information: Source= Ovid’s Metamorphoses, X (8 AD)—a narrative poem
that tells the origins/history of the world from a mythical-historical perspective—takes from Greek mythology, but some changes
Summary of section: Pygmalion (sculptor) sees women as morally loose, and refuses
to marry Creates ivory statue of woman, and falls in love with his
beautiful work Embraces it, brings it gifts (generally speaking, things get
weird) Pygmalion thinks about requesting Venus (Roman goddess of
love) to turn statue into woman; he doesn’t, but Venus grants unspoken request
Lies down next to statue and it becomes warm to the touch (IT’S ALIVE!)
Says “thanks” to Venus, and they end up having a kiddo
CLASSICAL PYGMALION
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea, oil on canvas, c. 1890 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Boris Vallejo, Pygmalion, 1988.
In groups, determine some similarities and differences between the myth and the play.
Illustrate those similarities/differences in a chart, table, Venn diagram, etc…Whatever you think works the best
Be ready to share similarities/differences with entire class
Jot down similarities/differences in your individual notes
COMPARING MYTH TO DRAMA
SEE HANDOUT FOR INFORMATION
LIFE OF G.B. SHAW
END OF TODAY’S POWERPOINT!
Preface
Act I
"Shaw rewrites the Pygmalion legend as ironically as Joyce does the
Odyssey. In Ovid, the sculptor Pygmalion, scornful of women, falls
in love with his perfect female statue and obtains his prayer to
Venus that she be given life so that he can marry her. Higgins
shares Pygmalion’s misogyny (given a psychological motivation in
his infantilist attachment to his mother) but there the resemblance
ends. He does not fall in love with his artificial duchess; at best he
is brought to admit that he has ‘grown accustomed to her face’.
And in the most crucial reworking of the original, the ‘statue’ Liza is
not merely his artifact, and does not quietly accept her fate to be
married off to her maker. The great strength of the part of Liza is
that, from the beginning, she has the capacity to resist Higgins”
(xvi).
EXCERPT FROM INTRODUCTION
“I wish to boast that Pygmalion has been an extremely successful play, both on stage and on screen, all over Europe and North America as well as at home. It is so intensely and deliberately didactic [intending to teach/instruct], and its subject is esteemed so dry, that I delight in throwing it at the heads of the wiseacres who repeat the parrot cry that art should never be didactic. It goes to prove my contention that great art can never be anything else.” p. 7
“Ambitious flower-girls who read this play must not imagine that they can pass themselves off as fine ladies by untutored imitation. They must learn their alphabet over again, and different, from a phonetic expert. Imitation will only make them ridiculous.” p. 7
What is the purpose of the preface?
PREFACE: A PROFESSOR OF PHONETICS
Stage Direction: Economical exposition and suggestive of social background
Prefatory Essay: Used to express his doctrines/thoughts on art/language
Discussion in the play: Shaw regards social criticism as the most important function of all art; he satirizes the socioeconomic classes
Source: http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/shaw/Pygmalion.html
SHAW’S STYLE
London, Early 1900s Social Structure:Upper Class
people with inherited wealth; old families; aristocrats
Middle Class The majority of the
population industrialists, professionals, business people, shop owners
Lower or Working Class Agricultural, mine and
factory workers, etc.
SETTING
LONDON PICTURES
Covent Garden, London 1900
LONDON PICTURES
Drawing Room, London 1900
DUCHESS, 1900
Professor Henry Higgins
Colonel Pickering
CHARACTERS (SEE HANDOUT)
Eliza Doolittle Alfred Doolittle
CHARACTERS CONTINUED
Mrs. Pearce Mrs. Higgins
CHARACTERS CONTINUED
Freddy Eynsford-Hill
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill
Colonel Pickering
Mrs. Higgins
CHARACTERS CONTINUED
What was the big deal with language in the play, anyway?
Does language influence modern American society in similar ways? How so/not?
IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH/LANGUAGE
Clip 1
Listen to the clip, and jot down any thoughts that come to mind about the person. Consider where she might be from, what social class she might belong to, what her education might be like, what she might look like, etc.
***I understand that you do not actually know the person in the video, so you cannot write authoritatively on the subject. Just give it a try for the exercise’s sake.
CLIP 1: PERCEPTION?
Clip 2
Listen to the clip, and jot down any thoughts that come to mind about the person. Consider where she might be from, what social class she might belong to, what her education might be like, what she might look like, etc.
***I understand that you do not actually know the person in the video, so you cannot write authoritatively on the subject. Just give it a try for the exercise’s sake.
CLIP 2: PERCEPTION?
Clip 3
Listen to the clip, and jot down any thoughts that come to mind about the person. Consider where he might be from, what social class he might belong to, what his education might be like, what he might look like, etc.
***I understand that you do not actually know the person in the video, so you cannot write authoritatively on the subject. Just give it a try for the exercise’s sake.
CLIP 3: PERCEPTION?
Clip 4
Listen to the clip, and jot down any thoughts that come to mind about the person. Consider where he might be from, what social class he might belong to, what his education might be like, what he might look like, etc.
***I understand that you do not actually know the person in the video, so you cannot write authoritatively on the subject. Just give it a try for the exercise’s sake.
CLIP 4: PERCEPTION?
Clip 5
Listen to the clip, and jot down any thoughts that come to mind about the person. Consider where she might be from, what social class she might belong to, what her education might be like, what she might look like, etc.
***I understand that you do not actually know the person in the video, so you cannot write authoritatively on the subject. Just give it a try for the exercise’s sake.
CLIP 5: PERCEPTION?
LET’S FIGURE OUT ROLES FOR
PERFORMANCES NEXT CLASS!
Mrs. PearceHigginsFlower GirlPickering
END OF TODAY’S POWERPOINT!
ACT II Part 1
(performances)