Pygmalion Author:George Bernard Shaw When George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion more than a half century ago, it seemed unlikely that his little play would eventually be converted into one of the great musicals of our time, My Fair Lady, and a motion picture that captured numerous Academy Awards. yet such popularity should not have been surprising since succeeding generations of rea... more »ders and playgoers find continual relevance in the story of a spreech therapist who successfully converts an untutored flower girl into a darling of high society. The extraordinary wit of the master dramatist of the twentieth century has not lost its sharp edge as it cuts away at the artificiality of class distinctions and the callousness of indifference to human worth.« less
Shaw used Pygmalion from Roman mythology as the basis for his play. It is the story of Professor Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, who wagers that he can turn a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into the toast of London society merely by teaching her how to speak with an upper-class accent. In the process, he becomes fond of her and attempts to direct her future, but she rejects his domineering ways and marries a young aristocrat.