Pygmalion Author:George Bernard Shaw This is a play that tells the classic story of "My Fair Lady." A speech therapist wagers that he can take the poorest Cockney girl and turn her into a lady, and therein begins the tale of Liza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins.
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.