Pygmalion Written by George Bernard Shaw - Essay Example

24 February Assignment Pygmalion, written by George Bernard Shaw, is a play about a trying to teach a Cockney flower girl properphonetics and English after he makes a bet to be able to polish her so well that he would be able to pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador’s tea party. According to the professor, the one thing that any individual should possess in order to gain respect from other people is impeccable speech; for with such confidence in one’s diction, one may be able to even win the world and people’s hearts. The play is based on the British class system and the importance which was given to the upper classes in those days. Subsequently, a movie (more of a musical) was also made based on the play titled ‘My Fair Lady’, which turned out to be quite a hit. However, this paper aims to discuss a particular scene within the movie which differs altogether from the book and how the two are in many ways, not related to one another at all. Most great books and plays are turned into movies over time in order to gain a larger audience and help them understand the gist of the thought. Similarly, Pygmalion also gained wide recognition with the help of its movie adaptation, My Fair Lady. The main differences have cropped up within the movie because of the twist that the actors have provided to the various characters because of their personal skill. Audrey Hepburn especially has stressed on the role of Eliza Doolittle, in order to create a more dynamic and stable screen presence than what was provided for the character in the book. While reading a book, the most one can do is imagine the plight of the character. Hepburn on the other hand has attempted at providing a different spin on Eliza altogether in order to perform and deliver a hundred percent. The primary difference between the movie and book is the addition of songs in order to make a musical out of the entire ordeal and give it a little more charisma thus. In the third act of the play, there are various similarities and dissimilarities that may be observed with respect to the film. The third act takes place over the first part of the movie. It begins with Mrs Higgins, Professor Higgins’ mother, showing her disinterest and disdain in his new project – teaching the flower girl phonetics and manners. She states that the reason for this contempt is because that day was hers to stay at home and entertain visitors, and obviously with Eliza around, she would have lots to explain to the Eynsford-Hills who would arriving shortly after. In the film however, this scene takes place at Higgins’ mother’s box at the Ascot Racecourse during the course of a race where the Eynsford-Hills are accompanying Mrs Higgins. Even though she disapproves of Eliza at first, she subsequently agrees to make conversation with her and strictly tells her to only talk about the weather and ask others about their health. In the book, Higgins is very rude to the visitors upon their arrival because of his irritation towards his mother for not having approved of Eliza. However, a similarity strikes when she talks about the weather and asks the visitors regarding their health, as told by Mrs Higgins, in order to make polite conversation. In the film, at the races, after having run out of topics to talk about, Eliza goes back to her Cockney accent and begins talking with slangs that she uses on a daily basis, shocking the crowds with her insolence and crude conduct. In the play however, even though she speaks in beautiful and modulated tones, the content of the matter remains as primitive as her looks and origin, as the focus of the conversation shifts from the weather to alcohol and her father. The professor passes this off as the ‘new’ kind of small talk people have started making in the modern world in order to enrapture their audience, just to save his mother’s face so that she would not get too insulted by the flower girl. Soon after follows one of the most famous dialogues of the entire play, when Freddy Eynsford-Hill asks Eliza if she would go for a walk with him, to which she replies, “Not bloody likely!” In the movie adaptation, she crosses paths with Freddy at the races itself however does not engage in much conversation with him because of the pressure that she has been put under by Mrs Higgins. At the same time however, Freddy calls her later in the evening asking her whether or not she would see him that evening, to which she refuses. He promptly replies saying that he would wait for her because of the spark that he sees in her because of which he is thus attracted towards her. The scene in the play continues as opposed to in the movie which ends abruptly after the call from Freddy. In the play, after the visitors leave, Mrs Higgins refuses to keep Eliza in the house anymore because of the manner in which she behaved in front of everyone. She states that Eliza would never be able to transform into a beautiful swan because of her old habits and accent and that her conduct would always remain similar to that of a gutter; old and dirty. The movie does not have Mrs Higgins express her opinion regarding Eliza’s behaviour and thus the audience is not able to understand whether or not she was happy with her at the races, and would allow her to blossom under the professor further. In the play on the other hand, the opinion given by Mrs Higgins helps to define the moment of Eliza’s continuance under the purview of the professor as the mother claims that she is not too excited by the decision however does not mind it taking place. This entire episode leaves Mrs. Higgins feeling exasperated, and exclaiming, "Men! Men!! Men!!!" Eliza feels happy with herself by the end of the scene in both the play as well as the movie and in both places; her character has been portrayed to have overcome a small sense of accomplishment because of Freddy liking her because of the effort she was trying to put into becoming a completely different person. The idea and emotions thus are similar in both the scenes in the movie and play, providing a single outlook towards the story line. The scene in the play has been described very differently than that in the film during the same time. For starters, the entire setting is different, with one taking place at a racecourse and the other in the house itself. This tends to bring about a number of changes within the sets as well as the props that are to be used in the same scene. The dialogues are also very different from that of the play however the one comparison between the two is that the main idea of the meeting with the Eynsford-Hills is the same; to bring into the picture Freddy and to begin brewing with his love interest with Eliza, as well as to portray the first level of difficulty that she went through in presenting herself for the first time in the company of other people. Therefore, in this manner, the film and the play have various similarities and dissimilarities within the same scene itself. Works Cited Dent, Alan (1961). Mrs. Patrick Campbell. London: Museum Press Limited. Print. Steyn, Mark. Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now, Routledge (1999), p. 119 Read More