Thus, what Shaw has done is to let us listen to a flower girl who totally violates the English language and who is a total vulgarian in terms of language. We see her initially as a low-class flower girl who vulgarly tries to solicit money from a well-dressed gentleman, Colonel Pickering, and then as a young girl who is vulgarly familiar to another gentleman (Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who ironically wants her to be familiar with him when she becomes a lady) last, we see her as a person who is obnoxious in her protestations when she thinks that she is about to be accused of prostitution. ![]() He shows her not only as a person who completely violates the English language, but, more important, he shows her as a low, vulgar creature - totally without manners. In the first act, Shaw takes great pains to hide all of Eliza's basic qualities. Higgins' house, that we know that Eliza possesses a great deal of native intelligence, that she has a perfect ear for all sorts of sounds, an excellent ability at reproducing sounds, a superb memory, and a passionate desire to improve herself. It is not until the third act, when Eliza makes her appearance at Mrs. In the opening act, the audience cannot know that beneath the mud and behind the horrible speech sounds stands the potential of a great "work of art." This carries through the Pygmalion-Galatea theme in which a crude piece of marble is transformed into a beautiful statue. The character of Eliza is best seen by the progression which she makes from "a thing of stone," "a nothingness," a "guttersnipe," and a "squashed cabbage leaf' to the final act where she is an exquisite lady - totally self-possessed, a person who has in many ways surpassed her creator. Think of him this way: he's a stereotype of a bombastic barfly…with an oratorical twist.Shaw's story of the flower girl from the slums who was taught to speak so properly that she was able to pass as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party is perhaps one of the best known works by Shaw, partly because of the popularity of the play which, in turn, inspired a more sentimentalized version in a popular movie and, later, became one of the world's most popular musical comedies, My Fair Lady, using Shaw's broad outlines, but turning the play from a study in manners to a sentimental love story between pupil and master. He's the character most prone to lecturing-yes, even more so than Higgins-and though his theories may not be entirely logical, his little sermons do raise some issues regarding class relations. Lucky for us, his intentions are (mostly) honorable. He can't handle all the money he doesn't want to be "touched" (asked to spare some change) in the same way he "touched" Higgins.ĭoolittle demonstrates how powerful and potentially dangerous words can be. These skills get Doolittle into trouble when Higgins nominates him for some such speaking position…and he gets it, along with a generous income. Whether or not we believe what Doolittle's talking about doesn't matter, it sounds nice. You can describe what Doolittle's saying with all sorts of fancy Greek words, but it's enough to note how he repeats those three phrases that Higgins singles out, and how his speech is sort of singsong-y. He is the sum of his mysterious speaking ability. It also accounts for his mendacity and dishonesty. ![]() "I'm willing to tell you: I'm wanting to tell you: I'm waiting to tell you." Sentimental rhetoric! That's the Welsh strain in him. Observe the rhythm of his native woodnotes wild. ![]() Pickering: this chap has a certain natural gift of rhetoric. This exchange is notable:ĭOOLITTLE I'll tell you, Governor, if you'll only let me get a word in. In order to understand Doolittle, you have to understand how he speaks. He wants just enough money to have a few drinks and some fun. In other words, he's kind of like Henry Higgins: a philosophizing scuzzball that we somehow enjoy watching.Īlfred Doolittle has principles, but they're not exactly conventional: he has no trouble milking five pounds from Higgins, but he doesn't want anymore than that. He's got a lot to say about "middle class morality" and complicated theories about the deserving and undeserving poor. Alfred Doolittle Silver Tongued DevilĪlfred Doolittle is a smooth-talking garbage man, a serial monogamist (although he's not always really married), a drunk, and a deadbeat dad.
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