Pygmalion
In
the beginning one could hardly think that the lowly flower girl we see bumbling
and Ah-owing would become as classy as duchess. Her proposed transformation
brought on by a snide comment made by Henry Higgins, is achieved through
phonetics. In a key chaotic point in the story Eliza Doolittle enters
Pickering’s house demanding to be taught to speak like royalty. I found this
part extremely interesting due to the anarchy that breaks out as Higgins and
Pickering debate how they should go about training Eliza. All the while Eliza
is arguing with herself whether she should leave or stay.
Through
much conflict Eliza is made a permanent resident to the Perkins house. I
thought this part of the book was particularly funny because of Eliza’s
confusion, in the end she’s persuaded to stay in return for chocolates. This
childish action amuses me because in order to make Eliza more mature and
refined Higgins and Pickering had to childishly bribe her with sweets.
As
Eliza progresses in her training Higgins shows her off to his mom, and some
others. Among them is Freddy a young man who becomes infatuated in Eliza while
at the gathering. He is asks by Higgins if he would like to see her again and
he response most certainly.
Finally
the biggest event in this first half of the Pygmalion is at the dinner party
where Nepommuck, a world-renowned translator and Phonetics analyst, diagnoses
Eliza as Hungarian Royalty. Higgins scoffs at this theory and exposes her true
origins. No one believes him though and he is laughed at by some of the
dignitaries at the dinner party. After this exchange they leave the dinner
party and head home to discuss how Higgins had “won his bet”. At this point I’m
happy for Higgins’s accomplishment but I’m sad that Eliza’s story seems to be
done.
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