Pygmalion Literary Terms ­­ Adam Smith Allusion: An allusion is a reference to a well known piece of work, a person, or any other subject which is well known to a culture. In his play, Shaw’s referred to Buckingham Palace in Act II without any explanation of what Buckingham Palace is, this was an allusion because Buckingham Palace is a well known place that does not require any context for the reader to understand the intent of the author in using Buckingham Palace. Antagonist: The antagonist of a literary work is anyone or anything that works against the protagonist of a work. The antagonist is often labeled as “the bad guy,” of a work, but that is not necessarily true in that the protagonist­­who simply has a goal­­may perform questionable actions or be considered a bad character. In ​
Pygmalion​
, there were two antagonists: Nepomuk and Britain’s cast system. Nepomuk was the more traditional protagonist of Shaw’s work because he was a tangible antagonist to Higgins, whose goal was to convince the British upper class that Eliza was one of them by teaching her the proper way to speak. (Refer to the analysis of climax for more information on Nepomuk.) Of course, within the explanation of Higgins goal itself lies the second antagonist of the play: the British class system. If it weren’t for the drastic division between the upper and lower classes of British society, then there would be almost no need for Eliza to change her speaking patterns in the first place. Burlesque: A burlesque is a comedically hyperbolic imitation of something. In ​
Pygmalion​
, Higgins parodied the sounds that Eliza made in her cockney accents, which ultimately led to the reader or play observer laughing as a result of the ridiculousness of not only the sound, but the fact that such a noise was being made by a man of the British upper class in a rather serious tone. One of the more obvious examples of Higgins’ imitation occurred in Act I when he said, “ ah­ah­ah­ow­ow­oo” (33) and accurately mimicked Eliza. Cacophony: A cacophony is a sudden, loud sound that is often unpleasant. An excellent example of a cacophony, at least to Higgins, would be the sounds Eliza made in response to distress. Eliza, at one point said, “Oh what harm is there in my leaving Lisson Grove? It wasn’t fit for a pig to live in; and I had to pay four­and­six a week. Oh, boo­hoo­oo,” (18). In response to the crying sounds (found at the end of her dialogue), Higgins became angry and said, “Live where you like; but stop that noise,” (18). Many of the noises Eliza made in her cockney accent can be classified as cacophonies. Climax: The climax of a literary work is the most intense, important or exciting part of a work. Usually, the climax of a work occurs just before the resolution. Within ​
Pygmalion​
, two climaxes could be argued. The first arguable climax occurred during the ambassador’s party. During the party, Higgins and Colonel Pickering met Nepomuk, a distinguished phonetician who claimed he could expose any fraud. This presented the reader with an arguable climax because the entire first and second acts of the play came to a head with the arrival of Nepomuk: if Eliza was caught, all of her hard work would have been for nothing, and if Nepomuk did not catch her then Higgins would win his bet and Eliza would be a successful lady. The second arguable climax which occurred happened just after Eliza returned from the ambassador’s party with Higgins and Pickering. After listening to Higgins and Pickering discuss how triumphant they were with their bet, both Eliza and the reader wondered what will become of Eliza. This was the second arguable climax of Shaw’s play because the outcomes hanging in the balance were extreme: Eliza would either continue to be a lady (under unknown circumstances) or Eliza would return to a life of poverty. Climaxes can be found in every literary work, as climaxes are an excellent way to keep the reader’s attention, and are also the culmination of all of the past events of the work. (Here’s the link to the climax youtube video I made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF6kgT0Hme4&feature=youtu.be) Complications: A complication is any event that creates any difficulty within a work. Complications can easily be found within real life. For example, if a student must study for an upcoming test, but finds themselves with no time to spare for studying as a result of a busy work schedule and family events, then that student is experiencing a complication. Within ​
Pygmalion​
, Higgins and Colonel Pickering both ​
avoid​
a complication. In Act II, after Eliza went to Higgins for phonetic lessons, Mr. Doolittle, Eliza’s father, went to Higgins’ house. The reader assumed that Higgins would experience a complication as a result of Mr. Doolittle coming to his home. However, Mr. Doolittle did not cause Higgins trouble in the sense that he may have asked to take Eliza back home, instead, Mr. Doolittle simply asked for a small amount of money (by Higgins’s standards). Crisis: Within a literary work, a crisis is a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger. The crisis of a work is often denoted by an event in the work which is particularly plot­altering or dramatic. For example, in ​
Pygmalion​
, in Act III, Higgins, Pickering, and Eliza went to a ball where they met Nepomuk, a popular phonetics professor who claimed he could spot any phonetic fraud. At first, Nepomuk concerned Higgins and Pickering because they did not wish for Eliza to be discovered as a fraud; however, when Nepomuk met Eliza, he claimed that she was a Hungarian princess, not a poor British girl posing as an upper class British woman. That situation was an example of a crisis because it marked a potential turning point in Shaw’s play. If Eliza had been caught as a lower class girl, then Higgins would have lost his bet. More importantly though, Eliza would have been forced to return to her life of poverty. Denouement: A denouement is the final part of the play in which all of the unanswered questions created by the author are finally answered. In other words, the denouement of a play is similar to the play’s conclusion. The denouement within ​
Pygmalion​
is (arguably) incomplete. This is because Shaw answered only one of the main questions of the play: could Higgins teach Eliza to speak like a lady ​
and​
prevent her from being caught as a lower class girl? The answer­­which was obvious after the ambassador’s party­­was of course “yes.” However, the second question, of what would happen to Eliza after the bet took place, was not answered. The reader understood that Eliza went to her father’s wedding with Freddy, but it remained unclear as to what became of Eliza afterwards. Dramatic Irony: Dramatic irony is irony in which events within a literary work take place in a manner opposite of what is expected. In Shakespeare's play ​
Romeo and Juliet​
, dramatic irony was a recurring literary device. Take, for example, the end of the play, where Juliet killed herself after finding Romeo dead. The audience was well aware that Romeo was dead because he had killed himself because he believed Juliet was dead. (For more information on Romeo and Juliet refer to ​
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/​
) Within ​
Pygmalion​
, there were many instances of irony. One of the more prominent examples of irony was the dramatic irony that took place during Act III. In Act III, Higgins, Pickering, and Eliza went to a ball where they met Nepomuk, a popular phonetics professor who claimed he could spot any phonetic fraud. At first, Nepomuk concerned Higgins and Pickering because they did not wish for Eliza to be discovered as a fraud; however, when Nepomuk met Eliza, he claimed that she was a Hungarian princess, not a poor British girl posing as an upper class British woman. That situation was an example of dramatic irony because Nepomuk, despite his supposed expertise, labeled Eliza incorrectly. In other words, the events that took place were opposite of that which the audience/reader expected to happen. Effect: The effect of a play is the lighting and sounds a play uses to “bring the audience into a play.” Within ​
Pygmalion​
, Shaw described the props which would be used to create the rooms his characters live in. For example, Shaw opened Act II with a description of Ms. Higgins’ room. “It is a room on the first floor, looking on the street, and was meant for the drawing­room. The double doors are in the middle of the back hall; and persons entering find in the corner to their right two tall file cabinets at right angles to one another against the walls,” (29). The furniture choices Shaw went on to describe, such as expensive paintings, serve to form a sense of wealth and poise within Mrs. Higgins for the reader. Foreshadowing​
: When the author uses the elements of a story (dialogue, actions etc.) to alert the reader of what is to come in the story, the author is using the literary device known as foreshadowing. In Pygmalion, Mr. Higgins, while leaving the opera house in Act I, stated that he could make anyone with a cockney accent speak as well as a duchess. Specifically, he said, “Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl [Eliza Doolittle] off as a duchess as the ambassador’s garden party,” (23). This dialogue was an example of foreshadowing because later in the play, Higgins does train Eliza to speak in a manner that is considered “proper” in comparison to her cockney accent. Irony: A situation, action, or dialogue that is opposite of what is actually happening in a literary work. Verbal irony is one type of irony used frequently by writers. Shaw used Higgins’ dialogue in ​
Pygmalion ​
to express Higgins’ distaste for Eliza’s whining. In the first act of the play, Higgins referred to Eliza as a “squashed cabbage leaf.” Eliza was not literally a squashed cabbage leaf. There, Higgins compared Eliza to a squashed cabbage leaf to express how worthless he believed her to be. Metaphor: A metaphor is a literary device by which writers compare to distinct things. A common example of a metaphor is “you are my sunshine.” There, a person is comparing someone they love to sunshine. The loved person is not sunshine in the literal sense, but rather in the metaphorical sense in that the loved person is warm and gives life to the lover. In ​
Pygmalion​
, Shaw used metaphor to express Eliza’s distaste with Higgins’ treatment of her. Eliza said, “You’re a great brute you are!” in Act II. Higgins was not literally a violent animal, but Eliza felt as if his poor treatment of her was equivalent to how she would be treated by a violent animal. Mood: The “feeling” of a story or work. The mood of ​
Pygmalion​
is light­hearted and comedic. This mood is generally derived from the laughable dialogue Higgins’ speaks and the comedic sounds Eliza produces with her cockney accent. Plot: The plot of a literary work is the sum of the main events that take place within the literary work. Within Shaw’s work, the plot consisted of four main events: Eliza meeting Higgins as a notetaker, Higgins and Colonel Pickering agreeing on a phonetic bet, Eliza passing the test of the party and Nepomuk, and the end of the play where the audience does not learnand what happens to Eliza. These events, when brought together, constituted the plot of Shaw’s work. Protagonist: The protagonist of a work is the character within a work who has a goal. Oftentimes, the protagonist of a work is considered “the good guy,” however, that is not always the case. Take, for example, the popular television show ​
House of Cards​
, which features a strong protagonist who the audience roots for despite the protagonist’s questionable actions such as blackmail and murder. (For more on House of Cards: ​
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856010/​
) Based on the aformentioned definition of protagonist, the protagonist in ​
Pygmalion ​
can be identified as Higgins. In the work, Higgins was the character with the main goal. His goal, of course, was to win his bet against Pickering by passing Eliza off as an upper class woman by changing the way she spoke. Readers could argue that Eliza was the protagonist of Shaw’s work, but she did not have a blatant goal during the play. Yes, she wanted to become a flower shop assistant, but this idea was a symbol more than anything else in that it represented Eliza’s potential to move up class­wise as a result of the change in her speech. Sarcasm: A type of verbal irony where the person speaking is saying their words with a tone that would indicate they mean the opposite of what they are saying. A blatant example of sarcasm can be found in Shaw’s ​
Pygmalion​
on page 43 when Higgins said, “If you’re naughty and idle you will sleep in the back kitchen among the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months you shall got to Buckingham Palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the King finds out you’re not a lady, you will be taken by the police to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptions flower girls.” There, Higgins was indicating that if Eliza were caught, she would be executed. That idea was of course preposterous, thus alerting the reader that Higgins is using sarcasm, a type of verbal irony. Satire: Satire is the use of hyperbole, irony and humor to criticize others’ traits or vices. Pygmalion​
contained a plethora of examples of satire within its pages, the most obvious of which related to the division between the speaking patterns of the upper and lower classes. In Shaw’s work, the cockney accent which Eliza possessed and the proper British accent that Higgins possessed were both exaggerated to show the ridiculous nature of both. Setting: The setting of a literary work is where the story takes place. The setting is made up of the time the story takes place and what the social climate of that time is, in addition to where the story is taking place. Shaw’s work took place in London during the early 1900s. More specifically, the majority of the play took place within Higgins’s home. A good example of Shaw’s description of his setting can be found on page 67, where Shaw described Mrs. Higgins’s home. “In the middle of the room there is a big ottoman; and this, with the carpet, the mOrris wall­paper, and the Morris chintz window curtains and brocade covers of the ottoman and its cushions supply all the ornament, and are much too handsome to be hidden by odds and ends of useless things.” This was a perfect example of how setting heavily influences a play. The former statement is especially true for ​
Pygmalion​
. As a result of Shaw’s play taking place in London, there was a distinct difference between Higgins’s accent Eliza’s accent. That difference is not only the defining feature of Shaw’s play, but also a major contributor to the humorous elements of the play. Simile: A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.” A common example of a simile would be “you’re shaking like a leaf.” There, a shivering person is compared to a quacking leaf in an effective manner. The person who hears this phrase understands what motion the subject is making based on their own knowledge of leafs used in the context of that comparison. In ​
Pygmalion,​
Higgins said “​
A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere—no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.” At the end of the statement, Higgins used a simile to compare Eliza’s speech patterns and complaints to the annoying sounds of a pigeon. From that statement, the reader develops a clear image of not only how Eliza was speaking, but also how Higgins felt about her speech. Presentation on simile: http://www.slideshare.net/jay8/simile­powerpoint Stereotype: A widely culturally­accepted, fixed, and flat perception of a group of people. Both Higgins and Eliza are stereotypes of their class in Shaw’s play; they both represent the “quintessential” 1800s upper class man and lower class woman. Both their accents and their mannerisms are exaggerated, as can be seen by the noises Eliza makes in her cockney accent. Take, for example, Eliza’s “ah­ah­ah­ow­ow­oo,” on page 33. This is an exaggeration of the sound the stereotyped lower British class makes when in distress. Tone: An author’s tone is the way in which they present the material of their work. The majority of tone is created through word choice. George Bernard Shaw used metaphors and well­educated word choice selection to create a tone in his work that is ultimately sophisticated. For example, on page 30 George Bernard Shaw wrote, “Higgins is standing near him, closing two or three file drawers which are hanging out. He appears in the morning light as a robust, vital, appetizing sort of man of forty or thereabouts, dressed in a professional­looking black frock­coat with a white linen collar and a black silk tie.” Shaw’s word choice­­“robust” and “vital”­­and exquisite detail­­“black silk tie”­­present Higgins to the reader with the same about of sophistication that Higgins contains within his character. The words also present to the reader a sophisticated tone that is not void of light­heartedness. Verbal Irony: When a character says anything which is to be taken in the opposite way of its literal meaning, that character is using verbal irony. The most common, and perhaps overused example, of verbal irony is sarcasm. Higgins as a character often exaggerated events through his dialogue. An example of this can be found on page 43 of Shaw’s play when Higgins said, “If you’re naughty and idle you will sleep in the back kitchen among the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months you shall got to Buckingham Palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the King finds out you’re not a lady, you will be taken by the police to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptions flower girls.” Higgins’ dialogue was an example of verbal irony because he was hyperbolically describing what might happen to Eliza if she was caught in the palace. He also indicated he was using verbal irony through his sarcastic tone. Ted Talk on verbal irony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiR­bnCHIYo