Pygmalion

“Shaw will not allow complacency; he hates second-hand opinions; he attacks fashion; he continually challenges and unsettles, questioning and provoking us even when he is making us laugh. And he is still at it. No cliché or truism of contemporary life is safe from him.” -Michael Holroyd

Of all of George Bernard Shaw’s plays, Pygmalion has been the most enduring. Based on the Greek Classical myth, this work is both extremely witty and psychologically penetrating. Composed in five acts, the play examines social and ethical issues and the inherent flaws of human interactions.

Henry Higgins, a London phonetics teacher, wagers a bet with a colleague that he can transform the cockney-accented diction and manners of an impoverished flower girl, and pass her off as member of high society. The girl, Eliza Doolittle, accepts to take part of the experiment in the hope that her consequential metamorphosis will aid her in procuring a job in a proper flower shop. Her transfiguration, however, comes at great cost. Shaw’s exceptionally sharp dialogue and characteristic wit is unmatched in this classic and timeless work of drama.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Pygmalion is both modern and readable.

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George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish dramatist and political activist who is widely regarded as the second most influential English language playwright, following Shakespeare. In 1876, Shaw moved to London where he embarked on a career as a writer and critic. It was not until Arms and the Man (1894) was written that Shaw became widely recognized as a serious playwright. His stark realism and strong political, economic, and moral views within much of his sixty-two plays transformed the direction of modern dramatic arts. Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.