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1.1 The author - about G.B. Shaw*>
George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on 26th of July 1856 and died in November, 11th, 1950 in Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire. As a son of a successless, drinking grain merchant he grew up near the state of neglect in a protestant house. Through his mother he discovered his interests in music and literature. After educating himself he began to work as a music critic. At the age of twenty he decided to become a novelist. His critical view onto the Victorian England and his intention to draw attention to the evils caused by poverty made him a famous critic. He gained his
success as a novelist by provocating the audience and through his wit and brilliant dialogs concerning the human intellect. Further important pieces and essays of Shaw for instance are:
Androcoles and the lion; Arms and the Man; Man and Superman; Saint Joan; Mrs. Warren's Profession; The
quintessence of Ibsenism.
1.2 The play - about Pygmalion*
The theatreplay Pygmalion, written in 1912 by George B. Shaw is based on a Greek legend about a kypric king called Pygmalion, who fell in love with a female statue he had created. This statue, Galatea by name, was revived to life by the goddess Aphrodite.
Shaw's Pygmalion takes shape in Professor Higgins, a genius of phonetics and dialects. His only passion is the English speech. He is convinced of the nobility of the English language and in his opinion the social standard of a human being depends on his or her accent. Higgins` Galatea is the flowergirl Eliza Doolittle, who attracted Higgins` attention because of her gutter-jargon. He met her at a bus-station where he becomes acquainted with Colonel Pickering, who is interested in phonetics too. In his whole behavior Pickering is a perfect gentleman and treats Eliza like a lady all the time. According to his own interests in phonetics he makes a bet with Higgins. Higgins opinion is, that he can make Eliza speak and behave like a lady out of the higher society within 6 month. The illusion of the comftable environment of Higgins' bachelor-household brakes down as Eliza recognizes, that she is only a "guinea pig" for Higgins. After some difficulties rising out of Elizas' and Higgins' conflict, they have success, but this success is not the merit of the drill the Professor practiced to make a lady out of the flowergirl; the good manners of Pickering and the fair but down-to-earth-bringing treatment of Mrs. Pearce are the reasons, that Eliza kept her self-respect in her way of becoming a well-educated woman.
*:based on -Bertelsmann Universallexikon 1989
-Kindlers Literaturlexikon; Hrsg. Walter Jens 1990
-Lektürehilfen Pygmalion/Educating Rita; Detlef
and Margret Ziegesar
-Pygmalion; G.B. Shaw
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