Pygmalion Summary
George Bernard Shaw

Everything you need to understand or teach Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.

Pygmalion Summary & Study Guide
1 eBook
17 Student Essays
2 Encyclopedia Articles
2 Literature Criticisms
1 Book Notes
...and more

30 Pygmalion Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
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Pygmalion Summary

Pygmalion is a comedy about a phonetics expert who, as a kind of social experiment, attempts to make a lady out of an uneducated Cockney flower-girl. Although not as intellectually complex as some of the other plays in Shaw's "theatre of ideas," Pygmalion nevertheless probes important questions about social class, human behavior, and relations between the sexes.

Hoping to circumvent what he felt was the tendency of the London press to criticize his...

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Pygmalion Study Guide

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Encyclopedia Articles (2)

Pygmalion

6,309 words, approx. 22 pages

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was born in 1856 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the only son of an Anglo-Irish family that belonged to the upper-middle-class Protestant section of ... Read more

Pygmalion

3,552 words, approx. 12 pages

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born into a poor family in Dublin, Ireland. Despite childhood neglect and inadequate schooling, he became one of Britain's most ... Read more

Project Gutenberg eBooks (1)

Pygmalion

38,829 words, approx. 130 pages

PREFACE TO PYGMALION. A Professor of Phonetics. As will be seen later on, Pygmalion needs, not a preface, but a sequel, which I have supplied in its due place.  The English have no respect for th... Read more

George Bernard Shaw Biographies (5)

Bernard Shaw

10,800 words, approx. 37 pages

Biography EssayA long life made Shaw's multifaceted activities possible, for he was handicapped by a decadelong false start in fiction, and even more by the circumstances of his upbringing. Born Georg... Read more

George Bernard Shaw

1,282 words, approx. 5 pages

The British playwright, critic, and pamphleteer George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) produced more than 52 plays and playlets, three volumes of music and drama criticism, and one major volume of socialist ... Read more

George Bernard Shaw

8,489 words, approx. 29 pages

A long life made Shaw's multifaceted activities possible, for he was handicapped by a decade-long false start in fiction, and even more by the circumstances of his upbringing. Born George Bernard Shaw... Read more

George Bernard Shaw

4,131 words, approx. 14 pages

Had Shaw died in the same year that Queen Victoria did (1901), he would not be known as one of the greatest playwrights in English since Shakespeare, but he would still be recognized as one of the maj... Read more

George Bernard Shaw

7,204 words, approx. 25 pages

Bernard Shaw was one of the most important, and certainly the most prolific, reform writers of the twentieth century. In provocative, trenchant, and humorous style he tried to formulate a constructive... Read more

Essays & Analysis (19)

Critical Essay by Emil Roy

4,674 words, approx. 16 pages

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Critical Essay by Jean Reynolds

4,351 words, approx. 15 pages

1,622 words, approx. 6 pages

Texts reflect the context of the time in which they are composed through media, language and form. This is evident in Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw and Pretty Woman, a film directed by Ga... Read more

Comparison of the Culture and Value in "Pygmalion" and "Pretty Woman"

1,563 words, approx. 6 pages

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and Pretty Woman directed by Garry Marshall both deal with the issues of wealth, social class and gender roles but in two very different societies. These issues are t... Read more

Conflict Between Man and Women in Pygmalion

594 words, approx. 2 pages

The relationship between men and women, and how they interact, is often the basis of many novels and plays. Struggle and conflict between them is very evident, yet the meaning and reason for the confl... Read more

Modern Education Based on Pygmalion

896 words, approx. 3 pages

The world has come a long way since the time period this play takes place in, many advancements have taken place and education has changed vastly. In this play, Henry Higgins draws his power and cont... Read more

Discrimination in British Society as Themes in Pygmalion

1,172 words, approx. 4 pages

Discrimination in British Society as Themes in Pygmalion Bernard Shaw expresses many themes throughout the unlikely plot of his play, Pygmalion. These themes uphold the idea of equal opportunities of... Read more

Pygmalion Vs. Pretty Woman

1,656 words, approx. 6 pages

As a fundamentalist in phonetics, it was hardly surprising that Shaw chose the defining component of his play to be language. Particularly emphasised is the notion that the English people did not spea... Read more

The Analysis of the Transformation of Eliza

1,249 words, approx. 5 pages

The play "Pygmalion" describes the process of the transformation of Eliza, who appears in three images in the story: Eliza begins as a flower girl, then she transforms into a lady with noble accent an... Read more

An Analysis of Class and Gender Conflict in Pygmalion

1,482 words, approx. 5 pages

"Pygmalion is a serious analysis of class and gender conflict." Bernard Shaw's play, entitled Pygmalion, transcends the nature of drama as a medium to be utilised for sheer entertainment value. Shaw... Read more

Pygmalion, a Review

721 words, approx. 3 pages

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is an engaging play based on a Greek myth of the same name. It plays on the complex business of human relationships in the social world and is a witty and satirical pro... Read more

Pygmalion - Making Ms. Right

1,131 words, approx. 4 pages

According to Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a man who strongly detested women and resolved to live the rest of his life unmarried. He used his skill at sculpting to fabricate his perfect woman, Galate... Read more

Is Pygmalion a Romance?

342 words, approx. 2 pages

Roses, candles, kisses and chocolates are all a common reminder of romance. But can romance be more than these stereotypical subjects? How can you tell when something is romantic or not? Where does i... Read more

Higgins' Chauvinism

832 words, approx. 3 pages

George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion tells the story of Henry Higgins, an expert phonetician, who takes Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl, as a student. With Eliza as his linguistic protég&#233... Read more

Class Distinction in "Pygmalion"

635 words, approx. 3 pages

In George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, class distinction is seen through means of one's social status in the society of that time. Also, one's speech and accent can place him in upper class, middle clas... Read more

Pygmalion

1,008 words, approx. 4 pages

The arousing of appeal is hoisted in numerous manners, however the most central allure is derived not from the most apparent happening, that is, the transformation of Eliza but rather the conflict of ... Read more

Eliza Doolittle - Pygmalion

804 words, approx. 3 pages

ELIZA DOOLITTLE Eliza Doolittle is a young women living very poorly on the streets of London, when one day she overhears a man who says he could help ... Read more

Character Analysis: Pickering vs. Higgins

751 words, approx. 3 pages

From dictionary.reference.com Appealing (adj.),,³ To be attractive or interesting The term ¡¥appealing¡¦, in referring to Colonel Pickering and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion,... Read more

Artificial Class Distinctions in "Pygmalion"

383 words, approx. 2 pages

Through my reading of Pygmalion, I have learnt that class-distinction is artificial and man-made rather than something innate in the English society. It is created by the English society to classify t... Read more

Free Book Notes (1)

Pygmalion

10,686 words, approx. 36 pages

Pygmalion Book Notes is a free study guide on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Summary   Charac... Read more

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