'Pygmalion' is a sad play. There is no humour in it at all. Discuss.

Laura Deighton

‘Pygmalion’ is a sad play. There is no humour in it at all. Discuss.

‘Pygmalion’ is the story of a London flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who is turned into a lady by Professor Higgins, an elocution teacher. This essay will analyse whether or not ‘Pygmalion’ is a sad play and whether or not ‘Pygmalion’ has any humour in it at all. Some audiences would oppose the idea that ‘Pygmalion’ has no humour is in, as there are many comical elements with in the play. For example Eliza’s accent at the beginning of the play and the way in which Higgin’s feelings and sarcasm is portrayed.

Some people may believe and support the statement, “‘Pygmalion’ is a sad play. There is no humour in it at all,” as some parts of ‘Pygmalion’ are tragic and sad. For example Eliza is treat in a disrespectful and hurtful way by Higgins, “wrap her up in brown paper till they come,” shows how Higgins believes Eliza has no self dignity or respect and suggests Higgins to be a cold hearted and cruel man. Mrs. Pearce is also abrupt and mean to Eliza to begin with, this is particularly shown in the incident with the bath, “You know you can’t be a nice girl inside if youre a dirty slut outside,” is a harsh comment made by Mrs. Pearce to Eliza and also shows her disrespect for Eliza. In the play the audience witness Mr. Doolittle being paid the sum of £5 for his daughter Eliza, “do you mean that you would sell your daughter,” this is a very sad and depressing part of the play, as many people of today rely on their parents for comfort and support, this incident shows that Eliza does not have this and therefore the audience are sympathetic towards her. Throughout the play we learn that Freddy adores Eliza, yet Freddy is portrayed as stupid and dim-witted, “Goodnight, darling, darling, darling,” is an example of his eccentricity and admiration for Eliza, yet some people may see Freddy as pathetic and ignorant, adding to the already created sad element of the play. The ending of the play is also somewhat tragic with Professor Higgins losing Eliza, “Then I shall not see you again, Professor. Goodbye.” This is a sad moment as through the play we (as an audience) learn that both Eliza and Higgins have feelings for each other, and although these may not be romantic they are still there and strong. This may also be seen as an unsatisfying ending as many people would have possibly preferred to see Eliza work for Higgins rather than go off and marry Freddy.

These show that ‘Pygmalion’ can be seen as a sad play, but in defence of ‘Pygmalion’s comical side some people laugh at people’s tragedy and misfortune, so this would result on ‘Pygmalion’ only being a sad play on personal preference and interpretation.

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As previously mentioned ‘Pygmalion’ does have comical elements, like that of Eliza’s accent, “theres menners f’yer! T∂-oo banches o voylets trod into the mad,” this shows her cocky background and his humorous because people are not used to hearing such a strong, cockney accent. Another element of comedy related to Eliza is when she has her first public seating with the Eynsford-Hills and the topic she is set to talk on. The weather, “the shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in an eastern direction,” and finally how everybody is, “how do you do?” These show how eccentric and silly they may sound in normal conversation, adding to the comical factors. When Eliza then makes a mistake in talking of her Aunt being, “done in,” the Professors try to pass it off as the new small talk, “Oh, that’s the new small talk. To do a person in means to kill them,” shows this, it also shows Higgins sarcasm. As does, “You see we’re all savages, more or less. We’re supposed to be civilised and cultured,” this would have been a highly inappropriate way to talk with in high society during the time, adding to the comical error made by Higgins, which therefore created humour. The play introduces to the audience Nippomuck, a gentleman claiming to be a fantastic elocutionist, yet he clearly does not find out Eliza’s true identity, “Hungarian. And of Royal blood,” is Nippomucks belief of who Eliza really is. The audience see this as comical as it is dramatic irony, we (as the audience) know something that the characters do not, making it humorous when they say something we know is not true.

Overall ‘Pygmalion’ can be seen as both sad and funny; it mainly relies on personal taste, director’s interpretation and audience interpretation. Yet I believe there are more reasons for it to be seen as funny than it to be seen as sad, so I therefore disagree with the statement, “’Pygmalion’ is a sad play. There is no humour in it at all.”

Words 830 = 4 pages hand written.