Bernard Shaw Pygmalion characters. Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion

The play takes place in London. IN summer evening rain cats and dogs. Passers-by run to Covent Garden Market and the portico of St. Pavel, where several people have already taken refuge, including an elderly lady and her daughter, they are in evening dresses, waiting for Freddie, the lady’s son, to find a taxi and come for them. All except one person with notebook, peering impatiently into the streams of rain. Freddie appears in the distance, having not found a taxi, and runs to the portico, but on the way he runs into a street flower girl, hurrying to hide from the rain, and knocks a basket of violets out of her hands. She bursts into abuse. A man with a notebook is hastily writing something down. The girl laments that her violets are missing and begs the colonel standing right there to buy a bouquet. To get rid of it, he gives her some change, but does not take flowers. One of the passersby draws the attention of the flower girl, a sloppily dressed and unwashed girl, that the man with the notebook is clearly scribbling a denunciation against her. The girl begins to whine. He, however, assures that he is not from the police, and surprises everyone present by accurately determining the origin of each of them by their pronunciation.

Freddie's mother sends her son back to look for a taxi. Soon, however, the rain stops, and she and her daughter go to the bus stop. The Colonel shows interest in the abilities of the man with the notebook. He introduces himself as Henry Higgins, creator of the Higgins Universal Alphabet. The colonel turns out to be the author of the book “Spoken Sanskrit”. His name is Pickering. He lived in India for a long time and came to London specifically to meet Professor Higgins. The professor also always wanted to meet the colonel. They are about to go to dinner at the colonel’s hotel when the flower girl again starts asking to buy flowers from her. Higgins throws a handful of coins into her basket and leaves with the colonel. The flower girl sees that she now owns, by her standards, a huge sum. When Freddie arrives with the taxi he finally hailed, she gets into the car and, noisily slamming the door, drives away.

The next morning, Higgins demonstrates his phonographic equipment to Colonel Pickering at his home. Suddenly, Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce, reports that a certain very simple girl wants to talk to the professor. Yesterday's flower girl enters. She introduces herself as Eliza Dolittle and says that she wants to take phonetics lessons from the professor, because with her pronunciation she cannot get a job. The day before she had heard that Higgins was giving such lessons. Eliza is sure that he will happily agree to work off the money that yesterday, without looking, he threw into her basket. Of course, it’s funny for him to talk about such sums, but Pickering offers Higgins a bet. He encourages him to prove that in a matter of months he can, as he assured the day before, turn a street flower girl into a duchess. Higgins finds this offer tempting, especially since Pickering is ready, if Higgins wins, to pay the entire cost of Eliza's education. Mrs. Pierce takes Eliza to the bathroom to wash her.

After some time, Eliza's father comes to Higgins. He is a scavenger, a simple man, but he amazes the professor with his innate eloquence. Higgins asks Dolittle for permission to keep his daughter and gives him five pounds for it. When Eliza appears, already washed, in a Japanese robe, the father does not even recognize his daughter at first. A couple of months later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's house, just on her reception day. He wants to find out whether it is already possible to introduce a girl into secular society. Mrs. Eynsford Hill and her daughter and son are visiting Mrs. Higgins. These are the same people with whom Higgins stood under the portico of the cathedral on the day he first saw Eliza. However, they do not recognize the girl. Eliza at first behaves and talks like a high-society lady, and then goes on to talk about her life and uses such street expressions that everyone present is amazed. Higgins pretends that this is new social jargon, thus smoothing over the situation. Eliza leaves the crowd, leaving Freddie in complete delight.

After this meeting, he begins to send ten-page letters to Eliza. After the guests have left, Higgins and Pickering vying with each other, enthusiastically telling Mrs. Higgins about how they work with Eliza, how they teach her, take her to the opera, to exhibitions, and dress her. Mrs. Higgins finds that they are treating the girl like a living doll. She agrees with Mrs. Pearce, who believes that they "don't think about anything."

A few months later, both experimenters take Eliza to a high society reception, where she is a dizzying success, everyone takes her for a duchess. Higgins wins the bet.

Arriving home, he enjoys the fact that the experiment, from which he was already tired, is finally over. He behaves and talks in his usual rude manner, not paying the slightest attention to Eliza. The girl looks very tired and sad, but at the same time she is dazzlingly beautiful. It is noticeable that irritation is accumulating in her.

She ends up throwing his shoes at Higgins. She wants to die. She doesn’t know what will happen to her next, how to live. After all, she became a completely different person. Higgins assures that everything will work out. She, however, manages to hurt him, throw him off balance and thereby at least a little revenge for herself.

At night, Eliza runs away from home. The next morning, Higgins and Pickering lose their heads when they see that Eliza is gone. They are even trying to find her with the help of the police. Higgins feels like he has no hands without Eliza. He doesn’t know where his things are, or what he has scheduled for the day. Mrs Higgins arrives. Then they report the arrival of Eliza's father. Dolittle has changed a lot. Now he looks like a wealthy bourgeois. He lashes out at Higgins indignantly because it is his fault that he had to change his lifestyle and now become much less free than he was before. It turns out that several months ago Higgins wrote to a millionaire in America, who founded branches of the League of Moral Reforms all over the world, that Dolittle, a simple scavenger, is now the most original moralist in all of England. He died, and before his death he bequeathed to Dolittle a share in his trust for three thousand annual income, on the condition that Dolittle would give up to six lectures a year in his League of Moral Reforms. He laments that today, for example, he even has to officially marry someone with whom he has lived for several years without registering a relationship. And all this because he is now forced to look like a respectable bourgeois. Mrs. Higgins is very happy that the father can finally take care of his changed daughter as she deserves. Higgins, however, does not want to hear about “returning” Eliza to Dolittle.

Mrs. Higgins says she knows where Eliza is. The girl agrees to return if Higgins asks her for forgiveness. Higgins does not agree to do this. Eliza enters. She expresses gratitude to Pickering for his treatment of her as a noble lady. It was he who helped Eliza change, despite the fact that she had to live in the house of the rude, slovenly and ill-mannered Higgins. Higgins is amazed. Eliza adds that if he continues to “pressure” her, she will go to Professor Nepean, Higgins’ colleague, and become his assistant and inform him of all the discoveries made by Higgins. After an outburst of indignation, the professor finds that now her behavior is even better and more dignified than when she looked after his things and brought him slippers. Now, he is sure, they will be able to live together not just as two men and one stupid girl, but as “three friendly old bachelors.”

Eliza goes to her father's wedding. Apparently, she will still live in Higgins’s house, since she has become attached to him, just as he has become attached to her, and everything will continue as before.

Poem in five acts

Act one

London. Covent Garden. Summer evening. It's raining like buckets. You can hear car sirens blaring from all sides. Passers-by run to the market and St. Paul's Church for shelter from the rain. Several people are already standing under the portico of the church, in particular an elderly lady with her daughter. Everyone is waiting for the rain to stop. Only one gentleman does not pay any attention to the weather, but tirelessly writes it down in his notebook.

A conversation is heard between an elderly lady and her daughter. The daughter is outraged by how long it takes her brother, Freddie, to return to look for a taxi. The mother tries to calm her down and protect her son. A passerby intervenes in this conversation, he is sure that now it is impossible to find a single free car - the performance in the theater has just ended. The lady indignantly says that they cannot stand here until nightfall. The passer-by rightly notes: he is not to blame for this. A wet Freddy runs onto the portico; he hasn’t received a car. The sister sarcastically asks where he was and where he looked for a taxi. He is sent out on his search again: his sister annoyingly accuses him of being selfish, and Freddie must run into the rain again. He opens his umbrella and rushes into the street, not noticing on his way the poor flower girl, who is also in a hurry to take shelter from the rain. A basket of flowers falls from her hands, and right now lightning and thunder seem to accompany this incident. The flower girl shouts: “Where are you going, Freddie! He said “sorry” as he walked and disappeared. The elderly lady carefully examines the flower girl and asks in surprise: does the girl know her son? The flower girl is obviously one of those who won’t give up and knows how to stand up for herself according to all the rules of the poor neighborhoods where she grew up. Therefore, he does not answer the question, but reproaches the elderly lady for the poor upbringing of her son: he scattered flowers to the poor girl and disappeared, let the mother pay for it. The elderly lady asks her daughter to give her money, and, indignant, does not even want to listen to the flower girl’s chatter. The mother insists, and the girl receives the money. The elderly lady again asks how the flower girl knows Freddie. And she answers in surprise that she doesn’t know him at all and called him that at random, because “you need to know what to call a person if you want to be polite.” The daughter gloatingly tells her mother that they wasted the money in vain, and leaves the flower girl in disgust. Presently, an elderly gentleman, “a nice old army man type,” appears in the portico. The old lady asks him: It doesn't look like the rain will stop. The summer gentleman replies: on the contrary, the rain began to rain even more heavily. The flower girl also maintains this conversation in order to establish friendly relations with that gentleman and offer to buy him flowers. The summer gentleman says no crumbs. The girl swears that she can change it, but he needs to leave him alone; finds it in his pocket and gives some small change to Kvitkartsi. A passerby, who interfered in a conversation between an elderly lady and her daughter, warns the girl, pointing to a man with a notebook: he writes down everything that is said, “apparently he’s a spy.” Everyone turns to the husband with a notebook. The flower girl gets scared and starts whining that she is “an honest girl, she just asked to buy a flower, she didn’t pester anyone.” Everyone who gathered in the portico calms her down, those who stood further ask: what’s the matter; There is a noise and uproar, as if something had really happened. A flower girl asks for protection from an elderly gentleman who threw her money. A man with a notebook tries to calm the flower girl, assuring that he had no bad intentions. Then the same passerby, calming the “public”, says that this is not a “spy” at all, and points to the gentleman’s shoes. However, the crowd is worried: why did he write down everything that the poor girl said. The gentleman shows Kvitkartsi his notes, but cannot make out anything in them. The passer-by reenters the conversation, and the gentleman with the notebook interrupts him and surprises everyone by pinpointing the exact place where this talker comes from. Several people invite the gentleman to identify their place of birth; it does it without a single error. “Perhaps it’s worth performing on stage with such a number,” asks the elderly gentleman. The gentleman with the notebook replies that he was thinking about it. The elderly lady's daughter is not a fan and, pushing everyone aside, approaches the edge of the portico and irritatingly notices that Freddie is not there. The gentleman with the notebook cannot resist making comments regarding his place of birth. The girl is indignant and arrogantly stops the conversation. The mother asks that gentleman to find a taxi. He takes a whistle from his pocket. The flower girl gets scared again, thinking that the whistle is a police whistle, but a passer-by, who probably knows everything about the “spies” and the police, calms her down - it’s a sports whistle. The gentleman with the notebook notes: by the way, the rain has stopped. The passerby is indignant: why was he silent before and filled their heads with his “tricks”. Everyone leaves. An elderly lady and her daughter are walking to the bus. Only the flower girl, the summer gentleman and the gentleman with the notebook remain in the portico. A summer gentleman shows interest in the abilities of a man with a notebook. He explains that he can pinpoint where a person grew up thanks to her pronunciation. He is an expert in this matter. Phonetics is his profession and hobby, which also gives him the opportunity to earn money: many rich people would like to hide their origin and their pronunciation gives them away. He teaches them to speak as they speak in prestigious areas. For example, in a few months he could make this girl “a real duchess, she could even get hired as a maid or saleswoman, and for this, as you know, a more perfect language is needed.” The summer gentleman says that he himself is studying Indian dialects. The gentleman with the notebook does not allow him to finish, asking excitedly if he knows Colonel Pickering. The summer gentleman replies that this is him: he came to London to meet an outstanding scientist, the author of “ Universal Dictionary Higgins" by Professor Higgins. Which he sees in front of him - a gentleman with a notebook picks it up. Higgins and Pickering are very pleased with the meeting and agree to go to dinner together and discuss future plans collaboration. The flower girl reminds him of his existence, asks him to buy a flower, and complains that he has nothing to pay for the apartment. Higgins indignantly hints that she was going to change a lot of money. The clock strikes the floor to the north. Higgins calls this bell “the order of the Almighty” and throws a handful of coins into the kvitkartsi basket. Higgins and Pickering are coming. The flower girl is beside herself with joy. Freddie comes running: he finally found a taxi. Confused, he asks who will go - after all, neither his mother nor his sister are here anymore. The flower girl assures that she will be happy to use the car. The taxi driver wanted to close the door in front of the girl, but he showed him a handful of money and ordered him to take whatever he could “to the house” next to the kerosene shop, and got into the car. Freddie looks after her in surprise.

Act two

The action takes place in Professor Higgins' apartment, which looks more like a science laboratory than a home. Here are file cabinets, a headform showing the vocal organs, a phonograph, and other instruments and instruments necessary for the professor to work. Colonel Pickering sits at the table, sorting through cards. Higgins stands at the filing cabinet. IN daylight it is clear that he is a plump man, about forty years old, in good health. “He belongs to that type of scientist who is ardent and passionate about everything that can be the subject of their scientific interest, but is completely indifferent to himself and others, in particular, to their feelings. Despite his age and physique, he is very similar to a curious child, noisily and quickly reacts to everything that attracts her attention, and, like a child, demands constant attention and supervision so that trouble does not happen.” Professor Higgins shows the shocked Colonel Pickering his equipment, with which he recorded one hundred and thirty vowel sounds. The professor's housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce, announces the arrival of a “young lady,” who claims that Higgins will be glad to see her. Mrs. Pierce is a little surprised by this visit, but perhaps the professor wanted to record the girl's pronunciation on his equipment. Higgins and Pickering rejoice at the opportunity to design the “phonetic material” together. A flower girl comes into the room. It is clear that she tried to dress up, there are bright feathers on her hat, and her coat is almost clean. Higgins immediately recognizes the girl and says that he has enough examples of the dialect she speaks, so let him get out of here.” The flower girl advises “not to give up,” because he still does not know what business she came for, and, turning to the housekeeper, asks, she said that she “came by taxi.” The housekeeper wonders why “such a gentleman” needs to know how this girl got to them. The flower girl dismissively says that she can go elsewhere if this “teacher is so arrogant”: she came to take lessons from him. Higgins could only exclaim in surprise and then became petrified. The girl notices that he could invite her to sit down, if he is such a gentleman, because she has business with him. Higgins, having recovered from his surprise, asks Pickering what they should “do with this scarecrow, invite him to sit or take him down the stairs.” Pickering, very politely and gently, asks why the girl needs to learn pronunciation. And she explains that she wants to go to work in a flower shop, but with her pronunciation they won’t hire her there. Then he reminds: Higgins himself boasted yesterday that he could “make a lady out of her, and they’ll accept her as a saleswoman.” Mrs. Pierce is surprised: apparently, the girl is so stupid that she thinks she can pay for Professor Higgins’ lessons. From these words the professor has finally come to his senses, he invites the girl to sit down and asks what her name is. The flower girl says her name - Eliza Dolittle. Higgins asks how much she plans to pay him. Eliza replies that she knows well how much lessons cost, because one of her friends is taught French by a real Frenchman. She wants to learn to speak her native language, so, of course, the pay will be less. And he names his price - a shilling per hour. Higgins gets up and walks around the room, as if thinking. Then, turning to Pickering, he says that such big money no one has offered him one yet. Explains: if you look at this shilling as a percentage of the girl’s income, that shilling weighs the same as sixty pounds of a millionaire. Eliza gets scared and cries: she didn’t talk about sixty pounds, she doesn’t have that much money. Mrs. Pierce calms her down and says that no one will take that kind of money from her. But Higgins threatens to take a broom and give her a good beating if she doesn’t stop crying. Pickering offers a bet: if after a few months of classes with Professor Eliza at the embassy reception no one distinguishes her from a lady, then he, Pickering, will consider Higgins an outstanding teacher and will reimburse “the entire cost of the experiment”, as well as pay for the lessons. Higgins looks at Eliza and is ready to succumb to the temptation to conduct such an experiment: the girl, in his opinion, is so vulgar. After this remark from Professor Pickering, he says that at least he is sure that Higgins will not turn the girl’s head with compliments. Mrs. Pierce does not agree with him: she knows that a girl’s head can be twisted not only with compliments. Increasingly captivated by Pickering’s idea, Higgins instructs the housekeeper to give Eliza a good wash (“if that doesn’t come off, try sanding her”), burn all the girl’s clothes, and order these new outfits (“in the meantime, you can wrap her in newsprint”). Eliza is indignant at this attitude towards herself, because she is “an honest girl and knows your brother,” threatens to call the police, asks Pickering to stand up for her. Mrs Pearce and Pickering urge Higgins not to lose common sense, because the girl is already pretty scared: you can’t treat people like that. Higgins immediately, with amazing professionalism, changes his tone, becoming insinuating and sweet. His tone does not make any impression on Mrs. Pierce; she is sure: “you can’t pick up a living girl like a pebble on the seashore.” Asks Eliza about her parents. She replies that her father lives with the sixth stepmother in her memory; he gladly kicked his daughter out as soon as she grew up. Even when no one cares about Eliza, Mrs. Pierce wants to know: under what conditions will the girl stay in the house, will she be paid money, what will happen to her after the experiment is completed. Higgins does not consider it necessary to think about it and convinces him that this is nonsense - maybe. The main thing for him now is experiment, and then it will be up to Eliza. The girl wants to leave this house, because Higgins thinks “only about himself” and he “has no heart.” Then the professor, with the skill of the devil, seduces Eliza, promising her new dresses, and sweets, and a taxi, which she will be able to ride as much as she wants. Pickering takes Mrs. Pierce's side and says: Eliza must realize what she is doing when she agrees to the experiment. Higgins is sure that this is impossible: she is not able to understand anything. Then Pickering turns to Eliza: “Miss Dolittle...”. Eliza exclaims in surprise at some strange sounds that convey her snoring: never in her life has anyone addressed her like that. Hearing Eliza's screams, Higgins says that all conversations with her are useless, because she only understands clear and simple commands, so he orders her to quickly go to the bathroom. Mrs. Pierce asks permission to speak with the girl alone. Already on the threshold, Eliza makes a whole speech: she is an honest girl, and he, Higgins, is a rude person, she will not stay in the house if she doesn’t want to - it was he who pestered her, she owes him nothing; she has a feeling, let him note this to himself, and the feelings are the same as those of other people. Mrs. Pierce closes the door and Eliza's voice is no longer heard.

Pickering, left alone with Higgins, asks, apologizing for his frankness: or is the professor a decent professor when it comes to women? Higgins is perplexed: are there such men? He compares the relationship between a man and a woman to a journey, when one pulls south, the other north, and with the rest both turn east, although neither he or she. she "can't stand it" east wind" Pickering does not allow himself to be talked into: he feels responsible for the girl and wants to be sure that Higgins will not take advantage of her position in his home. Higgins argues that one can teach only when “the personality of the student is sacred”; he taught many American millionaires to speak English, and among them were very beautiful, and he treated them as if they were just a piece of wood in front of him, or he himself was such a piece. This speech is interrupted by Mrs. Pierce, who has come to talk to the professor. She asks Higgins to choose his words in the presence of Eliza, because he has a habit of swearing. Higgins is outraged: he hates this way of talking, “damn it.” This is exactly what Mrs. Pierce meant; there are too many such words, and even worse ones, in the professor’s vocabulary. In addition, the girl must get used to neatness, so the professor should not throw his things around, go to breakfast in a dressing gown, use a tablecloth instead of a napkin, etc. To avoid this conversation, Higgins notices that his robe, by the way, smells very much of gasoline. Mrs. Pierce is difficult to confuse, she remarks: if the professor does not wipe his hands with his robe... Higgins does not let her finish and promises to wipe his hands with his hair. Mrs. Pierce asks permission to take one of the professor's Japanese robes for Eliza. Higgins seems to agree to everything, only the housekeeper gave him peace of mind. Mrs. Pierce leaves the room with a sense of accomplishment, but returns to report that Mr. Dolittle, Eliza's father, has arrived.

Alfred Dolittle is an elderly but still strong man in a scavenger's work suit, his facial features indicate that “fear and conscience are still unknown to him.” Higgins is sure that Dolittle is a blackmailer who deliberately sent Eliza. Therefore, as soon as Dolittle says with the importance of an “official” that he needs his daughter, Higgins immediately agrees to give her up. Dolittle is amazed: he doesn’t need his daughter at all, he just wanted to get some money, about five pounds. Pickering notes that Higgins has no ill intentions towards Eliza. Doolittle assures that he would have asked for fifty pounds if he had assumed that Higgins had stupid intentions. Higgins likes the eloquence of this “philosopher”, devoid of any moral obligations, the originality of his interpretation of “bourgeois morality”: “I need no less than a worthy poor man, for he eats and I eat, he doesn’t drink, but I drink, and I need to have fun, because I’m a person who thinks.” Higgins claims that after working with Doolittle for a few months, he could be offered "either a minister's chair or a preacher's chair." Higgis decides to give Dolittle money, even offering more than he asks for. But Alfred Dolittle is a man of common sense, he knows how much to ask in order to spend this money with pleasure. If he takes more, then there will be a temptation to put them aside, “then a person begins to live, looking back.” Dolittle received the money and was about to leave when Eliza entered the room wearing a colorful Japanese robe. Her father doesn’t even recognize her right away, she’s so pure and beautiful. Eliza tells her father in delight that “it’s easy to walk clean here,” “so many hot water and soap." Higgins expresses satisfaction that Eliza liked the bathroom. And she objects: she didn’t like everything; for example, she had to cover the mirror with a towel because it was embarrassing to look at. Higgins remarks to Dolittle that he raised his daughter very strictly. He denies it: he never raised her, just sometimes he hit her with a belt and that’s it. She assures that her daughter will get used to it and will behave “more freely”, “as you should.” Eliza is indignant: she will never lead more freely, because she is an honest girl. Higgins threatens to give her to her father if he even says one more time that she is an honest girl. And Eliza is not afraid of this, because she knows her father well: he came for the money, not for her. Dolittle hurries to leave: last words He doesn't like Higgins. In parting, the professor invites the father to visit his daughter, adding that he has a brother-priest who could instruct their conversations. Dolittle was blown away by the wind. Eliza assures that now her father will never come, because it’s easier for him “to let the dogs loose on him than to have a priest.” Higgins notes that he is not very upset about this. Eliza too: she cannot forgive her father for rummaging through the trash when he has “real business.” "What's the matter, Eliza?" - Asks Pickering. And she explains that her father is a navvy, owes good money, and even now sometimes takes up the job “to stretch his bones.” Then she asks: “Won’t Pickering tell her Miss Dolittle anymore”? He asks to apologize for his impoliteness. Eliza replies that she was not offended, but it worked out well - Miss Dolittle. Mrs. Pierce reports that new dresses have been brought from the store. Eliza runs out of the room. Higgins and Pickering agree that they have taken on a difficult task. The first one notices this cheerfully, the second - firmly and seriously.

Act three

Several months have passed since the events mentioned. On one of Mrs. Higgins’ visiting days, even before the guests arrived, Professor Higgins visited her mother. Seeing him, Mrs. Higgins gets scared. She reminds her son that he promised not to come on business days, so all her friends are alarmed and they stop visiting her. Higgins claims that he came on a “phonetic matter”: he needs his mother’s help. She replies that she cannot help him here either, because even though she loves her son very much, she is not able to overcome his vowels. Higgins impatiently says that he will not study phonetics with her. The fact is, Higgins continues, that he picked up “one girl” on the street. The mother notices that one girl must have picked him up. Higgins is indignant: he is not talking about love. His mother is sorry because he doesn’t notice that there are many pretty girls among the young girls. “Stupid,” the professor adds. Mrs. Higgins very seriously asks him to do one thing, if, of course, he really loves his mother. Higgins screams: apparently his mother wants him to get married. No, he answers firmly, for now it will be enough if he takes his hands out of his pockets and stops running around the room. Higgins sits down and finally announces the purpose of his visit: he invited the girl he picked up to visit his mother so that she could pass the first test. The mother is horrified, because this is even worse than her son. What is the girl talking about? Higgins assures that Eliza received the appropriate instructions, so she has only two topics of conversation - the weather and health. He has already corrected her pronunciation, because Eliza has good hearing, but now she has to think not only about how to speak, but also what. The professor did not have time to finish, so they announced the arrival of guests - Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill. It turns out that these are the same mother and daughter who stood in the portico of the church during the rain. “The mother is a tactful, well-mannered woman, but you can feel the tension in relationships with people, which is typical for people with limited means. The daughter adopted the relaxed tone of a girl accustomed to high society: the insolence of decorated poverty.” Mrs Higgins recommends her son. The guests are delighted: they have heard so much about the glorious professor and are glad to meet him. Higgins is sure that he saw, and most importantly heard, these women somewhere, and cannot yet remember where exactly. Miss Clara Eynsford Hill, who approaches Higgins for small talk, is advised not to hang around, but to sit somewhere. Mrs. Higgins is forced to apologize for her son and admit that he does not know how to behave in society. Higgins asks: has he offended anyone, apologizes, turns his back to the guests and “watches the river and flower garden outside the window with such a view as if there was eternal ice in front of him.” They announce the arrival of Colonel Pickering. His behavior is in stark contrast to Higgins' manners. Pickering asks the hostess if she knows what business they came for. Higgins doesn't let his mother answer. “The trait of a bald man: these guys came and interfered,” he says. Mrs. Eynsford is let down, without expressing her resentment, she says that their visit is probably untimely. Mrs. Higgins blocked her, which, on the contrary, is very appropriate, because she is waiting for one thing young man, with whom I would like to introduce my guests. Freddy arrives. Higgins still can't remember where he saw these people. He doesn’t know what to talk about while Eliza is away, and he doesn’t hide about it. Mrs. Eynsford also does not like small talk, she is sure: it would be much better if people said what they think. Higgins claims that it is unlikely that anyone would be pleased if he said what he thought. Finally they report the arrival of Miss Dolittle." Everyone present is amazed by her beauty, her elegant outfit. Eliza greets everyone, adhering to strict rules of etiquette, speaks in a pleasant voice, but pronounces her words very carefully. Higgins finally remembers where he saw all this society, meeting so unexpectedly in his mother's living room. Meanwhile, Eliza begins a conversation about the weather, hoping "that there will be no significant changes in the state of the atmosphere." Freddie then shouts. Eliza, with the confidence of a good student, asks the young man: what’s the matter, did she say something wrong? Freddie is delighted. To continue the conversation, Freddie's mother says that every spring one of them gets "influenza." Hearing this word, Eliza gloomily remembers: her aunt died, everyone said “influenza,” but she is sure that the old one was “sewn on.” Further, Eliza, with her phonetically flawless pronunciation, says such words and expressions that Higgins is forced to pass it off as new Fashionable style communication. Eliza thinks out loud: her aunt suffered from various illnesses, but gin always helped her, but here she died from such a trifle. “And where is her hat, which Eliza was supposed to inherit, Miss Dolittle asks rhetorically,” and he himself answers: “Who stole the hat, also sewed on the aunt.” Further more. Eliza talks about her father, who helped his aunt to be treated with gin, assures that “he is much better under the influence than sober, because then his conscience does not torment him.” Clara and Freddie are delighted with the “new style”, their mother is frankly shocked. Higgins clearly looks at his watch and Eliza realizes that it is time to say goodbye. It comes out. The guests discuss for several minutes " a new style" When the guests leave, Higgins asks his mother if Eliza can be “showed off in society.” And he assures that as long as the girl is under the influence of her son, no good manners there is no need to talk. She asks to tell her in detail who this girl is and what she is doing in Professor Higgins' house. Pickering and Higgins race to talk about Eliza. Mrs. Higgins understands that they have got themselves a living doll and are having fun. She warns them that a problem came to their house with Eliza: what the girl will do next. She probably faces the same fate as that lady who just left the living room: the manners and habits of a society lady, but not enough money to be one in reality, but there is a complete inability to earn her own bread. But men don't do this. Eliza must do something, the waters assure. Higgins and Pickering say goodbye and leave. You can hear them on the stairs discussing the possibility of Eliza visiting a fashion exhibition and rejoicing like children in anticipation of this “fun performance”. Mrs. Higgins indignantly repeats one word several times: “Men!

Act four

Professor Higgins' laboratory. North. There is no one in the room. The clock strikes twelve. The voices of Higgins and Pickering are heard on the stairs: they are talking about how tired they are during the day, and now they would only like to have a good rest. Eliza enters the room. She is in a luxurious outfit with diamonds, holding flowers and a fan. The girl goes to the fireplace and lights the lamp. Now it is clear that she is very tired, her expression is almost tragic. Eliza puts flowers and a fan on the piano, sits down next to her and is sadly silent. Higgins comes in wearing a tailcoat and top hat, but carrying a home jacket under his arm. He unceremoniously takes off his tailcoat, throws it on the coffee table, and begins to change into home clothes, not noticing Eliza. Wearily lounges in a chair. Pickering comes in. He is also in formal attire. He takes off his coat and top hat and wants to put it next to Higgins’ clothes, but, noticing Eliza, he does not allow himself to do this. Turning to Higgins, he says that tomorrow they will get it from Mrs. Pierce if they scatter things here. Higgins doesn't care. Pickering takes his things and goes downstairs. Higgins is humming an aria, suddenly interrupts the singing and asks rhetorically: where did his slippers go? Eliza looks at him darkly, then gets up and leaves. Pickering returns, he brought letters. Both are viewing them. Eliza comes in with slippers and silently places them in front of Higgins. He, yawning, begins to pick up his shoes and notices the slippers. He looks at them as if they were there themselves. Higgins and Pickering complain to each other about fatigue and discuss the past day. They went to a picnic, then to a dinner party, and then to the opera. And all in order to show Eliza to secular society. Now they are happy that they won the bet. They discuss among themselves several “acute moments” when they feared that Eliza would not cope with the role of the duchess, but everything turned out okay. “We have won a real victory,” they say, greeting each other. Eliza sits silently, but her beauty becomes so evil. Men wish each other Good night , come out. Higgins lingers on the threshold to give Eliza instructions: turn off the lights, tell Mrs. Pierce that in the morning he will drink tea, not coffee. Eliza tries to hold on and pretend to be calm, but when Higgins comes out, she gives vent to her feelings and falls to the floor, sobbing. Higgins' voice is heard again: he is still looking for his slippers. As soon as he appears on the threshold, Eliza, grabbing her slippers, throws them one at a time in Higgins' face. He is very surprised and asks what happened. Eliza says that nothing happened: she won the bet for him, and he has nothing to do with her. Higgins went crazy: she won the bet! He won! Why is she throwing her slippers! Eliza replies that she would like to smash his head or strangle him - a disgusting, selfish animal. Why did he pull her out of that swamp, what will she do next! Higgins looks at Eliza with the cold curiosity of a scientist and notices in surprise: this creature, it turns out, was also worried. But what does he care what happens to her next! Eliza was in despair. Even Higgins begins to worry a little, but he still speaks arrogantly to the girl: was she treated badly here, did anyone offend her? Eliza answers all questions with a short “no.” Higgins condescendingly says that she is a little tired, but everything has passed, and now she just needs to rest. Eliza replies that she has already heard the prayer: “Thank God it’s all over!” Where will she go now? Finally understanding what worries the girl, Higgins advises not to do it. He had not yet thought about what would happen next. He got used to her, thought that she would not go anywhere from his apartment. Then she takes a large apple from the vase, takes a tasty bite, and says: perhaps Eliza will get married, because she is beautiful, not now, of course, now her face is swollen from tears and has become “scary as a mortal sin.” The girl turns her eyes to him and looks intently, but the glance is wasted - Higgins eats the apple with appetite. Suddenly a “happy thought” comes to his mind: he must ask Mrs. Higgins to find a candidate for a husband for Eliza. The girl replies with contempt that she used to sell flowers, and now he invites her to sell herself. Higgins calls this hypocrisy, however, she does not have to marry if she does not like it. Pickering can buy her a flower shop - he has a lot of money! All this is empty, says Higgins, he is so tired that it’s better to go to bed now, just to remember what he came here for! Higgins looks at the slippers and remembers, bends down to pick them up. Eliza detains him, addressing him according to all the rules of etiquette. He dropped his slippers in surprise. Eliza asks: are those dresses that she wears hers or the colonel's? Higgins wonders why the colonel women's dresses!? Eliza calmly says that the dresses might be useful to another girl with whom they will experiment. This remark offends Higgins, but he restrains himself. Eliza wants to know what exactly of her personal belongings she is actually entitled to, so that later she will not be called a thief. Why find out this at one in the morning, Higgins wonders: he expected her to have more feelings. Let him take everything to hell, only leave the diamonds, because they were borrowed! - Higgins shouts irritably. Eliza asks him to take all the diamonds right away, then furiously grabs the jewelry and hides it in her pockets. Eliza takes off the ring that they bought her from her finger and also gives it to Higgins, saying that now he doesn’t need it. Higgins throws the ring into the fireplace and returns to her with such an expression that Eliza shouts: “Don’t hit me!” Higgins also starts screaming: it was she who hit him in the heart. Eliza does not hide her satisfaction; she rejoices at the opportunity to at least settle scores with him in this way. Sending everything and everyone to hell, Higgins walks out proudly. Eliza smiles for the first time all evening, then kneels in front of the fireplace and looks for the ring.

ACT FIVE

Mrs. Higgins's living room. The hostess is standing at the table, the maid comes in and informs that Mr. Higgins and Colonel Pickering are downstairs talking on the phone with the police. The maid adds: the professor in bad mood. Mrs. Higgins says she would be surprised if he was well; convey an invitation to the men to come see her “when they are finished with the police,” and tell Miss Doolittle not to leave her room until she is called. Higgins bursts into the room, it’s not enough to say that he’s in a bad mood! He doesn’t even greet his mother, but immediately announces: “Eliza has run away!” Perhaps she was scared, asks Mrs. Higgins. Higgins is confident that nothing bad happened to Eliza yesterday: she, “as always, stayed to put out the lamps, etc.,” but then did not go to bed. Early in the morning she arrived in a cab to get her things, and “that old fool Mrs. Pierce” gave her everything and, without even telling Higgins, let her go. What to do now, asks the professor. The mother replies that, apparently, she will have to do without Eliza. Professor Higgins wanders from corner to corner and admits that he doesn’t even know where his things are, doesn’t know who he’s meeting today, because Eliza kept all this in her memory. Pickering comes in and politely greets the hostess. Higgins attacks him with the question: “What did that ass inspector say?” Mrs. Higgins asks indignantly: are they really going to look for Eliza with the help of the police? Pickering agrees: perhaps this should not have been done, because the inspector even had some suspicions about their intentions. This is not surprising, says Mrs. Higgins, and who gave them the right to notify the police about Eliza, like she is a thief or an umbrella that is lost. Pickering makes the excuse that they really want Eliza back - they can’t live without her!

The maid comes in and announces that a gentleman has come before Mr. Higgins on some urgent business; he was sent here when he did not find the professor at home. Higgins does not want to hear about other matters, but, having learned that Mr. Dolittle has arrived, he asks to immediately bring a visitor. Dolittle enters. He wears new fashionable clothes, patent leather boots and a shiny top hat complete the picture. He is so carried away by the purpose of his visit that he does not even notice the hostess. Dolittle immediately rushes to Higgins and, pointing to his suit, says: “You did all this! Higgins wonders what exactly “is it”? In turn, he asks: did Eliza really remove her father like that? Mrs. Higgins interrupts the conversation and greets Dolittle. He is embarrassed, politely answers the greeting, explains that he is no longer himself, because unfortunate changes have occurred in his life. Higgins only asks if Dolittle found Eliza, he is not interested in anything else. Dolittle wonders: did the professor really manage to lose her? That's lucky! She reassures that Eliza is not going anywhere, she will now find her father herself, “after what you did to me.” Mrs. Higgins, perhaps expecting the worst, asks what her son did to Dolittle. He tragically replies: “He lost me, threw me into the jaws of bourgeois morality.” Higgins is indignant. Doolittle recalls how, in a letter to a friend of an American millionaire who dreamed of creating a worldwide Society for Moral Reform and gave a lot of money for this, Higgins wrote that the original moralist in modern England is Alfred Doolittle, a simple scavenger. Higgins agrees that he once joked like that. Dolittle is indignant: good jokes! That millionaire died. And in his will he indicated that he would leave his share in the cheese-making trust “Companion of the Stomach” Dolittle if he lectured six times a year at the World League for Moral Reforms. Higgins liked this coincidence of events. Pickering notes that Doolittle will not be invited to lecture more than once, so there is no need to worry so much. It turns out that Dolittle is not afraid of lectures at all; he is sure he can cope with this. He doesn't like being made into a gentleman. He lived quietly and calmly, did not depend on anyone, knew how to get money out if necessary, Higgins knows. And now Dolittle has no peace, because he has so many relatives! Previously, doctors and lawyers tried to push him out the door as quickly as possible, but now they do nothing but take care of him. Everyone is trying to get money from him. Probably, Higgins will also make money from it, because he can no longer speak as he spoke before, he must learn “bourgeois language.” Mrs. Higgins asks why he didn’t renounce the inheritance when he only has trouble with it. Dolittle is forced to admit that he “didn’t have the guts” for this, and is afraid of growing old in an orphanage. “I was bought. I gave up. Other chosen ones of fate will now take out my trash and get paid for it, and I will watch and envy.” Mrs. Higgins is glad that now there is no need to worry about Eliza’s fate: her father will take care of her. Dolittle melancholy agrees, because now he must take care of everyone. Higgips shouts that Dolittle cannot deal with Eliza because the girl is not his: he received money for his daughter. Mrs. Higgins indignantly orders her son to stop saying absurd things: Eliza is upstairs and can hear everything. She wandered the streets of the city all night, even wanted to throw herself into the river, but did not dare. Early in the morning she came to Mrs. Higgins and told how Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering had treated her cruelly. Both named husbands jump up and down: they didn’t do anything to Eliza, they didn’t talk to her at all. That’s the point, Mrs. Higgins notes: Eliza did her job so well, tried so hard for them, and they didn’t even thank her, didn’t say a kind word, sat down and began to complain about how tired they were of all this. Mrs. Higgins assures that if she were Eliza, she would have been thrown not with slippers, but with a poker. Pickering has to admit that they were a little absent-minded about Eliza last night. Mrs. Higgins says that Eliza agreed to forget all grievances and meet Higgins and Pickering as if they were old acquaintances. Of course, if the professor promises to behave politely. Higgins can barely contain himself. Mrs. Higgins asks Dolittle to go out onto the balcony so that Eliza will not know about the changes in her father's life until she makes a decision regarding Higgins and Pickering. While they are waiting for Eliza, Higgins sits in a chair with his legs stretched out and whistling. His mother says that this position does not suit him. The professor replies that he doesn’t care, but picks up his legs. Then Mrs. Higgins says that she doesn’t care either, she just wanted her son to talk, then he won’t be able to whistle. Higgins groans, then can’t stand it and screams: where did “that girl” go?

Eliza comes in, calm and at ease. She behaves confidently, holding a basket of work in her hands. Pickering is amazed, he even forgets to get up to meet her. Eliza is greeted by Professor Higgins and politely asks about his health. He even became stubborn. Then the girl turns to Pickering, greeted. He jumps to his feet. Eliza starts small talk about the weather. Higgins, having come to his senses, tells her to stop “putting on a comedy,” because it doesn’t impress him: he taught her this himself. He assures that Eliza does not have any thought of her own, not a single word that he did not teach her to pronounce. “I created this creature from a bunch of rotten carrots... and now she dares to pose as a noble lady! Eliza does not seem to hear what Higgins is saying so passionately, but turns exclusively to Pickering. She thanks him for everything: after all, it was he who helped her change so much, because before she behaved exactly like the professor. Eliza says that his upbringing began when she first crossed the threshold of Higgins's apartment: it was then that Pickering addressed her as “Miss Dolittle” for the first time in her life, awakening his dignity and self-respect. There were many other things, little things that the colonel did not pay attention to, because he was used to treating everyone this way: he never walked through the door first, did not take off his shoe in it, but always took off his hat when he talked to her. Then she realized that what distinguishes a lady from a flower girl is not only how she carries herself, but also how others treat her. Pickering, trying to protect his friend, says that Higgins behaves the same with everyone: both the flower girl and the duchess. But it was he who taught Eliza to speak. Eliza objects: teaching to speak is Higgins’ profession, and we're talking about about personality traits. She asks that Pickering now call HER Eliza, but the professor only calls Mister Dolittle. Higgins shouts that she will die rather than wait. Pickering laughs and invites Eliza to answer Higgins in the same tone. The girl says that now she can’t do it anymore, because she has forgotten “her language”, “like a child who finds herself in a foreign country”, there is no return to the old ways. Higgins claims that without him, "Miss Dolittle" would be "in a ditch in three weeks." Mr. Dolittle comes out from the balcony and approaches so that Eliza cannot see him. She says that she cannot speak the way she used to, even if she wanted to. Her father puts his hand on her shoulder and Eliza looks back at him. Suddenly recognizing her father in this chic gentleman, she screams in the same way as when she was first called “Miss Dolittle.” The professor rejoices like a child - this is a victory, nothing has essentially changed in Eliza! Dolittle explains the reason why he dressed up especially smartly: “Your stepmother is marrying me.” Eliza angrily asks whether her father can really marry such a “vulgar woman.” Pickering sees her father's moral duty in this marriage, and Doolittle agrees: "bourgeois morality requires sacrifice." He asks Eliza to go to church with him and assures that the stepmother has become meek, does not offend anyone, does not quarrel with anyone. Eliza leaves the room to get dressed. Dolittle invites Colonel Pickering to church with him “to keep his spirits up.” Mrs. Higgins also expresses a desire to see this wedding. She invites Eliza, who comes in already dressed, to wait for her: they will go in the same carriage, and let Colonel Pickernig accompany the “young man.” Leaving the room, Pickering asks Eliza to forgive Higgins and return to them. The girl replies that her father probably won’t allow her. But Dolittle shows no desire to “pry his nose into this matter,” he is even pleased that these two people tamed Eliza in this way. He is sure that if there had been one person there, he would not have been able to resist Eliza, but two survived. Eliza, in order not to be left alone with Higgins, goes to the balcony, the professor follows the girl. Then Eliza returns to the room. Having cut off the girl's options for retreat, Higgins forces her to listen to him. He is sure that Eliza has already punished him enough and now it is better to return to their apartment. He does not promise that he will change in his attitude towards her, because he is sure: it is important to behave with everyone as if “in heaven, where there are no third-class passengers and all immortal souls are equal before themselves.” Eliza said, “Amen. You are a natural preacher." Higgins asks, annoyingly, if she's ever seen him behave better with anyone than with her. Eliza says that she won’t be surprised by a bad attitude, but she doesn’t tell anyone. will not allow himself to be crushed, for he, “like a bus, follows his own path and does not look at who meets on his way.” Higgins is forced to admit that Eliza is enough for him, because she also taught him something. Eliza is sure that she is not interested in him at all. Higgins does not agree with this: he is interested in life, people, and she is a piece of this life that happened on his way, and he gave her a piece of his soul. But for him, feelings will never become a commodity. “You call me heartless because, by giving me slippers, looking for my glasses, you thought to buy the right to me with this, and you were mistaken... When you threw those slippers, you won much more in my eyes.” Higgins invites Eliza to return for the sake of good friendly relations. Eliza regrets that she cannot take up her basket of flowers again - then she would be independent, but now she is a slave. "Not at all. Do you want me to marry you for your father, or will I put the money in your name? Or perhaps you want to marry Pickering? "- Higgins asks. He thinks for a moment, then adds that the colonel probably won’t agree, because he is also an avid bachelor. Eliza loses her temper and in despair assures that she can get married if she wants: Freddie writes her three letters every day. Higgins, unpleasantly surprised by this discovery, calls Freddie a fool and impudent and warns Eliza that he himself cannot and will not melt from feelings for her. Let her marry whoever she wants, if she doesn’t know how to value what she has, let her have what she values. Eliza is confident that she will be able to prove her right to independence: she will give phonetics lessons herself or become an assistant to Professor Nepean. Higgins is in despair: is she really capable of doing this - giving away all his secrets to a fool and sycophants. He grabs Eliza by the shoulders and promises to twist her head. Eliza is not afraid and does not demonstratively resist, she only says that she always felt that sooner or later he would beat her. But now she knows what he is afraid of: after all, the knowledge that he gave her cannot be taken back. Higgins looks at Eliza almost in delight: he likes her that way. He joyfully says that he kept his word - he did make a real woman out of her, not “a burden on her neck,” but a “fortress.” “Now we will not just be two men and one stupid girl, but three friendly old bachelors.” It turns out Mrs. Higgins, Eliza asks if Professor Higgins will not go to church. Mrs. Higgins replies that her son does not know how to behave in church: he will correct the priest's pronunciation. Higgins says goodbye, but, as if remembering something, he orders Eliza to stop by the store and buy something, in particular, gloves and a tie for him to go with his new suit. Eliza replies that he can buy all this himself, and leaves the room. Mrs. Higgins promises to help her son pick out a tie, but the professor, smiling, says that Eliza will carry out his order. Eliza goes to her father's wedding. Higgins walks around the room looking quite contented.

Bernard Show
Pygmalion
Novel in five acts
ACT ONE
Covent Garden. Summer evening. It's raining like buckets. From all sides the desperate roar of car sirens. Passers-by run to the market and to the Church of St. Paul, under whose portico several people had already taken refuge, including an elderly lady and her daughter, both in evening dresses. Everyone peers with annoyance into the streams of rain, and only one person, standing with his back to the others, seems to be completely absorbed in some notes that he is making in a notebook. The clock strikes a quarter past eleven.
Daughter (stands between the two middle columns of the portico, closer to the left). I can’t take it anymore, I’m completely chilled. Where did it go?
Freddie? Half an hour has passed, and he’s still not there.
Mother (to the right of her daughter). Well, not half an hour. But still, it’s time for him to get a taxi.
Passer-by (to the right of the elderly lady). Don't expect that, lady: now everyone is coming from the theaters; He won’t be able to get a taxi before half past twelve. Mother. But we need a taxi. We can't stand here until half past eleven. This is simply outrageous.
Passerby. What do I have to do with it?
Daughter. If Freddie had any sense, he would have taken a taxi from the theater.
Mother. What is his fault, poor boy?
Daughter. Others get it. Why can't he?
Freddie flies in from Southampton Street and stands between them, closing his umbrella, which is dripping with water. This is a young man of about twenty; he is in a tailcoat, his trousers are completely wet at the bottom.
Daughter. Still haven't gotten a taxi?
Freddie. Nowhere, even if you die.
Mother. Oh, Freddie, really, really not at all? You probably didn't search well.
Daughter. Ugliness. Won't you tell us to go get a taxi ourselves?
Freddie. I'm telling you, there isn't one anywhere. The rain came so unexpectedly, everyone was taken by surprise, and everyone rushed to the taxi. I walked all the way to Charing Cross, and then in the other direction, almost to Ledgate Circus, and did not meet a single one.
Mother. Have you been to Trafalgar Square?
Freddie. There isn't one in Trafalgar Square either.
Daughter. Were you there?
Freddie. I was at Charingcross Station. Why did you want me to march to Hammersmith in the rain?
Daughter. You haven't been anywhere!
Mother. It's true, Freddie, you're somehow very helpless. Go again and don't come back without a taxi.
Freddie. I'll just get soaked to the skin in vain.
Daughter. What should we do? Do you think we should stand here all night, in the wind, almost naked? This is disgusting, this is selfishness, this is...
Freddie. Well, okay, okay, I'm going. (He opens his umbrella and rushes towards the Strand, but on the way he runs into a street flower girl, hurrying to take cover from the rain, and knocks the basket of flowers out of her hands.)
At the same second, lightning flashes, and a deafening clap of thunder seems to accompany this incident.
Flower girl. Where are you going, Freddie? Take your eyes in your hands!
Freddie. Sorry. (Runs away.)
Flower girl (picks up flowers and puts them in a basket). And also educated! He trampled all the violets into the mud. (He sits down on the plinth of the column to the right of the elderly lady and begins to shake off and straighten the flowers.)
She can't be called attractive in any way. She is eighteen to twenty years old, no more. She is wearing a black straw hat, badly damaged in its lifetime by London dust and soot and hardly familiar with a brush. Her hair is some kind of mouse color, not found in nature: water and soap are clearly needed here. A tan black coat, narrow at the waist, barely reaching the knees; from under it a brown skirt and a canvas apron are visible. Shoes, apparently, also knew better days. Without a doubt, she is clean in her own way, but next to the ladies she definitely seems like a mess. Her facial features are not bad, but the condition of her skin leaves much to be desired; In addition, it is noticeable that she needs the services of a dentist.
Mother. Excuse me, how do you know that my son's name is Freddy?
Flower girl. Oh, so this is your son? There is nothing to say, you raised him well... Is this really the point? He scattered all the poor girl's flowers and ran away like a darling! Now pay, mom!
Daughter. Mom, I hope you won't do anything like that. Still missing!
Mother. Wait, Clara, don't interfere. Do you have change?
Daughter. No. I only have sixpence.
Flower girl (hopefully). Don't worry, I have some change.
Mother (daughter). Give it here.
The daughter reluctantly parts with the coin.
So. (To the girl.) Here are the flowers for you, my dear.
Flower girl. God bless you, lady.
Daughter. Take her change. These bouquets cost no more than a penny.
Mother. Clara, they don't ask you. (To the girl.) No change needed.
Flower girl. God bless you.
Mother. Now tell me, how do you know this young man’s name?
Flower girl. I don't even know.
Mother. I heard you call him by name. Don't try to fool me.
Flower girl. I really need to deceive you. I just said so. Well, Freddie, Charlie - you have to call a person something if you want to be polite. (Sits down next to his basket.)
Daughter. Wasted sixpence! Really, Mom, you could have spared Freddie from this. (Disgustingly retreats behind the column.)
An elderly gentleman—a pleasant old army man type—runs up the steps and closes his umbrella, from which water is flowing. His pants, just like Freddie's, are completely wet at the bottom. He's wearing a tailcoat and a light suit summer coat. She takes the empty seat at the left column, from which her daughter has just left.
Gentleman. Oof!
Mother (to the gentleman): Please tell me, sir, is there still no light in sight?
Gentleman. Unfortunately no. The rain just started pouring down even harder. (He approaches the place where the flower girl is sitting, puts his foot on the plinth and, bending down, rolls up his wet trouser leg.)
Mother. Oh my god! (He sighs pitifully and goes to his daughter.)
Flower girl (hurries to take advantage of the elderly gentleman's proximity in order to establish friendly relations with him). Since it has poured more heavily, it means it will soon pass. Don’t be upset, captain, better buy a flower from a poor girl.
Gentleman. I'm sorry, but I don't have any change.
Flower girl. And I'll change it for you, captain.
Gentleman. Sovereign? I don't have any others.
Flower girl. Wow! Buy a flower, captain, buy it. I can change half a crown. Here, take this one - two pence.
Gentleman. Well, girl, just don’t pester me, I don’t like it. (Reaches in his pockets.) Really, there’s no change... Wait, here’s a penny and a half, if that suits you... (Moves to another column.)
Flower Girl (she is disappointed, but still decides that a penny and a half is better than nothing). Thank you, sir.
Passerby (to the flower girl). Look, you took the money, so give him a flower, otherwise that guy over there is standing and recording your every word.
Everyone turns to the man with the notebook.
Flower Girl (jumps up in fear). What did I do if I talked to a gentleman? Selling flowers is not prohibited. (Tearful.) I'm an honest girl! You saw everything, I just asked him to buy a flower.
General noise; the majority of the public is sympathetic to the flower girl, but do not approve of her excessive impressionability. The elderly and respectable people pat her on the shoulder reassuringly, encouraging her with remarks like: “Well, well, don’t cry!” “Who needs you, no one will touch you.” – There’s no point in raising a scandal. - Calm down. – It will be, it will be! – etc. The less patient ones point at her and angrily ask what exactly she is yelling at? Those who stood at a distance and don’t know what’s going on squeeze closer and increase the noise with questions and explanations: “What happened?” -What did she do? -Where is he? - Yes, I fell asleep. - What, that one over there? - Yes, yes, standing by the column. She lured money from him, etc. The flower girl, stunned and confused, makes her way through the crowd to the elderly gentleman and screams pitifully.
Flower girl. Sir, sir, tell him not to report me. You don't know what it smells like. For pestering
to the gentlemen they will take away my certificate and throw me out into the street. I…
A man with a notebook approaches her from the right, and everyone else crowds behind him.
Man with a notebook. But but but! Who touched you, you stupid girl? Who do you take me for?
Passerby. Everything is fine. This is a gentleman - notice his shoes. (To the man with the notebook, explanatory.) She thought, sir, that you were a spy.
A man with a notebook (with interest). What is this - a spy?
Passerby (lost in definitions). Lard is... well, lard, and that’s all. How else can I say it? Well, a detective or something.
Flower girl (still whiny). I can at least swear on the Bible. didn't tell him anything!...
Man with a notebook (imperative, but without malice). Yes, you will finally shut up! Do I look like a policeman?
Flower girl (far from calmed down). Why did you write everything down? How do I know whether what you wrote down is true or not? Show me what you have written about me there.
He opens his notebook and holds it in front of the girl’s nose for a few seconds; at the same time, the crowd, trying to look over his shoulder, presses so that more weak person I wouldn't be able to stand on my feet.
What is it? This is not written our way. I can't figure anything out here.
Man with a notebook. And I'll figure it out. (Reads, exactly imitating her accent.) Don’t be upset, captain; buy a lucci flower from a poor girl.
Flower girl (in fright). Did I call him “captain”? So I didn’t think anything bad. (To the gentleman) Oh, sir, tell him not to report me. Tell…
Gentleman. How did you declare? There is no need to declare anything. (To the man with the notebook.) Indeed, sir, if you are a detective and wanted to protect me from street harassment, then note that I did not ask you to do this. The girl had nothing bad on her mind, it was clear to everyone.
Voices in the crowd (expressing a general protest against the police detective system). And very simply! - What does that matter to you? You know your stuff. - That's right, I wanted to curry favor. – Where has this been seen, to write down every word of a person! “The girl didn’t even talk to him.” - At least she could speak! - Good thing, a girl can no longer hide from the rain, so as not to run into insults... (Etc., etc.)
The most sympathetic ones lead the flower girl back to the column, and she sits down again on the plinth, trying to overcome her excitement.
Passerby. He's not a spy. Just some kind of corrosive guy, that's all. I'm telling you, pay attention to the shoes.
Man with a notebook (turning to him, cheerfully). By the way, how are your relatives in Selsey?
Passerby (suspiciously). How do you know that my relatives live in Selsey?
Man with a notebook. It doesn't matter where. But that's true, isn't it? (To the flower girl.) How did you get here, to the east? You were born in Lissongrove.
Flower Girl (frightened). What's wrong if I left Lissongrove? I lived there in such a kennel, worse than a dog’s, and the pay was four shillings and sixpence a week... (Cries.) Oh-oh-oh...
Man with a notebook. Yes, you can live wherever you want, just stop whining.
Gentleman (to the girl). Well, that's enough, that's enough! He won't touch you; you have the right to live where you please.
Sarcastic passerby (squeezing between a man with a notebook and a gentleman). For example, on Park Lane. Listen, I wouldn't mind talking to you about the housing issue.
Flower girl (huddled over her basket, muttering offendedly to herself). I’m not some kind of girl, I’m an honest girl.
Sarcastic passerby (ignoring her). Maybe you know where I'm from?
Man with a Notebook (no hesitation). From Hoxton.
Laughter from the crowd. The general interest in the tricks of the man with the notebook is clearly increasing.
Sarcastic passerby (surprised). Damn it! This is true. Listen, you really are a know-it-all.
Flower girl (still experiencing her insult). And he has no right to interfere! Yes, no right...
Passerby (to the flower girl). Fact, none. And don’t let him down like that. (To a man with a notebook.) Listen, by what right do you know everything about people who don’t want to do business with you? Do you have written permission?
Several people from the crowd (apparently encouraged by this legal formulation of the issue). Yes, yes, do you have permission?
Flower girl. Let him say what he wants. I won't contact him.
Passerby. All because we are for you - ugh! Empty place. You wouldn't allow yourself such things with a gentleman.
Sarcastic passerby. Yes Yes! If you really want to bewitch, tell me where did he come from?
Man with a notebook. Cheltenham, Harrow, Cambridge, and subsequently India.
Gentleman. Absolutely right.
General laughter. Now sympathy is clearly on the side of the man with the notebook. Exclamations like: “He knows everything!” So ​​he cut it off straight away. – Did you hear how he described to this long guy where he was from? – etc.
Excuse me, sir, you are probably performing this act in a music hall?
Man with a notebook. Not yet. But I've already thought about it. Rain stopped; The crowd gradually begins to disperse.
Flower girl (dissatisfied with the change in the general mood in favor of the offender). Gentlemen don’t do that, yes, they don’t offend the poor girl!
Daughter (losing patience, unceremoniously pushes forward, pushing aside the elderly gentleman, who politely retreats behind the column). But where is Freddie, finally? I risk catching pneumonia if I stand in this draft any longer.
Man with a Notebook (to himself, hastily making a note in his book). Earlscourt.
Daughter (angrily). Please keep your impudent remarks to yourself.
Man with a notebook. Did I say anything out loud? Please excuse me. This happened involuntarily. But your mother is undoubtedly from Epsom.
Mother (stands between her daughter and the man with the notebook). Tell me how interesting it is! I actually grew up in Tolstalady Park near Epsom.
Man with a notebook (laughs noisily). Ha-ha-ha! What a name, damn it! Sorry. (Daughters.) I think you need a taxi?
Daughter. Don't you dare contact me!
Mother. Please, Clara!
Instead of answering, the daughter shrugs her shoulders angrily and steps aside with an arrogant expression.
We would be so grateful, sir, if you could find us a taxi.
The man with the notebook takes out a whistle.
Oh, thank you. (He goes after his daughter.)
The man with the notebook makes a high-pitched whistle.
Sarcastic passerby. Well, here you go. I told you that this is a spy in disguise.
Passerby. This is not a police whistle; This is a sports whistle.
FLOWER GIRL (still suffering from the insult to her feelings). He must not take the certificate from me! I need a testimony as much as any lady.
Man with a notebook. You may not have noticed - the rain has already stopped for about two minutes.
Passerby. But it's true. Why didn't you say before? We wouldn't waste time here listening to your nonsense! (Leaves towards the Strand.)
Sarcastic passerby. I'll tell you where you're from. From Beadlam. So we would sit there.
Man with a notebook (helpfully). Bedlam.
Sarcastic passerby (trying to pronounce the words very elegantly). Thank you, Mr. Teacher. Ha ha! Be healthy. (Touches his hat with mocking respect and leaves.)
Flower girl. There's no point in scaring people. I wish I could scare him properly!
Mother. Clara, it’s completely clear now. We can walk to the bus. Let's go. (Picks up her skirt and hurriedly leaves towards the Strand.)
Daughter. But taxi...
Her mother no longer hears her.
Oh, how boring it all is! (Angrily follows his mother.)
Everyone had already left, and under the portico there remained only the man with the notebook, the elderly gentleman and the flower girl, who was fiddling with her basket and still muttering something to herself in consolation.
Flower girl. You poor girl! And so life is not easy, and here everyone is bullied.
Gentleman (returning to his previous place - to the left of the man with the notebook). Let me ask, how do you do this?
Man with a notebook. Phonetics - that's all. The Science of Pronunciation. This is my profession and at the same time my hobby. Happy is he to whom his hobby can provide the means of life! It is not difficult to immediately distinguish an Irishman or a Yorkshireman by their accent. Noah can determine the birthplace of any Englishman to within six miles. If it's in London, then even within two miles. Sometimes you can even indicate the street.
Flower girl. Shame on you, shameless one!
Gentleman. But can this provide a means of livelihood?
Man with a notebook. Oh yeah. And considerable ones. Our age is the age of upstarts. People start in Kentish Town, living on eighty pounds a year, and end up in Park Lane with a hundred thousand a year. They would like to forget about Kentish Town, but it reminds them of itself as soon as they open their mouth. And so I teach them.
Flower girl. I would mind my own business instead of offending a poor girl...
Man with a notebook (furious). Woman! Stop this disgusting whining immediately or seek shelter at the doors of another temple.
Flower girl (uncertainly defiant). I have the same right to sit here as you do.
Man with a notebook. A woman who makes such ugly and pitiful sounds has no right to sit anywhere... has no right to live at all! Remember that you are a human being, endowed with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the language of Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible! And stop clucking like a hoarse chicken.
The flower girl (completely stunned, not daring to raise her head, looks at him from under her brows, with a mixed expression of amazement and fear).
Man with a notebook (grabbing a pencil). Good God! What sounds! (Writes hastily; then he throws his head back and reads, repeating exactly the same vowel combination).
Flower Girl (she liked the performance and giggles against her will). Wow!
Man with a notebook. Have you heard the terrible pronunciation of this street girl? Because of this pronunciation, she is doomed to remain at the bottom of society until the end of her days. So, sir, give me three months, and I will make sure that this girl can successfully pass for a duchess at any embassy reception. Moreover, she will be able to go anywhere as a maid or saleswoman, and for this, as we know, even greater perfection of speech is required. This is exactly the kind of service I provide to our newly minted millionaires. And with the money I earn I do scientific work in the field of phonetics and a little poetry in the Miltonian style.
Gentleman. I myself study Indian dialects and...
Man with a notebook (hurriedly). What are you talking about? Are you familiar with Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit?
Gentleman. Colonel Pickering is me. But who are you?
Man with a notebook. Henry Higgins, creator of the Higgins Universal Alphabet.
Pickering (enthusiastically). I came from India to meet you!
Higgins. Aya was going to India to meet you.
Pickering. Where do you live?
Higgins. Twenty-seven A Wimpole Street. Come see me tomorrow. Pickering. I stayed at the Carlton Hotel. Come with me now, we still have time to talk at dinner. Higgins. Fabulous.
Flower Girl (to Pickering as he passes by). Buy a flower, good gentleman. There is nothing to pay for the apartment.
Pickering. Really, I don’t have any change. I'm really sorry.
Higgins (outraged by her begging). Liar! After all, you said that you could change half a crown.
Flower Girl (jumping up in despair). You have a bag of nails instead of a heart! (Throws the basket at his feet.) To hell with you, take the whole basket for sixpence!
The clock in the bell tower strikes half past twelve.
Higgins (hearing the voice of God in their fight, reproaching him for his Pharisee cruelty towards the poor girl). An order from above! (He solemnly raises his hat, then throws a handful of coins into the basket and leaves after Pickering.)
Flower Girl (bends down and pulls out half a crown). Ooh! (Pulls out two florins.) Oooh! (Pulls out a few more coins.) Ooooooh! (Pulls out a half sovereign.)
Oooohhhhhh!!
Freddie (jumps out of a taxi stopped in front of the church). Got it after all! Hey! (To the flower girl.) There were two ladies here, do you know where they are?
Flower girl. And they went to the bus when the rain stopped.
Freddie. That's cute! What should I do with a taxi now?
Flower Girl (majestic). Don't worry, young man. I'll go home in your taxi. (Swims past Freddy to the car.)
The driver sticks out his hand and hastily slams the door.
(Understanding his disbelief, she shows him a full handful of coins.) Look, Charlie. Eight pence is nothing to us!
He grins and opens the door for her.
Angel's Court, Drewry Lane, opposite the paraffin shop. And drive with all your might. (Gets into the car and slams the door noisily.)
The taxi starts moving.
Freddie. Wow!
ACT TWO
Eleven o'clock in the morning. Higgins Laboratory on Wimpole Street. This is a room on the ground floor, with windows facing the street, intended to serve as a living room. In the middle of the back wall is a door; Entering the room, you see two multi-tiered file cabinets on the right wall, placed at right angles. In the same corner there is a desk, on it there is a phonograph, a laryngoscope, a set of miniature organ pipes equipped with inflatable bellows, a row of gas jets under lamp glasses connected by a rubber gut to an input in the wall, several tuning forks of various sizes, a dummy: halves human head life-size, showing a section of the vocal organs, and a box with wax rollers for a phonograph.
In the middle of the right wall is a fireplace; near him, closer to the door, is a comfortable leather chair and a box of coal. There is a clock on the mantelpiece. Between the desk and the fireplace is a table for newspapers.
On the opposite wall, to the left of front door, – a low cabinet with flat drawers; On it is a telephone and a telephone directory. The entire left corner in the back is occupied by a concert grand piano, placed with its tail towards the door; instead of a regular stool, there is a bench in front of him the full length of the keyboard. On the piano there is a bowl of fruit and sweets.
The middle of the room is free of furniture. In addition to an armchair, a bench by the piano and two chairs by the desk, there is only one more chair in the room, which does not have special purpose and stands near the fireplace. On the walls hang engravings, mostly by Piranesi, and mezzotint portraits. There are no pictures. Pickering sits at his desk and folds cards that he apparently just sorted out. Higgins stands nearby, at the filing cabinet, and pushes open drawers. In daylight it is clear that he is a strong, full-blooded man of enviable health, about forty years old or so; he is wearing a black frock coat, the kind worn by lawyers and doctors, a starched collar and a black silk tie. He belongs to the energetic type of people of science who have a lively and even passionate interest in everything that can be the subject of scientific research, and are completely indifferent to things that concern them personally or those around them, including the feelings of others. In essence, despite his age and build, he is very similar to a restless child, noisily and quickly reacting to everything that attracts his attention, and, like a child, needs constant supervision so as not to accidentally cause trouble. The good-natured grouchiness characteristic of him when he is in good mood, is replaced by violent outbursts of anger, as soon as something is not according to him; but he is so sincere and so far from malicious motives that he evokes sympathy even when he is clearly wrong.
Higgins (pushing the last drawer). Well, that’s all.
Pickering. Amazing, simply amazing! But I have to tell you that I didn’t remember even half of it.
Higgins. Would you like to look at some of the materials again?
Pickering (gets up, goes to the fireplace and stands in front of it, with his back to the fire). No, thank you, that's enough for today. I can't do it anymore.
Higgins (follows him and stands next to him, on the left side). Tired of listening to sounds?
Pickering. Yes. This requires terrible tension. Hitherto I had been proud that I could clearly reproduce twenty-four different vowels; but your hundred and thirty completely destroyed me. I am unable to discern any difference between many of them.
Higgins (laughing, he goes to the piano and stuffs his mouth with sweets). Well, this is a matter of practice. At first the difference seems unnoticeable; but listen carefully and you will see that they are all as different as A and B.
Mrs. Pierce, Higgins's housekeeper, pokes her head in the door.
What is there?
Mrs. Pierce (hesitantly; she seems puzzled). Sir, there is a young lady who would like to see you.
Higgins. Young lady? What does she need?
Mrs Pierce. Excuse me, sir, but she says you'll be very glad when you find out why she came. She's a simple one, sir. Very simple ones. I wouldn’t even report to you, but it occurred to me that maybe you want her to tell you in your cars. Perhaps I was mistaken, but sometimes such strange people come to you, sir... I hope you will forgive me...
Higgins. Okay, okay, Mrs. Pierce. What, does she have an interesting pronunciation?
Mrs Pierce. Oh sir, terrible, simply terrible! I really don’t know what you might find interesting in this.
Higgins (to Pickering). Let's listen, shall we? Give it here, Mrs. Pierce. (Runs to the desk and takes out a new roller for the phonograph.)
Mrs. Pierce (only half convinced of the necessity of this). Yes, sir. As you wish. (Goes down.)
Higgins. This is lucky. You will see how I design my material. We will make her speak, and I will record - first according to the Bell system, then in the Latin alphabet, and then we will make another phonographic recording - so that at any time you can listen and compare the sound with the transcription.
Mrs. Pierce (opening the door.) This is the young lady, sir. The flower girl enters the room with importance. She wears a hat with three ostrich feathers: orange, sky blue and red. The apron on her is almost not dirty, her tattered coat also seems to have been cleaned a little. This pitiful figure is so pathetic in its pomposity and innocent complacency that Pickering, who hastened to straighten up as Mrs. Pierce entered, was completely moved. As for Higgins, he doesn’t care at all whether the person in front of him is a woman or a man; the only difference is that with women, if he doesn’t grumble or quarrel over some trifling matter, he is ingratiatingly affectionate, like a child with a nanny when he needs something from her.
Higgins (suddenly recognizing her, with disappointment, which immediately, purely childishly, turns into offense). Yes, this is the same girl whom I wrote down yesterday. Well, that’s not interesting: I have as much Lissongro dialect as I like; Don't waste your roller. (To the flower girl.) Get out, I don’t need you.
Flower girl. Wait a minute and wonder! You still don’t know why I came. (Mrs. Pierce, who is standing at the door, awaiting further orders.) Did you tell him that I came by taxi?
Mrs Pierce. What nonsense! It is very necessary for a gentleman like Mr. Higgins to know what you arrived on!
Flower girl. Wow, wow, how proud we are! Just think, the bird is a great teacher! I myself heard him say that he gives lessons. I didn’t come to ask for favors; and if you don’t like my money, I can go somewhere else.
Higgins. Excuse me, who needs your money?
Flower girl. How to whom? To you. Now you finally understand? I want to take lessons, that’s why I came. And don’t worry: I’ll pay what I’m supposed to.
Higgins (stunned). What!!! (Taking a noisy breath.) Listen, what do you actually think?
Flower girl. I think you could offer me a seat, if you're such a gentleman! I'm telling you that I came on business.
Higgins. Pickering, what should we do with this scarecrow? Should I offer her a seat or just take her down the stairs?
Flower girl (runs in fear to the piano and hides in a corner.) Ooooh! (Offended and pitifully.) There is no point in calling me a scarecrow, since I want to pay like any lady.
The men, frozen in place, look at her in bewilderment from the opposite corner of the room.
PICKERING (softly). Tell us, my child, what do you want?
Flower girl. I want to become a saleswoman in a flower shop. I'm tired of being stuck on Tottenham Court Road with my basket from morning to night. But they don’t hire me there, they don’t like the way I speak. So he said that he could teach me. I came to negotiate with him - for payment, of course, I don’t need anything out of favor. And this is how he treats me!
Mrs Pierce. Are you so stupid, my dear, that you imagine that you can pay for Mr. Higgins' lessons?
Flower girl. Why can't I? I know as well as you how much they charge for a lesson, and I don’t refuse to pay.
Higgins. How many?
Flower girl (triumphantly emerges from her corner). Well, that's a different conversation. I thought that surely you wouldn’t miss an opportunity to return a little of what you sketched out to me yesterday. (Lowing his voice.) You were a little under the weather, huh?
Higgins (imperative). Sit down. Flower girl. Just don’t imagine, out of mercy...
Mrs. Pierce (sternly). Sit down, my dear. Do as you are told. (He takes a chair that has no special purpose, places it by the fireplace, between Higgins and Pickering, and stands behind it, waiting for the girl to sit down.)
Flower girl. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (She does not move, partly out of stubbornness, partly out of fear.)
Pickering (very politely). Please sit down!
Flower girl (in an uncertain tone). Well, you can sit down. (Sits down.)
Pickering returns to his former place by the fireplace.
Higgins. What is your name?
Flower girl Eliza Doolittle.
Higgins (reciting solemnly). Eliza, Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess. We went into the forest for bird nests...
Pickering. Four eggs were found in the nest...
Higgins. They took one testicle and there were three left.
Both laugh heartily, enjoying their own wit.
Eliza. Stop fooling around.
Mrs Pierce. That's not how you talk to gentlemen, my dear.
Eliza. Why doesn’t he speak to me like a human being?
Higgins. Okay, let's get to the point. How much are you thinking of paying me for lessons?
Eliza. Yes, I know how much it’s supposed to be. One of my friends is learning French from a real Frenchman, and he charges her eighteen pence an hour. But it would be shameless on your part to ask for so much - after all, he is a Frenchman, and you will teach me my native language; so I'm not going to pay more than a shilling. If you don't want to, don't.
Higgins (pacing around the room, with his hands in his pockets and rattling keys and change there). But you know, Pickering, if you consider a shilling not just as a shilling, but as a percentage of this girl’s income, it will correspond to sixty or seventy guineas of a millionaire.
Pickering. Like this?
Higgins. But do the math. A millionaire has about one and a half hundred pounds a day. She earns about half a crown.
Eliza (arrogantly). Who told you that I only...
Higgins (ignoring her). She offers me two-fifths of her daily income for the lesson. Two-fifths of a millionaire's daily income would be approximately sixty pounds. Not bad! Not bad at all, damn it! I have never received such high payment before.
Eliza (jumps up in fright). Sixty pounds! What are you interpreting there? I didn't say sixty pounds at all. Where can I get... Higgins. Keep quiet.
Eliza (crying). I don't have sixty pounds! Oh oh oh!…
Mrs Pierce. Don't cry, you stupid girl. Nobody will take your money.
Higgins. But someone will take a broom and give you a good beating if you don’t stop whining right now. Sit down!
Eliza (reluctantly obeys). Ooooh! What are you to me, father, or what?
Higgins. I will be worse than your father if I decide to take on your education. Here! (Shows her his silk handkerchief.)
Eliza. What is this for?
Higgins. To dry your eyes. To wipe all parts of the face that for some reason turn out to be wet. Remember: this is a handkerchief, and this is a sleeve. And don't confuse one with the other if you want to become a real lady and go to a flower shop.
Eliza, completely confused, looks at him with wide eyes.
Mrs Pierce. You don't need to waste words, Mr. Higgins: she doesn't understand you anyway. And then you are wrong, she never did this. (Takes a handkerchief.)
Eliza (tearing out the handkerchief). But, but! Give it back! This was given to me, not to you.
Pickering (laughing). That's right. I'm afraid, Mrs. Pearce, that the handkerchief will now have to be considered her property.
Mrs. Pearce (resigned to the fact). Serves you right, Mr. Higgins.
Pickering. Listen, Higgins! A thought occurred to me! Do you remember your words about the embassy reception? Be able to justify them - and I will consider you the greatest teacher in the world! Want to bet that you won't succeed? If you win, I will return the entire cost of the experiment to you. I will also pay for the lessons.
Eliza. This is a good man! Thank you, captain!
Higgins (looks at her, ready to give in to temptation). Damn, this is tempting! She is so irresistibly vulgar, so blatantly dirty...
Eliza (indignant to the core). U-u-aaaaaa!!! I’m not dirty at all: I washed before coming here - yes, I washed my face and hands!
Pickering. It seems there is no need to fear that you will turn her head with compliments, Higgins.
Mrs. Pierce (with concern). Don't tell me, sir, there is different ways turn girls' heads; and Mr. Higgins is a master at this, although perhaps not always of his own free will. I hope, sir, you won't encourage him to do anything reckless.
Higgins (gradually diverging as Pickering's idea takes hold of him). And what is life if not a chain of inspired follies? Never miss an opportunity – it doesn’t present itself every day. It's decided! I'll take this grimy little brat and make her a duchess!
Eliza (vigorously protesting against the characterization given to her).
Higgins (getting more and more carried away). Yes, yes! In six months - even in three, if she has a sensitive ear and a flexible tongue - she will be able to appear anywhere and pass for anyone. We'll start today! Now! Immediately! Mrs. Pierce, take her and clean her thoroughly. If it doesn't come off, try using sandpaper. Is your stove heated?
Mrs. Pierce (in a tone of protest). Yes, but...
Higgins (storming). Take it all off her and throw it on the fire. Call Whiteley or somewhere else and have them send you everything you need in terms of clothing. In the meantime, you can wrap it in newspaper.
Eliza. Shame on you for saying such things, and also a gentleman! I’m not some guy, I’m an honest girl, and I can see right through your brother, yes.
Higgins. Forget your Lissongrove virtue, girl. You must now learn to behave like a duchess. Mrs. Pierce, get her out of here. And if she is stubborn, give her a good dose of it.
Eliza (jumps up and rushes to Pickering, seeking protection). Don't you dare! I'll call the police, I'll call them now!
Mrs Pierce. But I have nowhere to put it.
Higgins. Place in trash bin.
Eliza. Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Pickering. Enough of you, Higgins! Be reasonable.
Mrs. Pearce (decisively). You must be reasonable, Mr. Higgins, you must. You can't treat people so unceremoniously.
Higgins, having heeded the reprimand, calms down. The storm gives way to a soft breeze of surprise.
Higgins (with professional purity of modulations). I treat people unceremoniously! My dear Mrs. Pierce, my dear Pickering, I never dreamed of treating anyone unceremoniously. On the contrary, I think we should all be as kind as possible to this poor girl! We must help her prepare and adjust to her new position in life. If I did not express my thoughts clearly enough, it was only because I was afraid of offending your or her sensitivity. Eliza, having calmed down, sneaks back to her previous place.
Mrs. Pierce (to Pickering): Have you ever heard anything like this, sir?
PICKERING (laughing heartily). Never, Mrs. Pierce, never.
Higgins (patiently). What's the matter?
Mrs Pierce. And the thing, sir, is that you can’t pick up a living girl the way you pick up a pebble on the seashore.
Higgins. Why exactly?
Mrs Pierce. That is, how is this why? After all, you don’t know anything about her. Who are her parents? Or maybe she's married?
Eliza. What more!
Higgins. That's it! Quite rightly noted: what else! Don't you know that women of her class after a year married life look like fifty year old charwomen?
Eliza. Who will marry me?
Higgins (suddenly descending into the lowest, most exciting notes of his voice, intended for exquisite examples of eloquence). Believe me, Eliza, before I finish your training, all the surrounding streets will be littered with the bodies of madmen who shot themselves for love, for to you.
Mrs Pierce. Stop it, sir. You shouldn't fill her head with such nonsense.
Eliza (gets up and straightens up decisively). I'm leaving. He obviously doesn't have everything at home. I don't need crazy teachers.
Higgins (deeply hurt by her insensitivity to his eloquence). Oh, that's how it is! Do you think I'm crazy? Great! Mrs Pierce! There is no need to order new dresses. Take her and throw her out the door.
Eliza (plaintively). Well, well! You have no right to touch me!
Mrs Pierce. You see what insolence leads to. (Pointing to the door.) This way, please.
Eliza (swallowing tears). I don’t need any dresses. I wouldn't take it anyway. (Throws a handkerchief to Higgins.) I can buy my own dresses. (Slowly, as if reluctantly, he wanders towards the door.)
Higgins (deftly picking up a handkerchief on the fly, blocking her path). You are a nasty, spoiled girl. So you are grateful to me because I want to pull you out of the mud, dress you up and make you a lady!
Mrs Pierce. That's enough, Mr. Higgins. I can't let this happen. It is still unknown which of you is more spoiled - the girl or you. Go home, my dear, and tell your parents to take better care of you.
Eliza. I don't have parents. They said that I was already an adult and could feed myself, and they kicked me out.
Mrs Pierce. Where is your mother?
Eliza. I don't have a mother. This one who kicked me out is my sixth stepmother. But I can do without them. And don’t think, I’m an honest girl!
Higgins. Well, thank God! There’s nothing to make a fuss about, then. The girl is a nobody's and no one needs it except me. (He approaches Mrs. Pierce and begins to be insinuating.) Mrs. Pierce, why don’t you adopt her? Just think what a pleasure it is to have a daughter... Well, now enough talk. Take her down and...
Mrs Pierce. But still, how will it all be? Are you going to give her some kind of payment? Be reasonable, sir.
Higgins. Well, pay her whatever you need; You can record this in your business expenses book. (Impatiently.) Why the hell does she need money anyway, I’d like to know? They will feed her and clothe her too. If you give her money, she will drink.
Eliza (turning to him). Oh, you are shameless! This is not true! I have never taken a drop of alcohol into my mouth in my life. (He returns to his chair and sits down with a defiant look.)
Pickering (good-naturedly, in an admonishing tone). Higgins, doesn’t it occur to you that this girl might have some feelings?
Higgins (examines her critically). No, hardly. In any case, these are not feelings that should be taken into account. (Cheerfully.) What do you think, Eliza?
Eliza. The same feelings that all people have, the same feelings I have.
Mrs Pierce. Mr. Higgins, I would ask you to stay close to the point. I want to know under what conditions will this girl live here in the house? Are you going to pay her salary? And what will happen to her after you finish her training? We need to look ahead a little, sir.
Higgins (impatiently). What will happen to her if I leave her on the street? Please, Mrs. Pierce, answer this question for me.
Mrs Pierce. It's her business, Mr. Higgins, not yours.
Higgins. Well, after I'm done with her, I can throw her back out into the street, and then it will be her business again - that's all.
Eliza. Oh you! You have no heart, that's what! You only think about yourself and don’t care about others. (He gets up and says decisively and firmly.) Okay, that's enough from me. I'm leaving. (He heads to the door.) You should be ashamed! Yes, it's a shame!
Higgins (enough chocolate candy from a vase standing on the piano; his eyes suddenly sparkled with slyness). Eliza, take the chocolate...
Eliza (stops, fighting temptation). How do I know what’s inside? One girl was poisoned like this, I heard it myself.
Higgins takes out a pocketknife, cuts the candy in half, puts one half in his mouth and hands her the other.

The play takes place in London. On a summer evening, the rain pours like buckets. Passers-by run to Covent Garden Market and the portico of St. Pavel, where several people have already taken refuge, including an elderly lady and her daughter, they are in evening dresses, waiting for Freddie, the lady’s son, to find a taxi and come for them. Everyone, except one person with a notebook, impatiently peers into the streams of rain. Freddie appears in the distance, having not found a taxi, and runs to the portico, but on the way he runs into a street flower girl, hurrying to hide from the rain, and knocks a basket of violets out of her hands. She bursts into abuse. A man with a notebook is hastily writing something down. The girl laments that her violets are missing and begs the colonel standing right there to buy a bouquet. To get rid of it, he gives her some change, but does not take flowers. One of the passers-by draws the attention of the flower girl, a sloppily dressed and unwashed girl, that the man with the notebook is clearly scribbling a denunciation against her. The girl begins to whine. He, however, assures that he is not from the police, and surprises everyone present by accurately determining the origin of each of them by their pronunciation.

Freddie's mother sends her son back to look for a taxi. Soon, however, the rain stops, and she and her daughter go to the bus stop. The Colonel shows interest in the abilities of the man with the notebook. He introduces himself as Henry Higgins, creator of the Higgins Universal Alphabet. The colonel turns out to be the author of the book “Spoken Sanskrit”. His name is Pickering. He lived in India for a long time and came to London specifically to meet Professor Higgins. The professor also always wanted to meet the colonel. They are about to go to dinner at the colonel’s hotel when the flower girl again starts asking to buy flowers from her. Higgins throws a handful of coins into her basket and leaves with the colonel. The flower girl sees that she now owns, by her standards, a huge sum. When Freddie arrives with the taxi he finally hailed, she gets into the car and, noisily slamming the door, drives away.

The next morning, Higgins demonstrates his phonographic equipment to Colonel Pickering at his home. Suddenly, Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce, reports that a certain very simple girl wants to talk to the professor. Yesterday's flower girl enters. She introduces herself as Eliza Dolittle and says that she wants to take phonetics lessons from the professor, because with her pronunciation she cannot get a job. The day before she had heard that Higgins was giving such lessons. Eliza is sure that he will happily agree to work off the money that yesterday, without looking, he threw into her basket. Of course, it’s funny for him to talk about such sums, but Pickering offers Higgins a bet. He encourages him to prove that in a matter of months he can, as he assured the day before, turn a street flower girl into a duchess. Higgins finds this offer tempting, especially since Pickering is ready, if Higgins wins, to pay the entire cost of Eliza's education. Mrs. Pierce takes Eliza to the bathroom to wash her.

After some time, Eliza's father comes to Higgins. He is a scavenger, a simple man, but he amazes the professor with his innate eloquence. Higgins asks Dolittle for permission to keep his daughter and gives him five pounds for it. When Eliza appears, already washed, in a Japanese robe, the father does not even recognize his daughter at first. A couple of months later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's house, just on her reception day. He wants to find out whether it is already possible to introduce a girl into secular society. Mrs. Eynsford Hill and her daughter and son are visiting Mrs. Higgins. These are the same people with whom Higgins stood under the portico of the cathedral on the day he first saw Eliza. However, they do not recognize the girl. Eliza at first behaves and talks like a high-society lady, and then goes on to talk about her life and uses such street expressions that everyone present is amazed. Higgins pretends that this is new social jargon, thus smoothing over the situation. Eliza leaves the crowd, leaving Freddie in complete delight.

After this meeting, he begins to send ten-page letters to Eliza. After the guests leave, Higgins and Pickering vying with each other, enthusiastically telling Mrs. Higgins about how they work with Eliza, how they teach her, take her to the opera, to exhibitions, and dress her. Mrs. Higgins finds that they are treating the girl like a living doll. She agrees with Mrs. Pearce, who believes that they "don't think about anything."

A few months later, both experimenters take Eliza to a high-society reception, where she is a dizzying success, everyone takes her for a duchess. Higgins wins the bet.

Arriving home, he enjoys the fact that the experiment, from which he was already tired, is finally over. He behaves and talks in his usual rude manner, not paying the slightest attention to Eliza. The girl looks very tired and sad, but at the same time she is dazzlingly beautiful. It is noticeable that irritation is accumulating in her.

She ends up throwing his shoes at Higgins. She wants to die. She doesn’t know what will happen to her next, how to live. After all, she became a completely different person. Higgins assures that everything will work out. She, however, manages to hurt him, throw him off balance and thereby at least a little revenge for herself.

At night, Eliza runs away from home. The next morning, Higgins and Pickering lose their heads when they see that Eliza is gone. They are even trying to find her with the help of the police. Higgins feels like he has no hands without Eliza. He doesn’t know where his things are, or what he has scheduled for the day. Mrs Higgins arrives. Then they report the arrival of Eliza's father. Dolittle has changed a lot. Now he looks like a wealthy bourgeois. He lashes out at Higgins indignantly because it is his fault that he had to change his lifestyle and now become much less free than he was before. It turns out that several months ago Higgins wrote to a millionaire in America, who founded branches of the League of Moral Reforms all over the world, that Dolittle, a simple scavenger, is now the most original moralist in all of England. He died, and before his death he bequeathed to Dolittle a share in his trust for three thousand annual income, on the condition that Dolittle would give up to six lectures a year in his League of Moral Reforms. He laments that today, for example, he even has to officially marry someone with whom he has lived for several years without registering a relationship. And all this because he is now forced to look like a respectable bourgeois. Mrs. Higgins is very happy that the father can finally take care of his changed daughter as she deserves. Higgins, however, does not want to hear about “returning” Eliza to Dolittle.

Mrs. Higgins says she knows where Eliza is. The girl agrees to return if Higgins asks her for forgiveness. Higgins does not agree to do this. Eliza enters. She expresses gratitude to Pickering for his treatment of her as a noble lady. It was he who helped Eliza change, despite the fact that she had to live in the house of the rude, slovenly and ill-mannered Higgins. Higgins is amazed. Eliza adds that if he continues to “pressure” her, she will go to Professor Nepean, Higgins’ colleague, and become his assistant and inform him of all the discoveries made by Higgins. After an outburst of indignation, the professor finds that now her behavior is even better and more dignified than when she looked after his things and brought him slippers. Now, he is sure, they will be able to live together not just as two men and one stupid girl, but as “three friendly old bachelors.”

Eliza goes to her father's wedding. Apparently, she will still live in Higgins’ house, since she has become attached to him, just as he has become attached to her, and everything will continue as before.

This work tells how two linguistic specialists taught the correct English pronunciation a simple girl selling flowers on the streets of London. Eliza, as the girl was called, entered high society and became one of the most fashionable and interesting ladies, whom many young rich women began to imitate. A girl falls in love with one of her teachers, and the reader is led to believe that they are destined to be together.

The main idea of ​​the play is that those who were lucky enough to be born noble and rich are not always better and smarter than those who do not belong to high society.

Read the summary of Bernard Shaw Pygmalion

In London, several people took shelter from the rain at the entrance to a theater. This is a family named Hill, from high society, who want to leave the theater by taxi. Mother and daughter are afraid that the rain will ruin their dresses and wait until their son and brother named Freddy find a taxi. Poor Freddy can't find a car for them.

There, two famous people are waiting out the rain scientific works linguists, one of whom is called Professor Higgins, and the other Mr. Pickering. They know about each other's work and have a lucky chance to meet each other. Near the theater, next to them stands a simple, unkempt girl named Eliza, selling flowers.

While all these people are trying to find a taxi and leave, one of the men accidentally pushes the girl and she drops her flowers. The girl swears, and linguists talk about her pronunciation. One inadvertently thrown phrase from Professor Higgins makes the girl seriously think about her life. The professor said that a short time could teach a girl such a pronunciation that she would be hired to work in the most fashionable flower shop in London.

The next morning Eliza managed to find Mr. Higgins. She wants to learn the right thing English language to work in a good place. The professor does not need her money, but the idea seems interesting to him, in addition, Mr. Pickering wants to conduct an experiment and wants to make a bet with him.

Professor Higgins leaves Eliza in his house and entrusts her to his housekeeper. His bet with Mr. Pickering is to teach the girl to talk like a duchess.

Eliza's father appears, a garbage man who came to Mr. Higgins to get her. An interesting dialogue ensues between them, in which the garbage man amazes Mr. Higgins with the originality of his thoughts and judgments.

A month later, Professor Higgins, wanting to conduct an experiment, introduces Eliza to his mother in order to understand from her reaction whether the girl will be accepted in the world. There she is accidentally introduced to the Hill family. This is the same family that stood at the entrance to the theater on a rainy day.

Of course, they do not recognize the beautiful fashionable girl that same dirty little girl and have a conversation with her. At first Eliza talks like a real lady, and then, carried away, she begins to use familiar expressions and talks about her life. Everyone thought it was fashionable social slang. Mrs. Hill's daughter even tries to imitate Eliza's mannerisms, and her son, Freddie, falls in love with her.

After some time, friends introduce Eliza to high society, where she receives attention. Professor Higgins realizes that he has the upper hand in his bet.

When Eliza realized that she was taught, dressed up and taken out only for the sake of experience, she throws his own shoes at Higgins. He turned her life around, and didn’t even notice how she fell in love with him!

Eliza leaves the house, and Higgins feels completely lost without her.

Eliza's father, Mr. Dolittle, deserves special mention. He's just a scavenger, but he has very original ideas about morality. Just for fun, Higgins casually mentioned in a conversation with one of his millionaire friends that Mr. Dolittle was one of the most entertaining and original moralists in England.

The millionaire included Dolittle in his will with the condition that he would give lectures on morality and ethics. And now Dolittle has become rich, but has lost his freedom. He is forced to wear fashionable clothes, give lectures on morality and, most importantly, live by the onerous rules of a decent society. Since the former garbage man gives lectures on morality and ethics, he himself will now have to tie the knot of family life with the woman with whom he previously lived just like that.

In the end, Eliza returns to Higgins, and the reader believes that the two will be happy.

Picture or drawing Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion