Venus at Paphos by J.A.D. Ingres (1780 - 1867).
Ingres was among the last of the great French neo-classicists.
His theme here is the moment when the state of the perfect female form come to life.
In English drama there are two giants --- Shakespeare, of course, and George Bernard Shaw. Shaw was said to have remarkeded that Shakespeare was probably the better poet, but not necessarily the better playwright. And G.B. has considerable evidence to back up his claim --- volumes of criticism, scores of political tracts, and 50 full length plays, many of which are produced every year all over the English speaking world. Favorites with the public include The Devil's Disciple, Major Barbara, Saint Joan, Man and Superman, and of course, Pygmalion, perhaps his most popular play even since it was re-made into the world famous musical My Fair Lady.
Shaw was a great admirer of Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright who single-handedly fathered modern drama and the "realistic social-problem play." Ibsen's A Doll's House was the most talked about play in the western world in the late 1800's because when its heroine Nora discovers that her conventional marriage is a sham and that she is nothing but a "doll" to her husband, she walks out on him and her two children to begin a life based on truthfulness, sincere love and hard work.
While a "strong-willed" Victorian wife might leave her husband, she would never desert her children. That would be an unforgivable sin. Nora's decision -- right or wrong -- was debated in drawing rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms all across Europe for a generation. Shaw admired the bravery of Ibsen in bringing a play about women's rights to the stage in an age when when women had none. Shaw wrote many plays with daring, bold and unconventional women: Evie Warren, daughter of a prostitute in Mrs. Warren's Profession; Candida in Candida, a reversal of a Doll's House, where it is the husband who is "kept;" the indomitable Saint Joan in Saint Joan; and Eliza Doolittle who rises to rival these other Shavian heroines by the end of Pygmalion.
For his entire life, politically, Shaw was the epitome of the English "liberal." He was a long time member of a socialist group called the Fabians, and a great admirer of Karl Marx. In fact he once played Krogstad in an amateur production of a Doll's House with Eleanor Marx, Karl's daughter, who played Nora.
He was a life-long pacifist, teetotaler, and vegetarian. In his 80's he demonstrated against nuclear proliferation after WWII. He died in 1950 at the age of 94. Rush Limbaugh would have hated this guy.
Pygmalion was first produced in 1913. The play is based on the "Myth of Pygmalion and Galatea" by the Roman poet Ovid (first century A.D.) and on the fairy tale "Cinderella" --- a tale with roots in ancient China and India. On the most basic level, both stories deal with transformations: "rags to riches," cold perfection to loving humanity, etc.
The myth of Pygmalion as told by the Roman poet Ovid:
Repelled by the loose behavior of the women * in his native Cyprus, a gifted young sculptor named Pygmalion became a woman-hater and resolved never to marry. He said his art was enough for him. He sculpted, nonertheless, a beautiful statue of a woman. He devoted his life to making this statue as perfect as possible and everyone agreed it was a most exquisite work of art. But Pygmalion could not rest content. When nothing could be added to the statue's perfection, a strange fate befell its creator: He had fallen in love with what he had created. The statue did not seem like cold stone, but warm, living, breathing flesh. Pygmalion kissed the statue's enticing lips, caressed its hands, but the statue remained unresponsive. He would dress her in robes and bring her gifts. To no avail. And so, after many years he remained utterly wretched. He loved a lifeless thing. But all the while the spirit of womanhood was seeking revenge.
Venus was the Roman goddess of passionate love. On Venus' festival day, as gifts were being offered in her name, Pygmalion dared to ask the goddess only that he might find a maiden like his statue. Venus took pity on Pygmalion and when he returned home that night to caress his wonderful work of art, the statue came to life and Pygmalion named her Galatea. It was reported that Venus herself graced the marriage with her presence.
* Misogyny was common in the ancient world. To really get enraged, check the Web for Juvenal's satire On Women. Juvenal was also a Roman writer and contemporary of Ovid.
In Pygmalion Shaw is obviously echoing Ibsen's theme of female emancipation because Liza not only becomes a "lady," but also an independent woman. The debate in the last act between Higgins and Liza mirrors a similar debate at the end of Doll's House just before Nora walks downstairs and slams the door on her false life.
Henry Higgins is a professor of Phonetics. This is the play's "device" or intrigue. Higgins can change the way people talk, but can he change the way people are? Is the only difference between a flower girl and a lady the way each talks? Do fine dresses and tea parties make a person morally superior? Is a moral life easier for the wealthy? Why do we treat people of wealth better than flower girls? When all pretensions are swept away, how should we treat each other? On what are manners based?
The play is delightful. Shaw calls it a "romantic comedy," but THE ENDING has always been a problem. A true comedy moves towards marriage, and a romantic one must deliver as My Fair Lady certainly does. But Shaw's play does not. In the play version, Mrs. Higgins returns at the end dressed to attend the wedding of Liza's father. She and Liza prepare to leave. Higgins isn't going because he can't behave himself in church. The play ends as follows:
HIGGINS: Oh by the way, Liza, order a ham and a Stilton cheese, will you?.....LIZA: ....Colonel Pickering prefers double Gloucester to Stilton and you don't notice the difference. I telephoned Mrs. Pearce this morning not to forget the ham. What you are to do without me I can't imagine. (She sweeps out.)
MRS. HIGGINS: I'm afraid you've spoilt that girl Henry. I should be uneasy about you and her if she were less fond of Colonel Pickering.
HIGGINS: Pickering! Nonesense. She's going to marry Freddy. Ha! Ha! Freddy! Ha! Ha! Ha!!!! (He roars with laughter.)
And so she does marry Freddy as Shaw explains in an Afterward published with the printed text of the play. With the help of Colonel Pickering Liza and Freddy set up a flower shop! Shaw insists the play is still a comedy because it pokes fun at the foibles of Victorian society and exposes its hypocrisy. Shaw simply felt that a marriage to Higgins at the end would make the play overly-sentimental and that such a marriage --- the traditional "happy ending" --- would detract from the play's serious social themes. In this regard is Shaw correct? Is My Fair Lady better or worse for its sentimental/romantic ending?
Enjoy the show!