Lecture Notes: Vocabulary and Themes in "Pigmalion"

Introduction

• Materials Needed:
  • Copy of "Pigmalion"
  • Highlighters
  • Arrive 5 minutes early for warmup.
• Focus:
  • Vocabulary development with challenging literature.
  • Words relate to characters and scenes in "Pigmalion."
• Task:
  • Write full vocabulary words in the notebook.
  • Consider how words describe characters in "Pigmalion."

Vocabulary Discussion

1. Presumptuous:

   • Describes a character as unwarrantedly bold.
   • Character example: Higgins
     • Acts without thinking, seems not to care about others' feelings (e.g., treatment of Eliza).

2. Cant:

   • Insincere conventional expressions.
   • Character example: Higgins
     • Uses Eliza as an experiment without genuine care.

3. Decorum:

   • Politeness, manners, dignity.
   • Character example: Mrs. Higgins
     • Opposite: Eliza (lacking decorum due to background).

4. Asunder:

   • Apart or separated.
   • Example: Used in wedding vows.

5. Remonstrating:

   • Pleading and protesting.
   • Character example: Eliza
     • Objects to mistreatment due to past experiences.

6. Incorrigible:

   • Bad beyond reform.
   • Characters: Higgins, Alfred Doolittle (more incorrigible).

7. Demean:

   • Lower in dignity or debate.
   • Examples: Higgins calling Eliza a "gutter snipe," Clara towards Freddy.

8. Magnanimous:

   • Generous, forgiving, noble.
   • Typically used for those who give generously to the poor.

9. Commercialism:

   • Excessive emphasis on profit.

10. Tyrant:

    • Person in authority exercising power oppressively.

Themes in "Pigmalion"

• Act 4 Review:
  • Eliza completes her transformation but feels used and unacknowledged.
  • Emotional climax where Eliza asserts herself against Higgins.
• Character Analysis:
  • Higgins's motivation: Egotism or genuine genius.
  • Comparison to myth: Pigmalion's love of self, Higgins's self-absorption.

Satirical Elements

• Shaw criticizes the superficiality of social class changes.
• Message: True change involves more than external transformations.

Act 5 Summary

• Eliza asserts independence, considers future beyond Higgins.
• Question raised: Is Eliza better off in high society?
• Shaw's satire continues through the resolution.

Conclusion

• Homework:
  • Listen to the epilogue.
  • Brainstorm for a character analysis essay on Alfred Doolittle.
  • Begin research on the American Dream topic.
• Overall Message:
  • Shaw's play critiques society's obsession with superficial markers of class and the romanticized narratives that ignore real societal issues.