Question

In what year did George Bernard Shaw write the play "Pygmalion"?

• A. 1914
• B. 1913
• C. 1911
• D. 1912

Answer 1

Answer:

D. 1912

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw: Key Facts

• Pygmalion was written by the distinguished Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in 1912.
• Its first stage performance took place in German in Vienna in 1913, followed by its English premiere in London in 1914.
• The play's title is derived from the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who falls in love with a statue he carves. Shaw reinterprets this myth by having Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetician, attempt to transform a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a duchess by improving her speech.

• Core Themes Explored:

  • Social Class and Mobility: The play critically examines the rigid class structure of Edwardian England and challenges the notion that one's social standing is fixed.
  • Phonetics and Language: Shaw, a strong advocate for phonetic reform, highlights how language and accent are integral to social perception and identity.
  • Feminism and Gender Roles: Eliza's journey from a voiceless flower girl to an independent woman explores themes of female emancipation and challenges traditional gender expectations.
  • Identity and Transformation: It questions whether a change in outward appearance or speech truly alters one's intrinsic self.
• The play was famously adapted into the highly successful Broadway musical 'My Fair Lady' in 1956, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, and subsequently into an Academy Award-winning film in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn.
• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was a leading figure in 20th-century theatre. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 for his work, which often featured sharp wit, satire, and social criticism.
• Other notable plays by Shaw include 'Man and Superman', 'Major Barbara', 'Saint Joan', and 'Candida'.