Pygmalion and Major Barbara

Description:

George Bernard Shaw was the greatest British dramatist after Shakespeare, a satirist equal to Jonathan Swift, and a playwright whose most profound gift was his ability to make audiences think by provoking them to laughter. In one of his best-loved plays, Pygmalion, which later became the basis for the musical My Fair Lady, Shaw compels the audience to see the utter absurdity and hypocrisy of class distinction when Professor Henry Higgins wagers that he can transform a common flower girl into a lady—and then pass her off as a duchess—simply by changing her speech and manners. In Major Barbara Shaw spins out the drama of an eccentric millionaire, a romantic poet, and a misguided savior of souls, Major Barbara herself, in a topsy-turvy masterpiece of sophisticated banter and urbane humor. His brilliant dialogue, combined with his use of paradox and socialist theory, never fails to tickle, entertain—and challenge. This Bantam Classic edition reproduces both plays in their entirety along with Shaw's own provocative prefaces. --back cover ---------- Contains: - Major Barbara - [Pygmalion][1] [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1066524W/Pygmalion

subjects: Drama,  Flower vending,  Linguistics teachers,  Social classes,  Speech and social status,  Man-woman relationships,  British and irish drama (dramatic works by one author),  Children of the rich,  Fathers and daughters

People: Pygmalion,  Galatea,  Henry Higgins,  Eliza Doolittle,  Colonel Pickering,  Alfred Doolittle,  Mrs. Higgins,  Freddy Eynsford Hill

Places: London,  England

Times: 1912