Pygmalion First Impression.

I found Act 1 of Pygmalion to be very funny, it had a Hard Days Night feel to it. I can picture everyone feeding off each other with quick jabs and sarcastic tones.  I love conversation and Act 1 was great.

Without ever having read or seen this play it seems that it is going to try and make a statement on language and class. It appears to be that those in the higher classes even middle class people look down on lower classes. It was clear that Higgins wants little to do with someone he sees as below him when he first refused to buy a flower from the girl but later just tossed her money.

The use of language also appears to be something that will play a large part of the play as it moves forward. When we first meet the flower girl she is using a dialect that the other characters do not understand. She has to change her speech to speak to them. Also where she comes from seems to be looked down on.

Higgins is described in Act 2 as someone who is, “careless about himself and other peoples feelings.” That seems to be a common way to portray someone from a higher class. It is easy to make them look like snobbish pigs with no regard for anyone else’s feeling. It will be interesting to see where the play goes from here and finding out what commentary Shaw is making on society from that time.