Pygmalion Author:Bernard Shaw A rousing success on the London and New York stages, a popular film, and a great musical hit ("My Fair Lady"), this brilliantly written play, with its irresistible theme of the emerging butterfly, is one of the most acclaimed comedies in the English language. Includes Shaw's Preface and "Sequel."
Shaw used Pygmalion from Roman mythology as the basis for his play. It is the story of Professor Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, who wagers that he can turn a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into the toast of London society merely by teaching her how to speak with an upper-class accent. In the process, he becomes fond of her and attempts to direct her future, but she rejects his domineering ways and marries a young aristocrat.