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A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere—no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespear [sic] and Milton and The Bible; and don’t sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.
This quotation from Act 1 is spoken by Higgins to Eliza while they wait for the rain to stop. After Eliza reproaches Higgins for writing down her words, Higgins makes note of Eliza’s dialect and criticizes her speech. The allusions to Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible assert the play’s emphasis on language and Higgins’ own opinion of how language should be spoken. Furthermore, it shows that Higgins belongs to an educated class and he possesses a heightened sense of superiority over those who speak less lofty than him.
You see this creature with her kerbstone English: the English that will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. I could even get her a place as lady’s maid or shop assistant, which requires better English. That’s the sort of thing I do for commercial millionaires. And on the profits of it I do genuine scientific work in phonetics, and a little as a poet on Miltonic lines.
Higgins speaks these words in Act 1 as he confidently tells Pickering he could transform Eliza into a lady simply by improving her speech. The play’s preoccupation with language is emphasized through Higgins’ belief that Eliza’s poor speech means she will never amount to anything but a low-class flower girl. Class and language here go hand in hand, and one’s class status in Victorian society is revealed by how someone speaks. Higgins’ statement also places him in the role of Pygmalion from the Greek myth, which the play bases its title on. Shaw positions Higgins as the character who can transform a statue into life---or, in this case, transform a flower girl into a duchess.
What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn’t come every day. I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe.
In Act 2, Higgins responds to Mrs. Pearce’s warning to Pickering not to challenge Higgins to transform Eliza into a lady. Higgins asserts his own personal philosophy with this statement, one that involves challenging oneself to take on life’s rare, difficult tasks. Higgins is someone who, though he belongs to the middle class, does not follow their conventions and makes it a point to go against the established norms of Victorian society. Higgins’ penchant for insult is also made evident as he refers to Eliza as a “draggletailed guttersnipe.” Higgins’ harsh description reflects his opinion of Eliza not as a human being but as a project and experiment, something that he can test his abilities on rather than as someone whom he can genuinely care about.
I find that the moment I let a woman make friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance. I find that the moment I let myself make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. Women upset everything. When you let them into your life, you find that the woman is driving at one thing and you’re driving at another.
In Act 2, Higgins says these lines after Pickering asks about his character in relation to women. Higgins makes it apparent throughout the play that he treats all women the same regardless of class. These lines reveal Higgins’ gender ideology and point to his decision to remain a lifelong bachelor. By having Higgins speak these lines, Shaw subverts Higgins as the prototypical romantic hero and demystifies the classical Pygmalion myth by showing how disinterested Higgins is in marriage specifically and women in general. Instead, Higgins stresses his interest in science over romance, and how he tries to avoid the entire concept of romantic male and female relationships.
You silly boy, of course she’s not presentable. She’s a triumph of your art and of her dressmaker’s; but if you suppose for a moment that she doesn’t give herself away in every sentence she utters, you must be perfectly cracked about her.
Mrs. Higgins makes this observation in Act 3 after her son asks her if Eliza is presentable. Mrs. Higgins highlights the play’s theme concerning the limits of external transformation. Even though Eliza is taught how to speak like a lady and is given lady’s clothing, Mrs. Higgins is still able to discern her true class status. In this instance, the play suggests that one’s outward appearance is not enough to override their true identity. Higgins can teach Eliza to speak like a lady but her real nature and life experience shine through. Mrs. Higgins’ insinuation that Higgins “must be perfectly cracked about her” also speaks to Higgins’ own sense of self-importance and how aloof he is to social conventions. Furthermore, Mrs. Higgins points out how much more education Eliza must go through to truly pass as a duchess.
