Genre: Classic, Play
Series: Standalone
Page Count: 82
Written: 1912
First Performance: 1913
Special Notes: I joined the Goodreads group Old Books, New Readers for the read-along.
Summary: Flower girl makes good. But not good enough.
I’m working off the assumption that you’ve seen My Fair Lady. There will be spoilers for both film and play.
At first I thought, “This is just like My Fair Lady.” And then things took a turn.
Most of My Fair Lady is not here. No lessons, no Ascot, no ball, no visible growth. It basically goes from, “Yes, I’ll teach you,” to slippers in the face. Of course, this is all due to the limitations of the play format. But still, the movie added so much good stuff.
My Fair Lady is my favorite musical so I recognized a lot of dialogue, but I missed hearing the music and seeing the costumes, grand sets, and Eliza’s transformation. In the play, Eliza’s dialect is shunted in favor of actually being able to read the dialogue. Since there’s no training montage or big event, there’s not much to witness. And the characters aren't as interesting and alive as in the movie.
But what is interesting is that Shaw was so fed-up with the stage production romanticizing the ending, that a couple years later he added an epilogue describing what actually happened to everyone. And boy, is it a doozy.
The worst offender is Eliza. She’s so stupid, contrary, and incapable of thinking ahead. Let’s examine some of her lines (and keep in mind, she sought Higgins out for the lessons):
“Oh! if only I COULD go back to my flower basket. I could be independent of both you and father and all the world! Why did you take my independence from me? Why did I give it up? I’m a slave now, for all my fine clothes.”
And a moment later:
“I’ll marry Freddy, I will, as soon as he’s able to support me.”
And look at this:
HIGGINS. Why have you begun going on like this? May I ask whether you complain of your treatment here?
LIZA. No.
HIGGINS. Has anybody behaved badly to you? Colonel Pickering? Mrs. Pearce? Any of the servants?
LIZA. No.
HIGGINS. I presume you don’t pretend that I have treated you badly.
LIZA. No.
Later she says to Higgins:
“Oh, you are a cruel tyrant. I can’t talk to you: you turn everything against me: I’m always in the wrong. But you know very well all the time that you’re nothing but a bully.”
Don’t these sound contradictory? If she wants to be free, why would she marry Freddy, who, if left to himself, would never be able to support her? Has Higgins treated her well or is he a bully? It seems like she wants to play the victim, be taken care of, and still be independent. Pick a side.
Furthermore, during the six-month training period Eliza makes no plans for her future. Instead she whines,“Why didn’t you leave me where you picked me out of—in the gutter? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to do? What’s to become of me?” Higgins even reminds her of the florist shop idea (“…you shall have a present of seven-and-sixpence to start life as a lady in a shop.”) Why doesn’t she just take the cash? She got knowledge, money, clothes, and she met her husband; why is she complaining?
This story, perhaps inadvertently, shows that just because you can talk well, doesn’t mean you’re in a good position. Just look at Freddy. He’s a well-spoken gentleman but he has no skills and no dough. He has to be taught everything, including what a cheque book and bank account means. And Eliza wants to marry him because he loves her? Listen to this great view of her imminent marriage to Freddy:
LIZA. Freddy’s not a fool. And if he’s weak and poor and wants me, may be he’d make me happier than my betters that bully me and don’t want me.
HIGGINS. Can he MAKE anything of you? That’s the point.
LIZA. Perhaps I could make something of him. But I never thought of us making anything of one another…
WHAT?! I’m not saying she should’ve married Higgins, but surely London has better to offer than Freddy.
A lot of reviews say that Higgins treats Eliza like dirt. But they fail to recognize that she does the same to him. She gets so mean, that Pickering has to ask her to be nicer to Higgins. She snaps [Higgins’] head off on the faintest provocation, or on none. Higgins opened his home to her and spent six months of his life bringing her out of the gutter. She could at least say thank you.
Some reviewers seem to think Eliza is some strong feminist. But she depends on two old guys long after the curtain closes, and then she marries Freddy. I thought feminists don’t need no man. If she were actually a strong woman, she’d leave all the men behind and go work in the flower shop and support herself like she was doing before she went to Higgins. It’s like learning to speak well sapped her of every previous plan she had.
The movie people kept some of these quotes in the film, but it played out differently because they knew Freddy is not suitable for her and they could afford to show character development. Maybe they had Eliza return to Higgins because of the line in the play: If you come back, come back for the sake of good fellowship; for you’ll get nothing else. I would take good fellowship over Freddy any day.
When I started this review I didn’t realize I’d have so much to say, but things just kind of exploded, didn’t they? Just forget this play and watch the movie. It makes more sense and it’s way better.
Check out my rating here.
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