∎ Libro Hedda Gabler and Other Plays Penguin Classics Henrik Ibsen Una EllisFermor Books

Hedda Gabler and Other Plays Penguin Classics Henrik Ibsen Una EllisFermor Books

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Hedda Gabler and Other Plays Penguin Classics Henrik Ibsen Una EllisFermor Books

** Spoilers***
I don't often write reviews with spoilers, but I can't really explain why I like this book so much without talking about the ending. As with many of my reviews of classics, I find that I must review this book in comparison with the movie that I had seen first. The musical "My Fair Lady" is based off of this play to the point that many scenes are even word-for-word. The differences between the musical and this book, though, is huge in my opinion.

The story for both "Pygmalion" and "My Fair Lady" is about both Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. Professor Higgins is a linguist who forms a bet with Pickering to covert Eliza from a poor flower girl to a duchess just by cleaning her speech.

The musical really focuses on the character development of Professor Higgins. Eliza tries to exert her independence, but she ends up coming back to Higgins like an abused wife comes back to a pouty abusive husband. The costumes and music are so beautiful that we try to believe that Higgins is actually in love with Eliza even though there is absolutely no proof of it. I thought the actors were great in this movie, but I found the story disturbing. The lesson was very male-centric and Eliza's independence meant nothing in the end. She came back to fetch his slippers. Nothing changed for her.

From the moment "Pygmalion" was written reader tried to create this sort of love sort between Eliza and Higgins. This caused Mr. Shaw to write a long epilogue explain why a romantic ending such as this was impossible. I completely agree with Mr. Shaw in this.

"My Fair Lady," portrays inconsistent characters and demeans women. "Pygmalion" is much more consistent and, for a book written by a man, one of the best depictions of women I have ever read.

In "Pygmalion," Eliza is actually the focus. Higgins thinks of himself as the perfect Victorian gentleman who is creating a piece of art like in the Greek story of Pygmalion. What we learn in the end, though, is that Eliza was always a person of value even before Higgins came around. Eliza learned to be a lady from Pickering because he treated her like a lady from the beginning. Higgins treated Eliza horribly from the beginning and never stopped. It wasn't Eliza's speech that made her a lady, because we find out she had a fantastic ear for both speech and music, instead, it was actually how she was treated that matters. Higgins never learns this. His horrible manners and rudeness separate him from good society, while Eliza shines wherever she goes. With all the characters of this story, from Freddy to Eliza's father, we learn that there is very little difference between high society and they gutter other than money.

Eliza in the end of "Pygmalion" chooses to marry Freddy who loves her. This is as it should be. When being loved and appreciated is so important to Eliza, why would she choose to go back to the horrible treatment of Higgins? Freddy and she open a flower shop with the help of Pickering. Eliza does stay close to Higgins as she does her own awful father, but she has learned self-respect. Once a person learns to value themselves, they can't allow another person to take that away.

I know many people who think that this ending is a shame. They like Higgin's bullying ways. I find these are the same people who read romance novels in which male character rapes the female character under the name of "romantic". Even though I like James Bond novels, I most certainly do not agree with his horrible treatment of women. I can like Higgins for who he is, but I am very grateful he chooses to stay a bachelor.

Eliza's character has learned to rise up and make her own choices. This isn't a Cinderella story as so many people want it to be. Eliza's soul is still the same. She is a survivor and a fighter. It takes a very strong woman to stand up to a man like Higgins who can twist and turn words to get his way. She is what a woman should be and even gets the support of Higgin's mother in her battle for independence. Mr. Shaw understood well what a woman wants and values. Eliza doesn't try to become a man to fight back. She just fights back.

This review may have ruined "My Fair Lady" for you, but I find I can still enjoy the music and costumes just fine. After reading this book, I can even watch the musical with the satisfaction that Eliza doesn't stay in that abusive situation for long. I honestly can enjoy the movie more now after having read the book. Higgins is not Pygmalion even though he wanted to be. Eliza instead is able to show that she always was alive and had value from the very beginning. This is as it should be.

I recommend this book to young adults and older. I wish, especially, that women would read this and learn to expect more from their relationships. I wish that woman would look at this portrait of a strong female character and see that you don't have to marry the bully just because you can care about him. Love is more than compassion. I wish that woman would stop writing "romantic" novel based off of abusive relationships. Mr. Shaw is a man who understood women better than many women understand women.

One line from "My Fair Lady" that you will never read in "Pygmalion" is "why can't a woman be more like a man?" In many ways, Mr. Shaw actually asks Higgins "why can't you humble yourself enough to learn from Eliza?"


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Hedda Gabler and Other Plays Penguin Classics Henrik Ibsen Una EllisFermor Books Reviews

I recently saw this play and I love Bernard Shaw and loved the dialogue. I read it on the plane to visit a friend who read the synopsis on the cover which indicated that it was in favor of exploitive capitalism rather than a satire. Other than that, it's a great play.
So THIS is the proper English language? George Bernard Shaw has written (all those years ago 1913) a tale of the use and abuse of this great language in a wonderfully satirical way. He certainly had some strongly held convictions about what was the right way to speak and what was the wrong way, even though he has exaggerated his beliefs in the presentation of this play. We are all familiar with the IMproper Cockney speech of Eliza Doolittle and the challenge of 'enry 'iggins to teach her the proper way to speak, thereby making a Lady of her, and it is just as much fun to read the play as it is to see it performed on the stage. This is just one edition of Pygmalion available and it has Notes, Chronology, a Preface, etc. to flesh out the story.
I liked the story. Not a rags to riches type story, but one of complete personality change through speech, dress, and manners. I got the book out of curiosity after coming across a reference to the story in book that I was reading. Finding that it was available free, clinched it.
Great classic!
Was an easy read as it was a play so there was little struggle with the language of the time, although Eliza's initial dialect proved challenging to understand, however I found reading it aloud helped decipher what she was saying. Fabulous descriptions of the set from Shaw allowing a reader to really captivate the reality of the location and draw up a setting and acting as a great baseline for directors and set designers. Simple but interesting storyline. Short book and a great quick read!
One of the classics and my favorite plays ! The story is timeless and shows us to not judge a book by it cover ! The cover can be replaced so easily , but what's inside does not truly change . Shows the importance of language and culture, but underlines what is truly important and that is something everyone has to figure out on their own , rather than force it on someone else
I find it rather sad, as Eliza fights to maintain her dignity (which she had all along, even before her transformation) against Higgins' abuses. I certainly don't find it funny by any means, and I'm sure Shaw didn't, either. I'm glad that Shaw didn't opt for the happy ending, although that would have pleased the crowd.
Good play, somewhat wonky formatting. The first time I downloaded this, it was so unreadable that I deleted it immediately. Oddly enough, when I downloaded the same copy again a few months later, the formatting was much better, so I assume the publisher fixed it. The font still sometimes changes size and style a bit randomly, but it's overall much more readable.
** Spoilers***
I don't often write reviews with spoilers, but I can't really explain why I like this book so much without talking about the ending. As with many of my reviews of classics, I find that I must review this book in comparison with the movie that I had seen first. The musical "My Fair Lady" is based off of this play to the point that many scenes are even word-for-word. The differences between the musical and this book, though, is huge in my opinion.

The story for both "Pygmalion" and "My Fair Lady" is about both Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. Professor Higgins is a linguist who forms a bet with Pickering to covert Eliza from a poor flower girl to a duchess just by cleaning her speech.

The musical really focuses on the character development of Professor Higgins. Eliza tries to exert her independence, but she ends up coming back to Higgins like an abused wife comes back to a pouty abusive husband. The costumes and music are so beautiful that we try to believe that Higgins is actually in love with Eliza even though there is absolutely no proof of it. I thought the actors were great in this movie, but I found the story disturbing. The lesson was very male-centric and Eliza's independence meant nothing in the end. She came back to fetch his slippers. Nothing changed for her.

From the moment "Pygmalion" was written reader tried to create this sort of love sort between Eliza and Higgins. This caused Mr. Shaw to write a long epilogue explain why a romantic ending such as this was impossible. I completely agree with Mr. Shaw in this.

"My Fair Lady," portrays inconsistent characters and demeans women. "Pygmalion" is much more consistent and, for a book written by a man, one of the best depictions of women I have ever read.

In "Pygmalion," Eliza is actually the focus. Higgins thinks of himself as the perfect Victorian gentleman who is creating a piece of art like in the Greek story of Pygmalion. What we learn in the end, though, is that Eliza was always a person of value even before Higgins came around. Eliza learned to be a lady from Pickering because he treated her like a lady from the beginning. Higgins treated Eliza horribly from the beginning and never stopped. It wasn't Eliza's speech that made her a lady, because we find out she had a fantastic ear for both speech and music, instead, it was actually how she was treated that matters. Higgins never learns this. His horrible manners and rudeness separate him from good society, while Eliza shines wherever she goes. With all the characters of this story, from Freddy to Eliza's father, we learn that there is very little difference between high society and they gutter other than money.

Eliza in the end of "Pygmalion" chooses to marry Freddy who loves her. This is as it should be. When being loved and appreciated is so important to Eliza, why would she choose to go back to the horrible treatment of Higgins? Freddy and she open a flower shop with the help of Pickering. Eliza does stay close to Higgins as she does her own awful father, but she has learned self-respect. Once a person learns to value themselves, they can't allow another person to take that away.

I know many people who think that this ending is a shame. They like Higgin's bullying ways. I find these are the same people who read romance novels in which male character rapes the female character under the name of "romantic". Even though I like James Bond novels, I most certainly do not agree with his horrible treatment of women. I can like Higgins for who he is, but I am very grateful he chooses to stay a bachelor.

Eliza's character has learned to rise up and make her own choices. This isn't a Cinderella story as so many people want it to be. Eliza's soul is still the same. She is a survivor and a fighter. It takes a very strong woman to stand up to a man like Higgins who can twist and turn words to get his way. She is what a woman should be and even gets the support of Higgin's mother in her battle for independence. Mr. Shaw understood well what a woman wants and values. Eliza doesn't try to become a man to fight back. She just fights back.

This review may have ruined "My Fair Lady" for you, but I find I can still enjoy the music and costumes just fine. After reading this book, I can even watch the musical with the satisfaction that Eliza doesn't stay in that abusive situation for long. I honestly can enjoy the movie more now after having read the book. Higgins is not Pygmalion even though he wanted to be. Eliza instead is able to show that she always was alive and had value from the very beginning. This is as it should be.

I recommend this book to young adults and older. I wish, especially, that women would read this and learn to expect more from their relationships. I wish that woman would look at this portrait of a strong female character and see that you don't have to marry the bully just because you can care about him. Love is more than compassion. I wish that woman would stop writing "romantic" novel based off of abusive relationships. Mr. Shaw is a man who understood women better than many women understand women.

One line from "My Fair Lady" that you will never read in "Pygmalion" is "why can't a woman be more like a man?" In many ways, Mr. Shaw actually asks Higgins "why can't you humble yourself enough to learn from Eliza?"