Monologue

Higgins Monologue from Pygmalion

From Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

male · defiant · 1:53 min

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There! That’s all you get out of Eliza. Ah—ah—ow—oo! No use explaining. As a military man you ought to know that. Give her her orders: that’s what she wants. Eliza: you are to live here for the next six months, learning how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florist’s shop. If you’re good and do whatever you’re told, you shall sleep in a proper bedroom, and have lots to eat, and money to buy chocolates and take rides in taxis. If you’re naughty and idle you will sleep in the back kitchen among the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months you shall go to Buckingham Palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the King finds out you’re not a lady, you will be taken by the police to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptuous flower girls. If you are not found out, you shall have a present of seven-and-sixpence to start life with as a lady in a shop. If you refuse this offer you will be a most ungrateful and wicked girl; and the angels will weep for you. Now are you satisfied, Pickering? Can I put it more plainly and fairly, Mrs. Pearce?

About this piece

Higgins is outlining the terms of Eliza's transformation, using a mix of authority and sarcasm to convey the stakes of her decision.

30s · determination · identity · power · ambition · freedom

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