Monologue

Higgins Monologue from Pygmalion

From Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

male · defiant · 1:26 min

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I have never sneered in my life. Sneering doesn’t become either the human face or the human soul. I am expressing my righteous contempt for Commercialism. I don’t and won’t trade in affection. You call me a brute because you couldn’t buy a claim on me by fetching my slippers and finding my spectacles. You were a fool: I think a woman fetching a man’s slippers is a disgusting sight: did I ever fetch YOUR slippers? I think a good deal more of you for throwing them in my face. No use slaving for me and then saying you want to be cared for: who cares for a slave? If you come back, come back for the sake of good fellowship; for you’ll get nothing else. You’ve had a thousand times as much out of me as I have out of you; and if you dare to set up your little dog’s tricks of fetching and carrying slippers against my creation of a Duchess Eliza, I’ll slam the door in your silly face.

About this piece

Higgins confronts a character, expressing his disdain for commercialism and the transactional nature of relationships, asserting his value and the importance of genuine connection over servitude.

30s · anger · power · identity · commercialism · fellowship

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