Pygmalion Vs My Fair Lady

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate September 2001

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Pygmalion vs My Fair LadyGeorge Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion in the early 20th century. Later that century a musical was released named My Fair Lady. The Musical is a copy of the work Shaw did. The musical has the same characters, setting, and situations. The Musical on the other hand differs greatly from the book Pygmalion. The character development in the musical adds a great deal to the story. The way the musical fills in the gaps that the story left helps readers understand better what the characters were feeling.

The character Alfred Doolittle shows up in the book twice. Even though he is a minor character; Alfred still is a character none the less. In the book he is poorly represented. His character jumps around without transition and it leaves the reader a little curious and wanting more. Shaw portrays the character as a old lazy dustman with witty comments that amuse Higgins.

He has been through six women and got lucky because he never had to marry one of them. He appears in the book for the first time when he comes marching into the Higgins home begging for money. Something that the Alfred does best. He seems happy to get the money and happier that Higgins knows where it is going, to the pub. The next time he appears he is dressed like a governor and is headed to his wedding. Completely two different extremes; first he is the one begging for money so that he can get drunk and forget about all the women he has been through and never married. Now he is a rich middle class man who is getting hit up for money and headed off to his own wedding.

In the musical this minor character is given much more attention.