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* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The 1938 film version updated the clothes and some of the references to the present day, even though the story was clearly rooted in [UnintentionalPeriodPiece the England of 25 years earlier]. ''My Fair Lady'' chose to move the story back to the time when Shaw wrote it.
to:
* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The 1938 film version updated the clothes and some of the references to the present day, even though the giving this feel to a story that was clearly rooted in [UnintentionalPeriodPiece [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece the England of 25 years earlier].earlier]]. ''My Fair Lady'' chose to move the story back to the time when Shaw wrote it.
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* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The 1938 film version updated the clothes and some of the references to the present day, even though the story was clearly rooted in [UnintentionalPeriodPiece the England of 25 years earlier]. ''My Fair Lady'' chose to move the story back to the time when Shaw wrote it.
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Changed line(s) 15,16 (click to see context) from:
A well-received film version was shot in 1938, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Shaw adapted his own play and won Oscar for his script.
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A well-received film version was shot in 1938, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Leslie Howard Creator/LeslieHoward and Wendy Hiller. Shaw adapted his own play and won Oscar for his script.
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!!Tropes used by the play:
to:
!!Tropes used by the play:
in this work:
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* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The play originally ended with [[spoiler:Eliza going off to marry Freddy.]] The 1938 film adaptation [[spoiler:implies Eliza and Higgins ending up together.]]
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* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs but then stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.
to:
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs stairs, but then spoils it by slamming the door in the play, and stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.room in the 1938 film.
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moved to TLP "Adaptational Alternate Ending"
Deleted line(s) 66 (click to see context) :
* RevisedEnding: The play originally ended with Eliza going off to marry Freddy. The 1938 film adaptation implies Eliza and Higgins ending up together.
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* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs but then stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.
to:
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs but then stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.
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--->'''Higgins (to his mother):''' "My idea of a lovable woman is something as like you as possible."
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Deleted line(s) 52,53 (click to see context) :
* NameOnelinerName: Higgins to Nepomuck when the latter insists on Eliza being Hungarian.
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
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* OneLinerNameOneLiner: Higgins to Nepomuck when the latter insists on Eliza being Hungarian.
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
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* HypocriticalHumor: Henry Higgins, after bein told by his maid not to swear in front of Eliza, retorts:
--->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
--->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
* IResembleThatRemark: Henry Higgins, after being told by his maid not to swear in front of Eliza, retorts:
-->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
-->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
* JerkAss: Henry Higgins.
to:
* JerkAss: JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Henry Higgins.
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* AndStarring: Wendy Hiller receives an "introducing" credit for the 1938 film adaptation.
* BaitAndSwitchAccusation: Nepomuck announces that he knows Eliza's secret. Higgins appears concerned but then it turns out Nepomuck believes Eliza is a Hungarian princess.
* BaitAndSwitchAccusation: Nepomuck announces that he knows Eliza's secret. Higgins appears concerned but then it turns out Nepomuck believes Eliza is a Hungarian princess.
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* TheBet
to:
* TheBetTheBet: Colonel Pickering is betting his friend Higgins hat he can't make good on his boast that he could turn Cockney flower girl Eliza into a Duchess.
Deleted line(s) 27 (click to see context) :
* DawsonCasting: A particularly ridiculous case: the original Eliza, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Patrick_Campbell Mrs. Patrick Campbell]], was ''forty-nine'' when she created the role.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Nice guy Freddy is madly in love with Eliza and courts her day in and day out but she is not taking any interst in him. Eventually both end up together, in the original play anyway.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Nepomuck's reasoning why Eliza must be Hungarian.
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs but then stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Nepomuck's reasoning why Eliza must be Hungarian.
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: After the ball Higgins delivers an angry TheReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech to Eliza on the stairs but then stumbles and almost falls while walking off to his room.
* HighClassGlass: Nepomuck wears a monocle.
* InnocentFlowerGirl: Averted. Eliza Doolittle may be a flower girl, but she's far from innocent.
* MilkingTheGiantCow: In the movie Higgins does this pose while delivering a speech about how he pulled Eliza out of the gutters.
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* TheNotLoveInterest: Eliza for Higgens, and ''vice versa'', though very much of the [[VitriolicBestBuds vitriolic]] variety.
to:
* MomentKiller: The constables in the streets when Eliza and Freddy try to kiss towards the end of the film.
* NameOnelinerName: Higgins to Nepomuck when the latter insists on Eliza being Hungarian.
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
* TheNotLoveInterest: Eliza forHiggens, Higgins, and ''vice versa'', though very much of the [[VitriolicBestBuds vitriolic]] variety.variety.
* PennyAmongDiamonds: Flower girl Eliza amongst the aristocrats at the ball.
* NameOnelinerName: Higgins to Nepomuck when the latter insists on Eliza being Hungarian.
--> "Have it your own way, maestro. Have it your own way."
* TheNotLoveInterest: Eliza for
* PennyAmongDiamonds: Flower girl Eliza amongst the aristocrats at the ball.
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* PrincessForADay: Eliza gets the chance to step into the shoes of a duchess for the duration of a ball.
* ProperLady: Higgins succeeds to turn Eliza into one.
* ProperLady: Higgins succeeds to turn Eliza into one.
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* RevisedEnding: The play originally ended with Eliza going off to marry Freddy. The 1938 film adaptation implies Eliza and Higgins ending up together.
* SarcasticConfession: Henry Higgins is successfully (if secretly) passing off Eliza as a Duchess at a grand Ball; when he himself is asked his opinion of her, he says she's just a poor flower girl.
* SarcasticConfession: Henry Higgins is successfully (if secretly) passing off Eliza as a Duchess at a grand Ball; when he himself is asked his opinion of her, he says she's just a poor flower girl.
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* SophisticatedAsHell: Eliza, after learning how to speak with [[IAmVeryBritish perfectly correct English diction]], still occasionally shifts into slang (Higgins has to explain her use of "done her in" as an example of "the new small talk") and profanity ("Walk! Not bloody likely").
* TantrumThrowing: After the ball Eliza is upset and throws Higgins' slippers after him.
* TrainingMontage: The 1938 film has two montages of Eliza being trained by Higgins.
* TantrumThrowing: After the ball Eliza is upset and throws Higgins' slippers after him.
* TrainingMontage: The 1938 film has two montages of Eliza being trained by Higgins.
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Work titles are not displayed in bold.
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'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw.
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A well-received film version was shot in 1938, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Creator/LeslieHoward and Wendy Hiller. Shaw an Oscar for his script.
to:
A well-received film version was shot in 1938, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Creator/LeslieHoward Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Shaw an adapted his own play and won Oscar for his script.
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A well-received film version was shot in 1938, with Shaw winning an Oscar for his script.
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A well-received film version was shot in 1938, with directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Creator/LeslieHoward and Wendy Hiller. Shaw winning an Oscar for his script.
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[[TropeMaker It created the]] modern PygmalionPlot and directly inspired ''MyFairLady''.
to:
[[TropeMaker It created the]] modern PygmalionPlot and directly inspired ''MyFairLady''.''Theatre/MyFairLady''.
Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BelligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is little more than a footnote in the play, itself. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
to:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BelligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is little more than a footnote in the play, itself. [[MyFairLady [[Film/MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
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Add trope: The Not Love Interest - Eliza & Higgens
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* TheNotLoveInterest: Eliza for Higgens, and ''vice versa'', though very much of the [[VitriolicBestBuds vitriolic]] variety.
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* EverythingsBetterWithChocolate: Higgins convinces Eliza to stay by offering her a chocolate, which Eliza nearly chokes on.
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* AlliterativeName: Henry Higgins. Eliza, a Cockney girl, struggles with dropping H's and calls him 'Enry 'Iggins.
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* PygmalionPlot: The TropeCodifier, unintentionally. Shaw had intended to write a PygmalionSnapBack story, but the actors refused to play it any way but as a straightforward romance story due to ValuesDissonance. The epilogue was an attempt at ShipSinking to put an end to that, but it didn't work.
to:
* PygmalionPlot: The TropeCodifier, unintentionally. Shaw had intended to write a PygmalionSnapBack story, but the actors original cast refused to play it any way but as a straightforward romance story due to ValuesDissonance.the values of the time. The epilogue was an attempt at ShipSinking to put an end to that, but it didn't work.
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* PygmalionPlot: The TropeMaker
to:
* PygmalionPlot: The TropeMakerTropeCodifier, unintentionally. Shaw had intended to write a PygmalionSnapBack story, but the actors refused to play it any way but as a straightforward romance story due to ValuesDissonance. The epilogue was an attempt at ShipSinking to put an end to that, but it didn't work.
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* HypocriticalHumor: Henry Higgins, after bein told by his maid not to swear in front of Eliza, retorts:
--->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
--->I never swear. I detest this habit. What the devil do you mean?
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Changed line(s) 30,31 (click to see context) from:
* FunetikAksent: Shaw attempts to do this to represent Eliza's speech at first, but abandons it as unintelligible. (Throughout, however, he refuses to make use of standard English orthography, especially for contractions.)
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
to:
* FunetikAksent: Shaw attempts to do this to represent Eliza's speech at first, but abandons it as unintelligible. (Throughout, however, he refuses to make use of standard English orthography, especially for contractions.)
He even uses the character 'ǝ' for "indefinite vowel")
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eezye-ooa yǝ-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez
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* EverythingsBetterWithChocolate: Higgins convinces Eliza to stay by offering her a chocolate, which Eliza nearly chokes on.
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Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BelligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is barely mentioned in the play. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
to:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BelligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is barely mentioned little more than a footnote in the play.play, itself. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
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Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BeligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is barely mentioned in the play. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
to:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BeligerentSexualTension BelligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is barely mentioned in the play. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
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None
Added DiffLines:
** Also worth noting, there is no real evidence to support this (indeed, a variety of BeligerentSexualTension seems far more likely) in the play itself. Shaw later attached an epilogue (that was really more of an essay) explaining why Eliza and Higgins would not be suited for each other, and how she should instead marry a man who is barely mentioned in the play. [[MyFairLady Few]] [[FanonDiscontinuity agree]].
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Changed line(s) 42 (click to see context) from:
** Worth noting, people have been thinking JBS was full of it from day one. Even the leads in the original production (who would take their bows posed side-by-side like a bride and groom).
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** Worth noting, people have been thinking JBS GBS was full of it from day one. Even the leads in the original production (who would take their bows posed side-by-side like a bride and groom).
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* PlatonicLifePartners: Eliza and Henry Higgins, as GeorgeBernardShaw insisted.
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* PlatonicLifePartners: Eliza and Henry Higgins, as GeorgeBernardShaw Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw insisted.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pygmalion6.jpg
'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by GeorgeBernardShaw.
'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by GeorgeBernardShaw.
to:
'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pygmalion6.jpg
'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by GeorgeBernardShaw.
We open on a crowd sheltering from the rain in a church porch. Among them are an impoverished aristocratic mother and daughter, the Eynsford-Hills (who dispatch Freddy, the son of the house, to secure them a cab); Colonel Pickering, a student of Indian dialects; and Professor Henry Higgins, a professional linguist. These are joined by Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower-girl (nearly knocked over by the departing Freddy), whom Higgins repeatedly startles, first by taking down her speech in phonetic writing, then by declaring to Pickering (whom he has invited to his home) that he could teach her to speak proper English, and finally by presenting her with a great deal of money -- which she uses to commandeer the taxi which the feckless Freddy has brought for his already departed family.
Eliza, inspired by Higgins' boast, comes to his house for lessons. Pickering makes a wager with Higgins, that the latter must in six months' time pass Eliza off as an aristocrat at an Embassy Ball. To effect this, Higgins bullies and wheedles Eliza into remaining at his home. Eliza's dustman father, Alfred Doolittle, gets wind of this and comes to extort money out of Higgins -- which Higgins, delighted by Doolittle's charmingly amoral manner, gladly gives him. Eliza's lessons duly proceed.
Sometime later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's At Home day to try her out on Society; Mrs. Higgins' guests just happen to be the Eynsford-Hills. Eliza's conversation, though conducted in a properly aristocratic accent, is thoroughly low-class in grammar and content. HilarityEnsues, as Eliza departs with a shocking vulgarism, leaving Freddy frankly in love with her and his sister determined to emulate Eliza's elegant "small talk." Higgins' mother remonstrates with him, to no avail.
Months later at the ball, Higgins and Pickering present Eliza to the scrutiny of the venal language expert, Nepomuck, who has been charged by the hostess with detecting any social frauds. Because of his language expertise, Pickering is certain that Eliza will be seen right through. Nepomuck thoroughly deceives himself, however, identifying Eliza not only as an aristocrat, but as a foreigner as well; even when Higgins himself identifies her as a Cockney commoner, his CassandraTruth is not believed.
With the ball over -- What now? Eliza's new character has unfitted her to be a flower-girl, and left her financially unable to maintain her character as a lady. The rest you'll have to see yourself. (And even that might not answer your questions, so you may have to read the "[[AllThereInTheManual Afterward]]" Shaw appended to the play after he first wrote it.)
A well-received film version was shot in 1938, with Shaw winning an Oscar for his script.
[[TropeMaker It created the]] modern PygmalionPlot and directly inspired ''MyFairLady''.
----
!!Tropes used by the play:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Pickering.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Eliza.
* TheBet
* BoyMeetsGirl
* CrashIntoHello: Freddy and Eliza
* DawsonCasting: A particularly ridiculous case: the original Eliza, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Patrick_Campbell Mrs. Patrick Campbell]], was ''forty-nine'' when she created the role.
* DeadpanSnarker: Henry Higgins, and then some.
* {{Deconstruction}}: The "PygmalionPlot" was actually very common in the day before this. This actually shows what's wrong with TheMakeover.
* FunetikAksent: Shaw attempts to do this to represent Eliza's speech at first, but abandons it as unintelligible. (Throughout, however, he refuses to make use of standard English orthography, especially for contractions.)
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
* GPSEvidence: Henry Higgins can determine a Londoner's address down to the street name by his accent alone.
* GrammarNazi: Higgins is more of a diction Nazi, but AnAesop about judging people by the way they speak still applies.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Nepomuck is nicknamed "Hairy-Faced Dick."
* IronicEcho: "Oh, I'm only a squashed cabbage leaf!"
* [[IronicNickname Ironic Name]]: The language expert Nepomuck is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Nepomuk a Bohemian saint]] famous for being martyred for refusing to divulge the secrets of the confessional.
* JerkAss: Henry Higgins.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to his other plays. Shaw usually upheld the idea that SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, but, by popular demand, Pygmalion has a relatively light and humorous tone compared to ''Mrs Warren's Profession'' and ''Man And Superman'', both of which can seem downright brutal.
* ManChild: Higgins is portrayed as being very childish -- mischievous, manipulative, candid, sulky, ill-mannered, selfish, tyrannical, thoughtless and a complete mamma's boy (much to the dismay of said mamma). He's even described as being like a baby or a child repeatedly by the play's direction and occasionally by his mother. Pickering is this to a lesser extent.
* [[MommasBoy Momma's Boy]]: Henry Higgins (!)
--->'''Higgins (to his mother):''' "My idea of a lovable woman is something as like you as possible."
* PlatonicLifePartners: Eliza and Henry Higgins, as GeorgeBernardShaw insisted.
** Worth noting, people have been thinking JBS was full of it from day one. Even the leads in the original production (who would take their bows posed side-by-side like a bride and groom).
* PrecisionFStrike: An accidental one, but it has the same effect.
-->'''Freddy:''' Excuse me, Miss Doolittle, would you be walking across the park, cause if so I--\\
'''Eliza:''' Walk? Not bloody likely. I'm going in a taxi.
* PygmalionPlot: The TropeMaker
* RedOniBlueOni: Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, to a degree.
* SelfInsertFic: Higgins is based to some extent on Shaw himself, and his relationship to Eliza echoes Shaw's with the actress Sybil Thorndike.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Eliza at the ball.
* ShipSinking: The Afterword explains why a particular pairing wouldn't work well.
* TWordEuphemism: Mrs. Pearce reprimands Professor Higgins for setting a bad example to Eliza:
-->'''Mrs. Pearce:''' "...but there is a certain word I must ask you not to use. The girl has just used it herself because the bath was too hot. It begins with the same letter as bath. She knows no better: she learnt it at her mother's knee. But she must not hear it from your lips."
----
'''''Pygmalion''''' (full title: ''Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts'') is a 1913 play by GeorgeBernardShaw.
We open on a crowd sheltering from the rain in a church porch. Among them are an impoverished aristocratic mother and daughter, the Eynsford-Hills (who dispatch Freddy, the son of the house, to secure them a cab); Colonel Pickering, a student of Indian dialects; and Professor Henry Higgins, a professional linguist. These are joined by Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower-girl (nearly knocked over by the departing Freddy), whom Higgins repeatedly startles, first by taking down her speech in phonetic writing, then by declaring to Pickering (whom he has invited to his home) that he could teach her to speak proper English, and finally by presenting her with a great deal of money -- which she uses to commandeer the taxi which the feckless Freddy has brought for his already departed family.
Eliza, inspired by Higgins' boast, comes to his house for lessons. Pickering makes a wager with Higgins, that the latter must in six months' time pass Eliza off as an aristocrat at an Embassy Ball. To effect this, Higgins bullies and wheedles Eliza into remaining at his home. Eliza's dustman father, Alfred Doolittle, gets wind of this and comes to extort money out of Higgins -- which Higgins, delighted by Doolittle's charmingly amoral manner, gladly gives him. Eliza's lessons duly proceed.
Sometime later, Higgins brings Eliza to his mother's At Home day to try her out on Society; Mrs. Higgins' guests just happen to be the Eynsford-Hills. Eliza's conversation, though conducted in a properly aristocratic accent, is thoroughly low-class in grammar and content. HilarityEnsues, as Eliza departs with a shocking vulgarism, leaving Freddy frankly in love with her and his sister determined to emulate Eliza's elegant "small talk." Higgins' mother remonstrates with him, to no avail.
Months later at the ball, Higgins and Pickering present Eliza to the scrutiny of the venal language expert, Nepomuck, who has been charged by the hostess with detecting any social frauds. Because of his language expertise, Pickering is certain that Eliza will be seen right through. Nepomuck thoroughly deceives himself, however, identifying Eliza not only as an aristocrat, but as a foreigner as well; even when Higgins himself identifies her as a Cockney commoner, his CassandraTruth is not believed.
With the ball over -- What now? Eliza's new character has unfitted her to be a flower-girl, and left her financially unable to maintain her character as a lady. The rest you'll have to see yourself. (And even that might not answer your questions, so you may have to read the "[[AllThereInTheManual Afterward]]" Shaw appended to the play after he first wrote it.)
A well-received film version was shot in 1938, with Shaw winning an Oscar for his script.
[[TropeMaker It created the]] modern PygmalionPlot and directly inspired ''MyFairLady''.
----
!!Tropes used by the play:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Pickering.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Eliza.
* TheBet
* BoyMeetsGirl
* CrashIntoHello: Freddy and Eliza
* DawsonCasting: A particularly ridiculous case: the original Eliza, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Patrick_Campbell Mrs. Patrick Campbell]], was ''forty-nine'' when she created the role.
* DeadpanSnarker: Henry Higgins, and then some.
* {{Deconstruction}}: The "PygmalionPlot" was actually very common in the day before this. This actually shows what's wrong with TheMakeover.
* FunetikAksent: Shaw attempts to do this to represent Eliza's speech at first, but abandons it as unintelligible. (Throughout, however, he refuses to make use of standard English orthography, especially for contractions.)
-->THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy athaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
* GPSEvidence: Henry Higgins can determine a Londoner's address down to the street name by his accent alone.
* GrammarNazi: Higgins is more of a diction Nazi, but AnAesop about judging people by the way they speak still applies.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Nepomuck is nicknamed "Hairy-Faced Dick."
* IronicEcho: "Oh, I'm only a squashed cabbage leaf!"
* [[IronicNickname Ironic Name]]: The language expert Nepomuck is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Nepomuk a Bohemian saint]] famous for being martyred for refusing to divulge the secrets of the confessional.
* JerkAss: Henry Higgins.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to his other plays. Shaw usually upheld the idea that SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, but, by popular demand, Pygmalion has a relatively light and humorous tone compared to ''Mrs Warren's Profession'' and ''Man And Superman'', both of which can seem downright brutal.
* ManChild: Higgins is portrayed as being very childish -- mischievous, manipulative, candid, sulky, ill-mannered, selfish, tyrannical, thoughtless and a complete mamma's boy (much to the dismay of said mamma). He's even described as being like a baby or a child repeatedly by the play's direction and occasionally by his mother. Pickering is this to a lesser extent.
* [[MommasBoy Momma's Boy]]: Henry Higgins (!)
--->'''Higgins (to his mother):''' "My idea of a lovable woman is something as like you as possible."
* PlatonicLifePartners: Eliza and Henry Higgins, as GeorgeBernardShaw insisted.
** Worth noting, people have been thinking JBS was full of it from day one. Even the leads in the original production (who would take their bows posed side-by-side like a bride and groom).
* PrecisionFStrike: An accidental one, but it has the same effect.
-->'''Freddy:''' Excuse me, Miss Doolittle, would you be walking across the park, cause if so I--\\
'''Eliza:''' Walk? Not bloody likely. I'm going in a taxi.
* PygmalionPlot: The TropeMaker
* RedOniBlueOni: Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, to a degree.
* SelfInsertFic: Higgins is based to some extent on Shaw himself, and his relationship to Eliza echoes Shaw's with the actress Sybil Thorndike.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Eliza at the ball.
* ShipSinking: The Afterword explains why a particular pairing wouldn't work well.
* TWordEuphemism: Mrs. Pearce reprimands Professor Higgins for setting a bad example to Eliza:
-->'''Mrs. Pearce:''' "...but there is a certain word I must ask you not to use. The girl has just used it herself because the bath was too hot. It begins with the same letter as bath. She knows no better: she learnt it at her mother's knee. But she must not hear it from your lips."
----
