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Scene Study prepares you to perform key scenes for your theater class or audition. We've got all the information you need for a great performance.
Excerpt from Act 2 Monologue: Alfred Doolittle
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Understanding the Given Circumstances
- On a rainy night in London circa 1913, Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, boasts to his colleague, Colonel Pickering, that he can transform a bedraggled Cockney flower girl into a duchess through language lessons. Higgins gives the Colonel his address and tosses the flower girl some money.
- Having overheard their conversation, the flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, arrives at Higgins’s home the next morning. She requests lessons to become a lady, offering to pay for them with the money she received from Higgins.
- Higgins insults Eliza and dismisses her request. Colonel Pickering takes Henry up on his original bet, offering to pay for the lessons and expenses himself. Eliza will live with them for six months while being transformed into a lady.
- Trash collector Alfred Doolittle, father to Eliza, arrives in Higgins’s laboratory. Having traced Eliza to Higgins’s home, Doolittle demands to see his daughter.
- Suspicious about how Alfred tracked Eliza to the Higgins home, Henry accuses him of blackmail and insists that he take Eliza home.
- Doolittle protests and suggests a financial arrangement of five pounds in exchange for Eliza’s participation in their experiment, citing his rights as a father.
Blocking and Movement
In theater, blocking is the process of planning the actors’ physical movements and positions. Be sure to show respect and establish trust when working with scene partners. As you prepare to block this scene, ask yourself the following questions:
- Shaw gives a detailed description of Henry’s laboratory at his home on Wimpole Street. For this monologue, what furniture is necessary, if any? Does Doolittle start seated or standing?
- Doolittle delivers his monologue to both Higgins and Pickering. Where are Higgins and Pickering in relation to Doolittle? Are they together or apart? How would the distance between them affect Doolittle’s movement? Can he play them off one another?
- Shaw describes Doolittle as elderly but vigorous, “free from fear and conscience.”
- How does Shaw’s description influence Doolittle’s movement and color his line delivery?
- Doolittle works as a poor dustman, or trash collector, one of the dirtiest jobs in London. He is now in a nice home. How does this affect his movement? Does he become aware of his appearance? Does he use his appearance? Does he ignore his appearance?
- Higgins constantly insults Eliza when she arrives that morning. With Doolittle, he is polite. Why? What in Doolittle’s manner influences this? Is it charm, persuasion, confidence, or something else?
- When does Doolittle sense he might get his five pounds? How does it affect the tempo of his speech? Does he speed up, pull back, or pause?
Meaning in Heightened Language
In Pygmalion, Shaw employs heightened language, grammar, and dialect to differentiate class status. Higgins, Pickering, and the other upper-class characters use sophisticated language, impeccable grammar, and crisp English diction. When talking about principles or lofty ideals, they also use poetic imagery, alliteration, and literary references to elevate or emphasize their speech. Initially, Eliza and Doolittle speak simply with bad grammar, repetition, slang, and a cockney dialect synonymous with the working class of London’s East End. Yet, they, too, have a poetic element to their speech.
As you prepare your monologue, here are some things to keep in mind:
- To help you with the cockney dialect, first read your lines slowly out loud exactly as Shaw spelled the words. Look up any slang you don’t understand. Pay particular attention to the dropped endings of words and the dropped h at the beginning of words.
- Doolittle repeats the word undeserving throughout this monologue. How does this repetition provide emphasis? How does undeserving change from a put-down to a badge of honor? When?
- How does Doolittle apply antithesis—putting contrasting ideas side by side—to make his point?
- How does rhythm make Doolittle’s speech persuasive? Is the rhythm consistent, or does it change? How does it change, and why?
Full Act 2 Monologue: Alfred Doolittle
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