In Covent Garden, a district of London, a sudden torrent of rain sends people hurrying for shelter under the portico of St. Paul's Church. Will you pay me for them?" A heavy late-night summer thunderstorm opens the play. According to Greek Mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who created a beautiful statue of a woman. "Pygmalion Act I Summary and Analysis". They chide him, and as he runs off to try again to find a cab, he knocks into Liza, a flower girl, spilling her flowers into the mud. I heard you call him by it. Freddy is fulfilling the role of the chivalrous gentleman, going out into the rain to find a taxi for his sister and mother. Clara does not want to speak to him perhaps because she is not sure of his social class (and finds him a bit rude). Freddy rushes in out of the rain from the Southampton Street side, and comes between them closing a dripping umbrella. Act 1 serves three main purposes: to introduce the play's three main characters, establish the central premise of the play, and provide social context for the events that will unfold. A young gentlewoman and her mother stand under a portico in Covent Garden, London, avoiding a torrential, evening rainstorm. It's a dark and stormy night, and a crowd of people are seeking refuge from the rain in front of a church in London's Covent Garden market. THE DAUGHTER. So, while normal shorthand conveys the content of a conversation, Higgins's form also records the intonation and accent of a speaker's voice. Wade Bradford, M.A., is an award-winning playwright and theater director. THE NOTE TAKER [coming forward on her right, the rest crowding after him] There, there, there, there! After Freddy leaves, the mother gives the Flower Girl money to ask how she knew her son's name, only to learn that "Freddy" is a common by-word the Flower Girl would have used to address anyone. They arrange to have dinner together. Liza becomes hysterical, claiming that she has done nothing wrong. Gathered beneath the portico of St. Paul's Church while sheltering from the rain, an array of London citizenry represent the different levels of Victorian society, from the high class of Higgins and Pickering to the low class of Eliza. Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht pyin. Industrialization and capitalism have created the possibility of upward mobility. A heavy late-night summer thunderstorm opens the play. Higgins identifies the bystander as coming from the seaside village of Selsey, and the sarcastic bystander's speech patterns place him in the trade and manufacturing center of Hoxton. Higgins endeavors to transform Eliza in his own image, and he gets much more than he ever bargained for. She is frequently exasperated by her son's lack of manners and completely sympathizes with Liza when the girl leaves Higgins and takes shelter with her. Te-oo banches o voylets trod into the mad. [Hysterically] I'm a respectable girl: so help me, I never spoke to him except to ask him to buy a flower off me. Delighted by their chance encounter, Higgins insists that Pickering stay at his home. He gives her some change, but a bystander tells her to be careful, for it looks like there is a police informer taking copious notes on her activities. Pygmalion, written in 1913, became his most famous work. The first one appears at the end of Act 1 when Eliza takes a taxi to her lodgings. When Higgins is first mistaken for a policeman or informer, the bystander points out, "It's all right: he's a gentleman: look at his boots." Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders. THE DAUGHTER. A bystander advises Liza to give Pickering a flower for it, because there is a man behind a pillar taking down every word that she says. THE BYSTANDER. Stuck? Oh do buy a flower off me, Captain. Higgins complains that the flower girl's speech is an insult to the majestic English language. Act 1. Higgins invites Pickering around to his home at 27A Wimpole Street the next day, and the two men depart for a chat over some supper. THE FLOWER GIRL [taking advantage of the military gentleman's proximity to establish friendly relations with him]. You selfish pig —, FREDDY. FREDDY. THE MOTHER. Really, mamma, you might have spared Freddy that. For example, Eliza's Cockney accent places her home in Lisson Grove, a former slum area in central London—not "fit for a pig to live in," according to Eliza—urbanized during the mid-19th century and remaining poor into the 20th century.