There is never any overt reference in the play to Pygmalion; Shaw assumes a classical understanding. According to the Mythology Guide “Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the relation with them, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman could be compared to it in beauty. | DRAMA II MODERN DRAMA Lecture 32 PYGMALION Review George Bernard Shaw George Bernard grew up in an atmosphere of genteel poverty, which to him was more humiliating than being merely poor PYGMALION The Myth Behind the Play The Myth Behind the Play There is never any overt reference in the play to Pygmalion; Shaw assumes a classical understanding. According to the Mythology Guide “Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the relation with them, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman could be compared to it in beauty. It was indeed the perfect sem-blance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself, and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. The Myth Behind the Play Pygmalion admired his own work, and at last fell in love with the counter-feit creation. Oftentimes he laid his hand upon it, as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not even then believe that it was only ivory. The festival of Venus was at hand, a festival celebrated with great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked,and the odor of incense filled the air. When Pygmalion had performed his part in the solemnities, he stood before the altar and timidly said, "Ye gods, who can do all things, give me, I pray you, for my wife" he dared not say "my ivory virgin," but said instead "one like my ivory virgin." Venus, who was present at the festival, heard him The Myth Behind the Play While he stands astonished and glad, though doubting, and fears he may be mistaken, again and again with a lover's ardor he touches the object of his hopes. It was indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the finger and then resumed their roundness. Then at last the votary of Venus found words to thank the goddess, and pressed his lips upon lips as real as his own. The | DRAMA II MODERN DRAMA Lecture 32 PYGMALION Review George Bernard Shaw George Bernard grew up in an atmosphere of genteel poverty, which to him was more humiliating than being merely poor PYGMALION The Myth Behind the Play The Myth Behind the Play There is never any overt reference in the play to Pygmalion; Shaw assumes a classical understanding. According to the Mythology Guide “Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the relation with them, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman could be compared to it in beauty. It was indeed the perfect sem-blance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself, and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. The Myth Behind the Play Pygmalion admired his own work, and at last fell in love with the counter-feit creation. Oftentimes he .
