ISC Pygmalion Workbook Answer : Act 1

PLOT DEVELOPMENT

Crowd at the Church Portico: Act I begins at quarter past eleven at night in a heavy summer rainstorm. An after-theatre crowd seeks shelter in the portico of St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London. Notable among them are a well-dressed young girl (Clara Eynsford Hill) and her mother (Mrs Eynsford Hill). They are waiting for Clara’s brother, Freddy, who has gone out in the rain to fetch a cab for them. At this point, a bystander speaks about the impossibility of getting a cab until half past eleven as all the cab drivers will return only after dropping off their passengers to their destinations. This further makes the daughter furious and she dismisses her brother as a worthless fellow who could not get them a cab at the theatre door itself.

Freddy Rushes In and Out: Freddy rushes in and declares that he has been to Charing Cross and nearly to Ludgate Circus but a cab is not available for love or money.’ Clara then accuses Freddy of neither having tried at all nor checking the cabs at Trafalgar Square. Both the mother and the daughter force Freddy to try again and not to return without a cab. As Freddy opens his umbrella and dashes off, he collides with a Flower Girl, who is also hurrying in for shelter. In the process, he knocks down her basket and scatters her flowers. The Flower Girl remarks in cockney dialect, “Nah then, n, Freddy: look wh’y’ gowin, deah.” Freddy apologises and rushes off.

The Flower Girl: The Flower Girl picks up the flowers and sorts them. The mother’s curiosity to find out how the Flower Girl knows her son’s name gets the better of her and she gives her sixpence to compensate for her damaged flowers. Her real motive in giving the money is to extract information about the girl’s relationship with her son. However, her generosity in paying money to the Flower Girl is futile, since the latter has merely addressed her son as Freddy, just as she would address any stranger politely, as Freddy and Charlie were popular names.

The Gentleman: Just then an elderly gentleman rushes in to take shelter, closing a dripping umbrella. The Flower Girl, on seeing the Gentleman, tries to coax him to buy flowers. The Gentleman apologises saying that he has no change. But as the Flower Girl continuously presses him to buy the flowers, the Gentleman fumbles in his pockets and finding three halfpence, gives it to her and retreats to the other pillar. Although the Flower Girl is disappointed, she consoles herself with the thought that three halfpence is better than having nothing at all. Meanwhile, the Bystander warns her that she should have given the Gentleman a flower in return, since a man is taking down every word she speaks.

The Note Taker: Everybody’s attention is turned towards the man who is busy taking down notes, the Note Taker. On seeing the man, the Flower Girl gets terrified and protests her innocence. She feels that since she belongs to a lower class she would be falsely accused and arrested. Soon, there is a commotion in favour of the Flower Girl.

The Note Taker and the Flower Girl: Meanwhile, the Note Taker steps forward and assures the Flower Girl that he is not going to harm her. The Bystander tries to calm the Flower Girl down by telling her that the Note Taker appears to be a gentleman by his boots and is not a ‘Copper’s Nark’, i.e., a police informant. The Note Taker’s interest is aroused by the phrase ‘Copper’s Nark’ and he asks the bystander to explain it. The Flower Girl, however, protests her innocence. The Note Taker tries to reassure her again but her fears are far from being dispelled. She demands that the Note Taker shows her what he has written about her. He opens his book and holds it steadily under her nose. The Flower Girl is unable to make any sense of it as the notes are in phonetic script. The Note Taker reads out exactly what she had said in her cockney accent. The Flower Girl then appeals to the Gentleman for help, who tells the Note Taker to mind his own business. All the bystanders also join in the general condemnation of the Note Taker.

The Note Taker’s Impressive Skills: The Note Taker then proceeds to accurately predict the origin of people from their accents. He correctly guesses that the Bystander is from Selsey and the Flower Girl is from Lisson Grove. He also correctly deduces that the Gentleman is from Cheltenham, Harrow, Cambridge and India.

The Rain Subsides: Meanwhile the downpour subsides and the crowd begins to disperse. Impatient at Freddy’s inability to get a cab, Clara declares that she shall surely get ‘pneumownia’ if she stays in the draught any longer. The Note Taker makes a note of her pronunciation of ‘mownia’ and declares that she is from Earlscourt and her mother is unmistakably from Epsom. The mother confirms that she was indeed brought up in Largelady Park near Epsom and requests him to find them a cab. He responds by blowing a shrill whistle to summon a cab. This provokes some discussion that the Note Taker is indeed a policeman. The Note Taker becomes irritated and reminds the bystanders that the rain had stopped about two minutes ago and that they should leave. The mother and her daughter decide to take the bus since the rain has stopped. Meanwhile, the Note Taker is left alone with the Gentleman and the Flower Girl.

The Note Taker Introduces his Profession: On being asked the secret of how he deduces the origin of people from their speech, the Note Taker explains that he is a phonetician by profession and can place any man in London within two miles and sometimes within two streets. He goes on to claim that he is capable of teaching anybody any dialect.
Upbraiding the Flower Girl for her speech, the Note Taker irritably denounces her as an ‘incarnate insult to the English language.’ He boasts that he could transform her with her cockney accent into a duchess within three months, and even get her a place as a lady’s maid or a shop assistant.

The Two Phoneticians: The Note Taker and the Gentleman trade names and it turns out that they have long wanted to meet each other. The Gentleman is Colonel Pickering, the author of ‘Spoken Sanskrit’, and the Note Taker is Henry Higgins, the author of ‘Higgins’s Universal Alphabet.’
Higgins invites Pickering to his home-cum-laboratory. The latter suggests that they proceed to his hotel. As they decide to go off to dine and discuss phonetics, there is a sound of church bells that remind the Note Taker of Christian charity and he throws a handful of money into the Flower Girl’s basket, who is delighted by her unexpected fortune. At that moment, Freddy arrives with a cab only to find that his mother and sister have taken a bus instead.

The Cab Ride: The Flower Girl happily asserts that she is going home in the cab that Freddy drives up in. But when the driver refuses to let her in, she shows him a handful of her money to assure him that she can pay the fare. On seeing Freddy, she tells the driver to take her to Buckingham Palace. However, as soon as they are out of Freddy’s earshot, she tells the driver to take her home to Angel Court in Drury Lane, next to Meiklejohn’s (my uncle John’s) oil shop. On reaching her destination, she is greatly dismayed that the fare is a shilling for only a two-minute drive. At this, the cab driver forgoes the fare.

The Flower Girl’s Residence: The Act closes in the Flower Girl’s small room that is her home. It has the barest of minimum necessities. The Flower Girl, however, excitedly counts her new riches and plans what to do with them until the gas lamp goes out. She decides to go to bed as it would be more economical and sensible than sitting up without a fire.