Act One

In Edwardian England

In Edwardian England, a person's accent, vocabulary, and pronunciation immediately revealed their social class and background. Shaw demonstrates this

Eliza is introduced as a young

Eliza is introduced as a young flower girl struggling to survive on the streets of London. She is described as dirty, poorly dressed, with teeth needi

Higgins is introduced as a brilliant

Higgins is introduced as a brilliant but insensitive phonetics expert who has made a living by identifying people's origins through their accent. He i

Colonel Pickering is introduced as

Colonel Pickering is introduced as a gentleman of military bearing who shows courtesy and respect to all people, regardless of their social station. H

Phonetics

Phonetics—the scientific study of speech sounds—becomes the foundation for the play's central experiment. Higgins demonstrates that through careful ob