Pygmalion

Roles

• Alfred Dolittle - Adult (36-50), Senior (>50), Male

About this piece

Mr. Doolittle asks Higgins for money

Summary

The story is set in Victorian London. Mr Higgins is a professor of phonetics who bets against his friend Colonel Pickering that he can teach a Cockney speaking flower girl, Eliza Dolittle, to speak like a duchess in a few months. He plans to take her to high London society parties and make people believe that she is actually a duchess. Eliza moves in Higgins' house and starts her lessons. In this scene Eliza's father, Alfred Dolittle, an elderly and poor dustman, shows up at Higgins' house to demand to have his daughter back. When Higgins agrees Eliza's father confesses that he is actually there just to ask for some money so that he can entertain himself. In this monologue Mr Dolittle articulately admits that he belongs to the "undeserving poor" and persuades Higgins to give him some money.

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