Pygmalion
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
Themes
All Themes Language and Speech Appearance and Identity Social Class and Manners Education and Intelligence Femininity and Gender Roles
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Eliza Doolittle Henry Higgins Colonel Pickering Clara Eynsford Hill Freddy Eynsford Hill Alfred Doolittle Mrs. Higgins Ezra D. Wannafeller
Symbols
All Symbols Clothing
Literary Devices
All Literary Devices Alliteration Allusions Dramatic Irony Foreshadowing Genre Hyperbole Irony Metaphors Mood Motifs Setting Similes Style Tone
Quizzes
All Quizzes Act 1 Quiz Act 2 Quiz Act 3 Quiz Act 4 Quiz Act 5 Quiz
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Pygmalion

by

George Bernard Shaw
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Alfred Doolittle Character Analysis

Eliza's father, who appears at Higgins' house in Act Two, asking for money (but not too much money) in return for allowing Eliza to stay with him. Eliza doesn't trust her father, and he doesn't seem to show very much fatherly love (although this changes to some degree at the end of the play, when he invites her to his wedding). After Higgins, as a joke, mentions Doolittle's name as Britain's most "original moralist" to a wealthy American named Ezra Wannafeller, Wannafeller leaves Doolittle a substantial amount of money. However, his newfound wealth and social standing irritate Mr. Doolittle, who thinks little of "middle class morality" or the responsibilities brought on by having any significant amount of money, though at the same time he doesn't have the courage to give up his newfound money.

Alfred Doolittle Quotes in Pygmalion

The Pygmalion quotes below are all either spoken by Alfred Doolittle or refer to Alfred Doolittle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Language and Speech Theme Icon
).
Act 2 Quotes

Is this reasonable? Is it fairity to take advantage of a man like this? The girl belongs to me.

Related Characters: Alfred Doolittle (speaker), Eliza Doolittle
Language and Speech Theme Icon
Femininity and Gender Roles Theme Icon
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5 Quotes

Who asked him to make a gentleman of me? I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I wanted it, same as I touched you, Henry Higgins. Now I am worrited; tied neck and heels; and everybody touches me for money. It's a fine thing for you, says my solicitor. Is it? says I. ...A year ago I hadn't a relative in the world except two or three that wouldn't speak to me. Now I've fifty, and not a decent week's wages among the lot of them. I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle class morality.

Related Characters: Alfred Doolittle (speaker), Ezra D. Wannafeller
Social Class and Manners Theme Icon
Education and Intelligence Theme Icon
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nonsense! He can't provide for her. He shan't provide for her. She doesn't belong to him. I paid him five pounds for her.

Related Characters: Henry Higgins (speaker), Eliza Doolittle, Alfred Doolittle
Education and Intelligence Theme Icon
Femininity and Gender Roles Theme Icon
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
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Alfred Doolittle Quotes in Pygmalion

The Pygmalion quotes below are all either spoken by Alfred Doolittle or refer to Alfred Doolittle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Language and Speech Theme Icon
).
Act 2 Quotes

Is this reasonable? Is it fairity to take advantage of a man like this? The girl belongs to me.

Related Characters: Alfred Doolittle (speaker), Eliza Doolittle
Language and Speech Theme Icon
Femininity and Gender Roles Theme Icon
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5 Quotes

Who asked him to make a gentleman of me? I was happy. I was free. I touched pretty nigh everybody for money when I wanted it, same as I touched you, Henry Higgins. Now I am worrited; tied neck and heels; and everybody touches me for money. It's a fine thing for you, says my solicitor. Is it? says I. ...A year ago I hadn't a relative in the world except two or three that wouldn't speak to me. Now I've fifty, and not a decent week's wages among the lot of them. I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle class morality.

Related Characters: Alfred Doolittle (speaker), Ezra D. Wannafeller
Social Class and Manners Theme Icon
Education and Intelligence Theme Icon
Page Number: 89
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nonsense! He can't provide for her. He shan't provide for her. She doesn't belong to him. I paid him five pounds for her.

Related Characters: Henry Higgins (speaker), Eliza Doolittle, Alfred Doolittle
Education and Intelligence Theme Icon
Femininity and Gender Roles Theme Icon
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
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