Pygmalion and Three Other Plays (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (89 page)

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Authors: George Bernard Shaw

BOOK: Pygmalion and Three Other Plays (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
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f
That is, the question of whether women are morally superior to men.
g
Quotation from Shakespeare’s
Henry V
(act 4, scene 1).
h
English translation:
Beyond Good and Evil
(1886).
i
Shaw borrows F. J. Wilson’s term for the morbid dwelling on Christ’s suffering.
j
john S. Stuart-Glennie (1832—1909?) was a Scots writer and historian; English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821—1862) is the author of
History of Civilization in England.
k
In later editions Shaw added here “of my acquaintance,” after he had become friends with Stuart-Glennie.
l
Dives
is Latin for “rich”; Shaw is referring to the biblical story of Lazarus and the Rich Man (see Luke 16:19-31).
m
Reference to Aymerigot Marcel, governor of Aloise, described in
Chronicles,
an account of the HundredYears’ War by Jean Froissart (1333?-c. 1405).
n
Prince Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-192 1), Russian geographer and anarchist.
o
Reference to
The Works of Geoffrey
Chaucer (1896), beautifully illustrated by English painter Edward Burne-Jones and printed by William Morris (English artist and founder of Kelmscott Press); this edition of Chaucer’s works represents aestheticism.
p
By leaping (Latin).
q
English poet ( 1612- 1680); author of the long satirical poem
Hudibras,
mentioned below.
r
Indifference to religion; as charged against the Laodiceans in the Bible, Revelation 3:14—22.
s
Reference to English poet Thomas Hood’s “The Song of the Shirt” (1843), which laments the hard laboring lives of seamstresses.
t
American thinker and economist (1839-1897), whose 1884 London lecture on society and economics led Shaw into socialism.
u
That is, Doctor Haggage in Charles Dickens’s
Little Dorrit
(1855-1857), a novel that Shaw considered an indictment of capitalism.
v
Persistent debt collectors.
w
T. Henry Howard, Salvation Army chief of staff (1912—1919).
x
British colonial trading posts were run by factors, or agents, and thus were called factories.
y
Bishops of the Church of England, when sitting as a ruling body.
z
Reference to Russian writer Maxim Gorky (pen name of Aleksey Peshkov, 1868-1936).
aa
Shaw refers to the unsuccessful Russian Revolution of 1905.
ab
Distributors of charity.
ac
Between Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria Eugénie, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, on May 31, 1906.
ad
Reference to Spanish anarchist Mateo Morral, who threw a bomb at King Alfonso XIII’s wedding party and later committed suicide.
ae
An explosive.
af
Nikolai Bobrikov (1839-1904), Vyacheslav Plehve (1846-1904), and Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov (1857-1905) were Russian officials assassinated by revolutionaries.
ag
Reference to Jose Nakens, editor of the revolutionary newspaper
E1 Motin,
who provided temporary refuge for Morral (see note on page 37).
ah
Reference to George William Foote (1850-1915), a passionate opponent of orthodox Christianity.
ai
Laborers who perform the dangerous work of coupling and uncoupling railway cars.
aj
Tory and Whig are the names of political parties that are, respectively, conservative and liberal.
ak
Joking name, in typical British humor, for a large cannon of the Royal Arsenal Woolwich in London.
al
That is, King’s College of Cambridge University.
am
Ruler of Turkey.
an
Saint Andrew Undershaft is a church in London.
ao
That is, a member of a Christian sect other than the Church of England.
ap
Particular religion supported financially by the state.
aq
Benches.
ar
Snobby is named after a well-known Chartist, James Bronterre O‘Brien (1805-1864); Chartists were nineteenth-century English political reformers who advocated for the working classes.
as
Snobby quotes the Bible (see Joshua 9:21, King James Version) to disdain mere manual laborers.
at
Diluted milk.
au
That is, heart.
av
Nervous, discarded, and rejected as incurable by the hospital.
aw
That is, “all understanding”; Price is quoting from the Bible, Philippians 4:7: “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (KJV).
ax
“Mog” is a diminutive of Margaret; in subsequent editions, Shaw spelled Walker’s pronunciation more phonetically: “Ebbijem.”
ay
“Go on!”
az
Slaughterers of worn-out domestic animals, such as horses.
ba
Atheist.
bb
Something the cat would drink.
bc
One with the lowly job of scrubbing pots.
bd
That is, half.
be
That is, how.
bf
LIndershaft means that Barbara might find Methodism, a religion of the common people, appealing.
bg
Saint Simeon (c.390-459), called “Stylites” (pillar-dweller), spent the last thirty years of his life on a pillar (where, presumably, he could not wash easily).
bh
Seller of shoddy goods.
bi
That is, “I hadn’t just no show with him at all.”
bj
The Lord Mayor of London’s collection of donations in times of national need.
bk
Pubs owned by the breweries or distilleries that supply them.
bl
An explosive.
bm
Improvise a bass-line accompaniment.
bn
Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s
Lucia di Lammermoor
(1835), based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel
The Bride of Lammermoor
(1819).
bo
Barbara repeats Christ’s words of doubt just before He dies on the Cross (see the Bible, Matthew 27:46).
bp
The 1905 equivalent of a fast-food restaurant.
bq
British physician and philanthropist Thomas Barnardo (1845-1905) founded homes for orphaned and destitute children, which were known as Doctor Barnardo’s Homes.
br
In the House of Commons (Parliament’s lower house), the Treasury bench is the first row of seats on the right of the Speaker, where cabinet members sit.
bs
Caucuses are small councils within a political party that determine party positions; leading articles are the leading editorials in newspapers.
bt
Primitive Methodists belong to a branch of the church that adheres more strictly to original Methodist doctrine.
bu
Group that looks to reason instead of to a supernatural being as the basis for moral behavior.
bv
pins, like bowling pins, used in the game of skittles.
bw
Quotation from Sonnet 16, “Cromwell, our chief of men” (lines 10-11), by English poet John Milton (1608-1674.).
bx
Wealthier members of a congregation could pay to have a regular seat.
by
Conservative organization founded in 1883; named for the presumed favorite flower of Benjamin Disraeli (see endnote 15.)
bz
Material waterproofed on one side.
ca
That is, the House of Commons.
cb
Farmer; peasant.
cc
Allusion to book 5 of Plato’s Republic (fifth century B.C.), which asserts that an ideal society cannot be realized until philosophers become kings or kings become philosophers—that is, until “political greatness and wisdom meet in one.”
cd
Made from list, a strong material that borders a weaker cloth.
ce
Robert Schumann (1810—1856), German Romantic composer renowned for his piano compositions.
cf
Pendant fleshy lobe at the back of the mouth.
cg
Christian sect (founded 1838) that rejected medical treatment on biblical grounds.
ch
Disease-causing.
ci
Dangerous drugs, legally obtained only with a doctor’s prescription.
cj
lntestinal disease.
ck
Physician who died in 1890.
cl
Low-cost doctor’s office.
cm
Prominent doctors.
cn
Big business corporations; also, the Stock Exchange.
co
Extremist members of the left wing.
cp
Une variously attributed to French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713—1784.) and eighteenth-century revolutionary Jean Messelier.
cq
Spiritualists who conduct seances to contact the dead.
cr
John Abernathy (1764—1831), English surgeon renowned for his popular lectures.
cs
Hypochondriac (French).
ct
Incompetent person.
cu
Religion, founded in 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy, that eschews doctors in favor of spiritual healing.
cv
Solution containing formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant.
cw
Thomas Sydenham (1624—1689) English physician and pioneer in treating diseases.
cx
Noted immunologist and a friend of Shaw (1861—1947); partial model for Doctor Ridgeon in the play.
cy
German bacteriologist and Nobel laureate Robert Koch (1843—1910) developed tuberculin, a substance to diagnose tuberculosis.
cz
Measurement of the amount of opsonin in the blood; opsonin is a constituent of the blood that helps phagocytes (such as white blood cells) destroy disease.
da
Samuel Christian Hahnemann (1755—1843), German physician who introduced homeopathy (treatment of disease by introducing small doses of a remedy that produce symptoms of the disease in a healthy person).
db
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859), a much-admired and -quoted British historian and author.
dc
Cupping was a medical practice of drawing blood to the surface of the body with warmed glass vessels; firing was cauterizing a wound with a heated iron.
dd
Last lines of “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” by English poet Thomas Gray (1716—1771).
de
Paraphrase of “Essay on Criticism,” by English poet Alexander Pope (1688—1744); Shaw substituted “knowledge” for Pope’s “learning.”
df
It is the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, that states all men “are endowed... with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
dg
Reference to English essayist Charles Lamb’s “A Dissertation on Roast Pig,” from
Essays of Elia
(1823).
dh
X rays; discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen in 1895.
di
Days every three months when rent and other payments are due.
dj
Conducting a service of thanksgiving for a new mother.
dk
Reference to Proverbs 13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son” (KJV).
dl
Device that attaches to the wrist to record the pulse graphically on paper.
dm
French author Marquis de Sade (1740—1814), known for his licentious novels and pamphlets, was imprisoned for numerous sex offenses; the word sadism is derived from his name.
dn
English trader and philanthropist (1712—1786) said to have introduced the umbrella to England.
do
Reference to an accident in 1893 between two ships of the British Royal Navy—HMS Victoria and HMS
Camperdown
—in which many drowned.
dp
Edward Jenner (1749—1823) English physician who discovered the smallpox vaccine.
dq
English writer (1689-1762) who introduced inoculation for smallpox to England, after observing it in Turkey.
dr
Praisers of times past (Latin).
ds
This could be reserved by wealthy people for an annual payment.
dt
Epidemic of bubonic plague in 1685 that killed tens of thousands of people.
du
Professional organization for physicians in Britain.
dv
Company doctors paid through workers’ contributions.
dw
Sir James Paget (1814—1899), renowned English surgeon and pathologist.

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