We meet
the central character in byearly in the first act; however, she is known
to us only as "The Flower Girl." The setting for this act is the covered portico of
St. John's church in Covent Garden on a very stormy, wet night. This storm has driven people of
all social positions into the same place at the same time, and of course this makes for a very
interesting scene.
We meet the Flower Girl as she is rushing, with her basket
of flower, into the shelter and is bumped by an aristocratic young man named Freddy. He does not
stop to help her pick up the dropped flowers, and she is not shy about expressing her belief
that if his mother had raised him better he would have done so. She is not cruel, but she is
direct. Shaw gives us quite a detailed description of the girl, an indication that her
appearance really matters to this story. Oh yes, and he does not mince words:
She is not at all an attractive person. She is perhaps eighteen,
hardly older. She wears a little sailor hat of black straw that has long been exposed to the
dust and soot of London and has seldom if ever been brished. Her hair needs washing rather
badly; its mousy color can hardly be natural. She wears a shoddy black coat that reaches nearly
to her knees and is shaped to her waist. She has a brown skirt with a coarse apron. Her boots
are much the worse for wear. She is no doubt as clean as she can afford to be; but compared to
the ladies she is very dirty. Her features are worse than theirs; but their condition leaves
something to be desired; and she needs the services of a dentist.
As the scene progresses, we see many aspects of the Flower Girl's behavior. While she
is deferential to the men and ladies when trying to get them to buy her flowers, once she has
been denied she is not afraid to speak her mind. She is not particularly ugly or unkind, but she
bluntly says what she thinks.
In the episode with the Note Taker (who we
learn is Henry Higgins), when he is studiously identifying everyone's origins by their speech
and , we see a fear of the authorities in the Flower Girl and others of her class. It is clear
that they distrust official authorities, and perhaps with good reason, given their work and
their class.
When the Flower Girl feels insulted, she wails annoyingly; but
she also speaks up for herself when Higgins tries to bully her. She has all the disadvantages of
her social and economic standing, but it is clear she has the potential to be more than she is
if she were given the opportunity. When Higgins casually makes the claim that
in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an
ambassador's garden party. I could even get her a place as a lady's maid or shop assistant,
which requires better English,
he is just bragging. We
get a sense, however, that this Flower Girl could be quite a lady, given her grand and glorious
(and ladylike, she thinks) exit in a taxi.
The Flower Girl does not have
much to recommend her; in fact, according to Higgins, the way she speaks is enough to offend
God. One line in Shaw's description of her, however, suggests that she is redeemable:
She is no doubt as clean as she can afford to be.
This girl does the best she can for herself with what she has been
given and what she has done for herself. It will be interesting to see if she will always be a
flower girl or if she will make something of herself.
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