Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, Pygmalion (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: Πυγμαλίων ''Pugmalíōn'', ''gen''.: Πυγμαλίωνος) was a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

ary figure of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, who was a king and a sculptor. He is most familiar from

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the ...

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be ...

''Metamorphoses'', in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.

In Ovid

In book 10 of

's ''Metamorphoses'', Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory. He named her Galatea. According to Ovid, when Pygmalion saw the Propoetides of Cyprus practicing prostitution, he began "detesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women". He determined to remain celibate and to occupy himself with sculpting. He made a sculpture of a woman that he found so perfect he fell in love with it. Pygmalion kisses and fondles the sculpture, brings it various gifts, and creates a sumptuous bed for it. In time,

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion (emotion), passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman god ...

's festival day came and Pygmalion made offerings at the altar of Aphrodite. There, too scared to admit his desire, he quietly wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl". When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue, and found that its lips felt warm. He kissed it again, and found that the ivory had lost its hardness. Aphrodite had granted Pygmalion's wish. Pygmalion married the ivory sculpture, which changed to a woman under Aphrodite's blessing. In Ovid's narrative, they had a daughter, Paphos, from whom the city's name is derived. In some versions, Paphos was a son, and they also had a daughter, Metharme. Ovid's mention of Paphos suggests that he was drawing on a more circumstantial account than the source for a passing mention of Pygmalion in Pseudo-Apollodorus' ''

Bibliotheke Bibliotheca may refer to: * ''Bibliotheca'' (Pseudo-Apollodorus), a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends * '' Bibliotheca historica'', a first century BC work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus * ''Bibliotheca'' ...

'', a Hellenic mythography of the 2nd-century AD. Perhaps he drew on the lost narrative by Philostephanus that was paraphrased by

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen an ...

. In the story of Dido, Pygmalion is an evil king.

Parallels in Greek myth

The story of the breath of life in a statue has parallels in the examples of Daedalus, who used

quicksilver Quicksilver may refer to: * Quicksilver (metal), the chemical element mercury Arts and entertainment Music * Quicksilver, a bluegrass band fronted by Doyle Lawson * "Quicksilver" (song), a 1950 hit for Bing Crosby * ''Quicksilver'' (sound ...

to install a voice in his statues or to make them move; of Hephaestus, who created automata for his workshop; of Talos, an artificial man of bronze, and (according to

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

) of Pandora, who was made from clay at the behest of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

. The moral anecdote of the " Apega of Nabis", recounted by the historian

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

, described a supposed mechanical simulacrum of the tyrant's wife, that crushed victims in her embrace. The trope of a sculpture so life-like that it seemed about to move was a commonplace with writers on works of art in antiquity. This trope was inherited by writers on art after the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

. An example of this trope appears in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play, ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some cri ...

'', where the king of Sicily is presented with an extremely lifelike statue of his wife (which is actually his long-presumed dead wife).

Cultural depictions

The basic Pygmalion story has been widely transmitted and re-presented in the arts through the centuries. At an unknown date, later authors give as the name of the statue that of the sea- nymph Galatea or Galathea.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

calls her Elise, based upon the variants in the story of Dido/ Elissa. A variant of this theme can also be seen in the story of '' Pinocchio'', in which a wooden puppet is transformed into a "real boy", though in this case the puppet possesses sapience prior to its transformation; it is the puppet and not its creator, the woodcarver Geppetto, who beseeches the divine powers for the miracle. In the final scene of

's ''

'', a statue of Queen Hermione which comes to life is revealed as Hermione herself, so bringing the play to a conclusion of reconciliations. In George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', a modern variant of the myth with a subtle hint of feminism, the underclass flower-girl Eliza Doolittle is metaphorically "brought to life" by a phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, who teaches her to refine her accent and conversation and otherwise conduct herself with upper-class manners in social situations. This play in turn inspired a 1938 film adaptation, as well as the 1956 musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flowe ...

'' and its 1964 film adaptation. The 2007 film '' Lars and the Real Girl'' tells the story of a man who purchases a doll and treats her as a real person in order to reconnect with the rest of the world. Although she never comes to life, he believes she is real, and in doing so develops more connections to his community. When he no longer needs her, he lets her go. This is a reversal of the myth of Pygmalion. Falconet - Pygmalion & Galatee (1763)-black bg

Falconet - Pygmalion & Galatee (1763)-black bg

Paintings

The story has been the subject of notable paintings by Agnolo Bronzino, Jean-Léon Gérôme (''

Pygmalion and Galatea Pygmalion and Galatea are two characters from Greco-Roman mythology. Pygmalion and Galatea may also refer to: * ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (play), a play by W. S. Gilbert * '' Pygmalion and the Image series'', a series of paintings by Edward Burne- ...

''), Honoré Daumier, Edward Burne-Jones (four major works from 1868–1870, then again in larger versions from 1875–1878 with the title '' Pygmalion and the Image''), Auguste Rodin,

Ernest Normand Ernest Normand (1857–1923) was an English painter noted for his historical and Biblical scenes as well as Orientalist works. Life and career Ernest Normand was born in London on 30 December 1857. He painted history and orientalist painting ...

, Paul Delvaux,

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

, Franz von Stuck, François Boucher,

Eduardo Chicharro y Agüera Eduardo Chicharro y Agüera (18 June 1873, Madrid - 24 May 1949, Madrid) was a Spanish painter. He worked in a variety of genres, but is perhaps best known for his female portraits. His son was the poet, . Biography His father was a craftsman ...

and Thomas Rowlandson, among others. There have also been numerous sculptures of the "awakening".

Literature

Ovid's Pygmalion has inspired many works of literature, some of which are listed below. The popularity of the Pygmalion myth surged in the 19th century.

Poems

=England

= * John Marston's "Pigmalion", in "The Argument of the Poem" and "The Authour in prayse of his precedent Poem" (1598) * John Dryden's poem "Pygmalion and the Statue" (1697–1700) * Thomas Lovell Beddoes's "Pygmalion, or the Cyprian Statuary" (1823–25) *William Cox Bennett's poem "Pygmalion" from his work '' Queen Eleanor's Vengeance and Other Poems'' (1856) * Arthur Henry Hallam's poem "Lines Spoken in the Character of Pygmalion" from his work ''Remains in verse and prose of Arthur Henry Hallam: With a preface and memoir'' (1863) * Robert Buchanan's poem "Pygmalion the Sculptor" in his work ''Undertones'' (1864) * William Morris's poem "Earthly Paradise" in which he includes the section "Pygmalion and the Image" (1868) *

William Bell Scott William Bell Scott (1811–1890) was a Scottish artist in oils and watercolour and occasionally printmaking. He was also a poet and art teacher, and his posthumously published reminiscences give a chatty and often vivid picture of life in the ...

's "Pygmalion" * Thomas Woolner's long poem "Pygmalion" (1881) * Frederick Tennyson's "Pygmalion" from ''Daphne and Other Poems'' (1891) * Robert Graves' "Pygmalion to Galatea" (1926) and "Galatea and Pygmalion"

=Scotland

= *

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

's "The New Pygmalion or the Statue's Choice" (1911) * Carol Ann Duffy's poem "Pygmalion's Bride" (1999)

=Ireland

= * Emily Henrietta Hickey's ''A Sculptor and Other Poems'' (1881) * Patrick Kavanagh's "Pygmalion" (1938) * Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's "Pygmalion's Image" (1991)

=Germany

= * Friedrich Schiller's poem "The Ideals" (Die Ideale) (1795-6)

=Romania

= *

Nichita Stănescu Nichita Stănescu (; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist. Biography Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian ...

's poem "Către Galateea" (Dreptul la timp) (1965)

=United States

= *

Sara Jane Lippincott Sara Jane Lippincott ( pseudonym Grace Greenwood) (née Clarke; September 23, 1823 – April 20, 1904) was an American author, poet, correspondent, lecturer, and newspaper founder. One of the first women to gain access into the Congressional pr ...

(Grace Greenwood)'s "Pygmalion" (1851) *

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (August 31, 1844January 28, 1911) was an early feminist American author and intellectual who challenged traditional Christian beliefs of the afterlife, challenged women's traditional roles in marriage and family, an ...

' "Galatea" from ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'' (1884) * Edward Rowland Sill's "The Lost Magic" (1900) *

H.D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

's "Pygmalion" (1913–17) * Genevieve Taggard's "Galatea Again" (1929) * Katha Pollitt's "Pygmalion" (1979) * Joseph Brodsky's "Encore" (1983) * Katherine Solomon's "Galatea" (1999) * Madeline Miller's "Galatea" (2013)

=Nicaragua

= *

Claribel Alegría Clara Isabel Alegría Vides (May 12, 1924 – January 25, 2018), also known by her pseudonym Claribel Alegría, was a Nicaraguan-Salvadoran poet, essayist, novelist, and journalist who was a major voice in the literature of contemporary Central A ...

's "Galatea Before the Mirror" (1993)

Short stories

* Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story " The Birth-Mark" and his similar novella, '' Rappaccini's Daughter''. * H.P. Lovecraft's "

Herbert West–Reanimator "Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication ''Home Brew''. The story ...

" * Tommaso Landolfi's "La moglie di Gogol" ('The Wife of Gogol') * John Updike's "Pygmalion" *

E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...

's " The Sandman" * Jorge Luis Borges's "

Las Ruinas Circulares "The Circular Ruins" (original Spanish language, Spanish title: "Las ruinas circulares") is a short story by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. First published in the literary journal ''Sur (magazine), Sur'' in December 1940, it was included in ...

" (Argentina) *

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and ...

's short story ''Galatea'' (in his collection ''

Azazel In the Bible, the name Azazel (; he, עֲזָאזֵל ''ʿAzāʾzēl''; ar, عزازيل, ʿAzāzīl) appears in association with the scapegoat rite; the name represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the sins of the Jews during ...

'' is a parody of the story, where a woman sculptor sculpts her idea of the ideal man) * Madeline Miller's short story 'Galatea'

Novels and plays

* William Hazlitt's ''Liber Amoris: or, the New Pygmalion'' (1823) *

Lloyd C. Douglas Lloyd Cassel Douglas (August 27, 1877 – February 13, 1951) was an American minister and author. Douglas was one of the most popular American authors of his time, although he did not write his first novel until he was 50. Biography He was ...

's novel "Invitation To Live" (1940) * Richard Powers's novel ''

Galatea 2.2 ''Galatea 2.2'' is a 1995 pseudo-autobiographical novel by American writer Richard Powers and a contemporary reworking of the Pygmalion myth. The book's narrator shares the same name as Powers, with the book referencing events and books in the a ...

'' *

Amanda Filipacchi Amanda Filipacchi (; born October 10, 1967) is an American novelist. She was born in Paris and educated in both in France and in the U.S. She is the author of four novels, ''Nude Men'' (1993), ''Vapor (novel), Vapor'' (1999), ''Love Creeps'' (20 ...

's novel ''Vapor'' * Edith Wharton's '' House of Mirth'' * Henry James' '' Portrait of a Lady'' (1880–81) * George MacDonald's ''Phantastes'' * George Bernard Shaw's play '' Pygmalion'' * Edgar Neville's play ''Prohibido en otoño.'' * Tawfiq el-Hakim's play ''Pygmalion'' *

William Schwenck Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most ...

's play ''

'' * Willy Russell's play '' Educating Rita'' * Rousseau's play ''Pygmalion, scène lyrique'', the first full melodrama * Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's novel '' Tomorrow's Eve'' * Jacinto Grau's play El Señor de Pigmalión (1921) *

's play ''The Winter's Tale'' (1611)

Other

* Pete Wentz's comic series '' Fall Out Toy Works'' * Grant Morrison's

Professor Pyg Professor Pyg is a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly known as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Pyg was created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert and debuted as a corpse in the alternate reality story ' ...

, who appears in ''

Batman and Robin Batman and Robin are a superhero duo appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman and Robin may also refer to: Comics and literature * ''Batman and Robin'' (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip, started in 1943 *''All Star Ba ...

'' *Dr. William Moulton Marston drew inspiration from the Galatea and Pygmalion myth in creating his allegorical myth of

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being ...

's clay birth, with Hippolyte being in the "Pygmalion" role sculpting her daughter

(as the "Galatea") from clay and given life by Aphrodite's breath. It was Marston's intention to express the creative power of a mother's love for a child and that

is the product of her mother's rearing, and therefore personifying much of her mother's qualities of independence, self sufficiency, strength of character, non-limiting beliefs, etc.

Opera, ballet, and music

*The story of Pygmalion is the subject of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera ...

's 1748 opera, '' Pigmalion''. *It was also the subject of Georg Benda's 1779 monodrama, '' Pygmalion''. * Ramler's poem ''Pygmalion'' was set to music as an aria by J.C.F.Bach in 1772, and as a cantata by Friedrich Benda in 1784. *Pygmalion was the subject of Gaetano Donizetti's first opera, '' Il Pigmalione''. * Fromental Halévy wrote an opera ''Pygmalion'' in the 1820s, but it was not performed. * Franz von Suppé composed an operetta ''

Die schöne Galathée ' (''The Beautiful Galatea'') is an operetta in one act by Franz von Suppé to a German libretto by the composer and 'Poly Henrion' (the pseudonym of Leonhard Kohl von Kohlenegg).* In the early 1860s, French operettas by Jacques Offenbach w ...

'', which is based on the characters of Pygmalion and '' Galatea''. *The ballet '' Coppélia'', about an inventor who makes a life-sized dancing doll, has strong echoes of Pygmalion. *The choreographer Marius Petipa and the composer Prince Nikita Trubetskoi created a four-act ballet on the subject called ''

Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre ''Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre'' ( ''Pygmalion, or The Cyprus Statue'') is a ballet in 4 Acts-6 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Prince Nikita Trubestkoi A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand pr ...

''. The ballet was revived in 1895 with the great ballerina Pierina Legnani. * *British shoegaze band Slowdive named their third LP '' Pygmalion'' in 1995. *The song "Trial By Fire" by darkwave/gothic band ThouShaltNot recreates the idea of a modern-day Pygmalion with lyrics such as "I sculpt your nature within, I am your Pygmalion" and "I dust away the plaster from off your breathing body...You'll never be the same." * Lunatic Soul's 2014 album '' Walking on a Flashlight Beam'' includes the track "Pygmalion's Ladder". * The progressive house artist Hellberg (Jonathan Hellberg) released a song called 'The Girl' featuring vocalist

Cozi Zuehlsdorff Cozi Noelle Zuehlsdorff (born August 3, 1998) is an American actress and singer known for her role as Hazel Haskett in the movie ''Dolphin Tale'' (2011) and the sequel, ''Dolphin Tale 2'' (2014). She also appears in ''Mighty Med'' as Jordan, a ...

in 2015. They have both admitted to having been inspired by the Pygmalion myth when creating the track. * Wonderbound Ballet Company in Denver, Colorado premiered the piec
"Patterns"
in 2018 as part of their work Aphrodite's Switchboard. The piece centers on a reinterpretation of the Pygmalion story in which Aphrodite falls in love with Pygmalion's sculpture herself. *''

'' stage musical *South Korean band

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek language, Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is ...

's 2022 mini album's title track "Feelin' Like" is based on the Pygmalion story, centered on the moment Galatea awakens.

Stage plays

Though it is not based on the story of Pygmalion, Shakespeare's play ''

Measure for Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the ''First Folio'' of 1623. The play's plot features its ...

'' references Pygmalion in a line spoken by Lucio in Act 3, Scene 2: "What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd?" There have also been successful stage-plays based upon the work, such as W. S. Gilbert's ''

'' (1871). It was revived twice, in 1884 and in 1888. The play was parodied the musical 1883 burlesque '' Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed'', which was performed at the Gaiety Theatre with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens and

W. Webster W. may refer to: * SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel * ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush * "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...

, and a score composed by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. In January, 1872, ''Ganymede and Galatea'' opened at the Gaiety Theatre. This was a comic version of Franz von Suppé's ''

Die schöne Galathee Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

'', coincidentally with Arthur Sullivan's brother, Fred Sullivan, in the cast. In March 1872, William Brough's 1867 play ''

Pygmalion; or, The Statue Fair ''Pygmalion; or, The Statue Fair'' is a play by William Brough that was advertised as a musical burlesque. It was first produced in 1867, and revived in March 1872. Described as having a complex plot that largely involves changing social statu ...

'' was revived, and in May of that year, a visiting French company produced Victor Massé's ''Galathée''. George Bernard Shaw's '' Pygmalion'' (1912, staged 1913) owes something to both the Greek Pygmalion and the legend of "King

Cophetua "The King and the Beggar-maid" is a 16th-century broadside balladThelma G. James (1933), "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads of Francis J. Child", ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 46 (No. 179), pp. 51–68. that tells the story o ...

and the beggar maid"; in which a king lacks interest in women, but one day falls in love with a young beggar-girl, later educating her to be his queen. Shaw's

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a g ...

in turn was the basis for the Broadway musical ''

'' (1956), as well as numerous other adaptations. P. L. Deshpande's play ''Ti Fulrani'' ("Queen of Flowers") is also based on Shaw's ''Pygmalion''. The play was a huge success in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

theater and has earned many accolades.

Madhu Rye Madhu Rye is a Gujarati playwright, novelist and story writer. Born in Gujarat and educated at Calcutta, he started writing in the 1960s and became known for his stories and plays. His experience at the University of Hawaii introduced him to ...

adapted ''Pygmalion'' in Gujarati as ''Santu Rangili'' (1976) which was successful.

Television

* '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' 3rd-season episode "The Galatea Affair" from 1966 is a spoof of ''My Fair Lady''. A crude barroom entertainer ( Joan Collins) is taught to behave like a lady. Noel Harrison, son of Rex Harrison, star of the ''

'' film, is the guest star. * The Japanese anime series '' Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040'' includes a character named Galatea, an artificial life form designed to be the next evolution of the human race. * In Disney's '' Hercules: The Animated Series,'' Pygmalion was Hercules' art teacher. His success in crafting a perfect wife for himself prompted Hercules to do the same to create a date for a school dance, naming her Galatea. * The science-fiction franchise Star Trek explores the Pygmalion theme in episodes such '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''s " Inheritance" (Episode 7x10), where Data's creator Dr. Soong constructs a female android to replace his deceased wife, and '' Star Trek: The Original Series'' " Requiem for Methuselah" (Episode 3x19), where an immortal human builds a presumably immortal android as a life partner. The character of

Data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...

, himself an android "sculpted" by man and his longing to become more "human," are a recurrent arc of the series. * The 1897 flashback of the Gothic TV serial '' Dark Shadows'' includes a painter, Charles Delaware Tate (portrayed by Roger Davis), whose portraits come to life. The character of Amanda Harris is one of Tate's creations, falling in love with Quentin Collins. * In the TV series '' Gotham'' in season 4 the run into a bad guy that calls himself "The Pyg". He says "I spell it with a y because it’s short for Pygmalion."

Films

* ''Pygmalion'' (1935 film), a German film based on the George Bernard Shaw play * ''Pygmalion'' (1937 film), a Dutch film based on the George Bernard Shaw play * ''Pygmalion'' (1938 film), a British film starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller * ''Pygmalion'' (1948 film), a British television film starring Margaret Lockwood * ''

Surjo Konna ''Surjo Konna'' ( bn, সুর্য কন্যা; English: Daughter of the Sun) is a 1975 Bangladeshi film starring Jayshree Kabir, Bulbul Ahmed and Sumita Devi. Indian veteran singer Sandhya Mukherjee sang the timeless hit song "Ami Je Andh ...

'', a Bangladeshi film based on Pygmalion starring

Bulbul Ahmed Bulbul Ahmed (born Tabarruk Ahmed; 4 September 1941 – 15 July 2010) was a Bangladeshi actor and director. He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Actor award three times for his roles in the films ''Shimana Periye'' (1977), '' Badhu Bi ...

* ''Pygmalion'' (1983 film), a television film starring Peter O'Toole and Margot Kidder * Alfred Hitchcock's ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties ...

'' (1958) is a variation on the Pygmalion theme. * The comedy movie '' Mannequin'' (1987) is based on Pygmalion. * ''My Fair Lady'' (film), a 1964 American musical film, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. * ''Bicentennial Man'' (film), a 1999 American science fiction comedy-drama film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill, is based on a story by

, featuring a female android named Galatea. * ''Life-Size'' (2000 film), a 2000 American fantasy-comedy television film directed by Mark Rosman and starring Lindsay Lohan and Tyra Banks. It originally premiered on March 5, 2000 on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney block. The film follows a young girl whose Eve doll is transformed into a real person. * '' Ruby Sparks'', a 2012 American comedy-drama film where a writer writes his dream woman with a magic typewriter and she comes to life starring Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan * ''Ex Machina'', a 2012 British science fiction film, contains Pygmalion themes, although is ultimately a reversal of the 'perfect creation' trope.

Interactive fiction

* The text adventure '' Galatea'', by Emily Short, is based on the myth of Galatea. * In the interactive science fiction novel Choice of Robots, by Kevin Gold, it is possible to create a lifelike human robot with whom the protagonist can fall in love. One of the default name options for this robot is Galatea.

Audio drama/podcasts

* One of the protagonists of

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podcast Dining In The Void is a model named Galatea Ivory, known for her white skin and unparalleled beauty. One of her main arcs in the show revolves around her physical beauty and how it gets compromised by the show's villain Jo. In episode six, "Aligning Their Goals," Galatea reveals that her manager is called Pygmalion and that he sometimes tells her to "be quiet" on set. However, she defends him when Aveline Lion asks if that's controlling by saying he's looking out for her career.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

English translation of Ovid's poem
by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.

Latin original, lines 243–297
a
The Latin Library.com

Shakespeare reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pygmalion (Mythology) Ancient Cypriots Fictional artisans Fictional sculptors Kings in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters