Pygmalion (/pɪɡˈmeɪliən/; Ancient Greek: Πυγμαλίων Pugmalíōn, gen.: Πυγμαλίωνος) is a legendary figure of Cyprus in Greek mythology who was a king and a sculptor. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton,[1] he is most familiar from Ovid's narrative poemMetamorphoses, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.
In Ovid's narrative, Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory. According to Ovid, after seeing the Propoetides prostituting themselves, Pygmalion declared that he was "not interested in women",[2] but then found his statue was so beautiful and realistic that he fell in love with it.
In time, Venus'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. Venus had granted Pygmalion's wish.
Pygmalion married the ivory sculpture which changed to a woman under Venus'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.[3]
Ovid's mention of Paphos suggests that he was drawing on a more circumstantial account[4] than the source for a passing mention of Pygmalion in Pseudo-Apollodorus' Bibliotheke, a Hellenic mythography of the 2nd-century AD.[5] Perhaps he drew on the lost narrative by Philostephanus that was paraphrased by Clement of Alexandria.[6] 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 to install a voice in his statues; of Hephaestus, who created automata for his workshop; of Talos, an artificial man of bronze; and (according to Hesiod) of Pandora, who was made from clay at the behest of Zeus.
The moral anecdote of the "Apega of Nabis", recounted by the historian Polybius, described a supposed mechanical simulacrum of the tyrant's wife, that crushed victims in her embrace.
The trope of a sculpture so lifelike 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.[citation needed]
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-nymphGalatea or Galathea. Goethe 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 sentience prior to its transformation; it is the puppet and not its creator, the woodcarver Mister Geppetto, who beseeches the divine powers for the miracle.
In the final scene of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, 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 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 the film Pygmalion, as well as the play My Fair Lady and the film My Fair Lady.
The 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.[7]
Pygmalion by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1786, Musée National du Château et des TrianonsMiniature from a 14th-century manuscript of Pygmalion working on his sculpture
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)[8]
John Dryden's poem "Pygmalion and the Statue" (1697–1700)[9]
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)[11]
Robert Buchanan's poem "Pygmalion the Sculptor" in his work Undertones (1864)[12]
William Morris's poem "Earthly Paradise" in which he includes the section "Pygmalion and the Image" (1868)[13]
William Moulton Marston's origin of Wonder Woman was inspired by the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, as she was sculpted by her mother Hippolyta from clay and given life by Aphrodite's breath. The sculpture represents the creative power of a mother's love for a child, passing some of her qualities on to her daughter.
The English progressive rock group Yes composed "Turn of the Century" (1977); it tells the story of the sculptor Roan who, in the grief of his wife's death, "molds his passion into clay." The sculpture of his wife comes to life and they fall in love.
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."
The progressive house artist Hellberg (Jonathan Hellberg) released a song called 'The Girl' featuring vocalist Cozi Zuehlsdorff 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 piece "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.[33]
Though it is not based on the story of Pygmalion, Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure 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?"[34]
There have also been successful stage-plays based upon the work, such as W. S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). It was revived twice, in 1884 and in 1888.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1912, staged 1913) owes something to both the Greek Pygmalion and the legend of "King Cophetua 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 turn was the basis for the Broadway musicalMy Fair Lady (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 theater and has earned many accolades. Madhu Rye adapted Pygmalion in Gujarati as Santu Rangili (1976) which was successful.
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.[35] The character of Data, 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.
Movies
Alfred Hitcock's Vertigo (1958) is a variation on the Pygmalion theme.
The comedy movie Mannequin (1987) is based on Pygmalion.
Interactive fiction
The text adventure Galatea, by Emily Short, is based on the myth of Galatea.
Audio drama/podcasts
One of the protagonists of science fiction/horror podcast Dining In The Void is a model named Galatea Ivory, known for her white skin and unparalleled beauty.[36] 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.[37]
^The invention of the name Galatea is modern; Falconet's title was Pygmalion aux pieds de sa statue qui s'anime, "Pygmalion at the feet of his statue, which comes to life".
^The Greek sources of Ovid's tale are fully discussed at Galatea.
^Bibliotheke, iii.14.3 simply mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus."
^Clement, Exhortation to the Greeks, 4: "So the well-known Pygmalion of Cyprus fell in love with an ivory statue; it was of Aphrodite and was naked. The man of Cyprus is captivated by its shapeliness and embraces the statue. This is related by Philostephanus".
^Grech, Grech (August 2012). "The Pinocchio Syndrome: Revisited"(PDF). The New York Review of Science Fiction: 17. The wife of Dr. Soong, Data's creator, is such an individual, created by Dr. Soong himself in Pygmalion fashion, complete with real memories, as a replacement when his original wife died. When the Enterprise crew accidentally discover this, Data chooses not to reveal her true nature to her, deeming that it is more important for her to live a normal and happy life, believing herself to be human ("Inheritance"). This is prefigured by the original Star Trek episode "Requiem for Methuselah" (1969), wherein an immortal human strives to create an immortal android woman companion who initially does not know that she is an artificial construct, and on discovering emotions, her brain overloads, causing her termination.
Essaka Joshua. (2001). Pygmalion and Galatea: The History of a Narrative in English Literature. Ashgate.
Kenneth Gross. (1992). The Dream of the Moving Statue. Cornell University Press. (A wide-ranging survey of 'living statues' in literature and the arts).
Jack Burnham. Beyond Modern Sculpture (1982). Allan Lane. (A history of 'living statues' and the fascination with automata - see the introductory chapter: "Sculpture and Automata").
Ernst Buschor. Vom Sinn der griechischen Standbilder (1942). (Clear discussion of attitudes to sculptural images in classical times).
John J. Ciofalo. "The Art of Sex and Violence - The Sex and Violence of Art." The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
John J. Ciofalo. "Unveiling Goya's Rape of Galatea." Art History (December 1995), pp. 477–98.
Gail Marshall. (1998). Actresses on the Victorian Stage: Feminine Performance and the Galatea Myth. Cambridge University Press.
Alexandra K. Wettlaufer. (2001). Pen Vs. Paintbrush: Girodet, Balzac, and the Myth of Pygmalion in Post-Revolutionary France. Palgrave Macmillan.
Danahay, Martin A. (1994) "Mirrors of Masculine Desire: Narcissus and Pygmalion in Victorian Representation". Victorian Poetry, No. 32, 1994: pages 35–53.
Edward A. Shanken. (2005) "http://artexetra.com/Hot2Bot.pdf Hot 2 Bot: Pygmalion's Lust, the Maharal's Fear, and the Cyborg Future of Art]", Technoetic Arts 3:1: 43-55.
(2005). Almost Human: Puppets, Dolls and Robots in Contemporary Art, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey. (Catalogue for a group exhibition March 20 - June 12, 2005)
Morford, Mark. (2007). "Classical Mythology Eighth Edition". Oxford University Press
Hersey, George L (2009). "Falling in love with statues: artificial humans from Pygmalion to the present", Chicago, 2009, ISBN978-0-226-32779-2
Law, Helen H. (1932). "The Name Galatea in the Pygmalion Myth", The Classical Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5 (Feb. 1932), published by The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, JSTOR3290617
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