Pygmalion Play

Pygmalion
Act One
1. The rain shower serves as an inciting incident (literary device) that sets the story in
motion, by bringing together people from all social classes under a shelter, therefore
being “forced” to interact.
2. The note taker is initially assumed to be a policeman who wants to arrest the flower-
girl, Eliza, for scamming people, but shortly after it is revealed that he’s actually a
phonetician who was interested in Eliza’s distinctive accent.
3. The note taker said to the woman that she had “no right to be anywhere nor have
the right to live."
4. The note taker brags about his fast and efficient teaching capacities, even though
he’s not familiar at all with the girl’s capacities of learning. He claims that in 3 months
he could pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party.
5. Eliza seizes the opportunity to take the cab Freddy brings because his mother and his
sister took the bus. She’s able to afford to pay it because of Higgins’ “generosity”,
after he tossed some money down before he left.
6. Higgins and Pickering are both former students of phonetics who wanted to meet
each other for a long time.
Act Two
1. Higgins is surprised by the flower-girl’s uncalled visit and sends her away claiming
that he has recorded enough of her type.
2. Eliza wants to learn to talk like a high class member of English society so she can
emancipate herself and get a decent job at a flower shop, instead of selling flowers
on the street.
3. His attitude towards Eliza is that of a denigrative manner, treating her like a dirty
object that should be “put in the dustbin”.
4. Mrs. Pearce is the housekeeper for Mr. Higgins. She’s also trying to be the voice of
reason for him, begging him to be more sensible and considerate towards the flower-
girl, Eliza.
5. When Eliza begins to revolt, Higgins tempts her with some chocolates and promises
her taxis, gold and diamonds while also teasing with the thought of some young man
wanting to marry her.
6. The bath scene is used to emphasize the obvious economic difference between the
upper-middle class women and women like Eliza. She has never had access to hot
and cold water in her house.
7. Mrs. Pearce asks him to be a good example for his new pupil by cursing less, by not
sitting around in his robe, by not wiping his hand on his clothes.
8. Mr. Doolittle, Eliza’s father, came to make an agreement with Mr. Higgins in regards
to Eliza. He essentially wants to blackmail Higgins by demanding five pounds for
Eliza’s liberty.
9. Doolittle is convinced that if he betters himself, he will climb a higher social class and
that means he will have responsibilities. His goal in life is to be free of responsibilities
and expectations from people.
10. He doesn’t watch such a large sum of money because it requires responsibility. He
can easily spend five pounds without feeling guilty.
Act Three
1. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill are the mother and the daughter from who sheltered
from the rain in Covent Garden in Act I. Mrs. Eynsford Hill is an old woman, in a
rather impoverished condition but is still clinging to her gentility. Her daughter,
Clara Eynsford Hill, tries to act the role of the modem, advanced young person.
2. The quote stated represents another example of Higgins’ disregard for people.
He’s rude to everyone, not just Eliza. He thinks only of his work and himself.
3. Even though she clearly has improved her pronunciation and tone of voice while
conversing with other people, she brings up weird stories and has weird turn of
phrases such as “not bloody likely!”.
4. Clara is impressed by Eliza and her unique manner of speaking, to the point of
where she wants to imitate her.
5. Nepommuck, a guest at the ambassador’s reception, is a Hungarian interpreter,
fluent in many languages. He claims that Eliza’s is a fraud in the sense that she’s
actually a foreign princess who speaks English perfectly.
6. Eliza manages to fool everyone that she’s of noble blood.
Act Four
1. Eliza threw Higgins’ slippers at him in a gesture of frustration after being
ignored and talked about as if she wasn’t in the room in a rude and
inconsiderate conversation between Higgins and Pickering.
2. Higgins shows complete inconsideration for Eliza’s feelings, not taking
responsibility for the fact that he hurt a person’s feeling. He claims that her
irritation is “only imagination” and advices her to “go to bed like a good girl
and sleep it off”.
3. Her old status offered her the chance to sell flowers, but now that she’s just
apparently a lady of high class, she’s not able to do anything with this
“advantage”.
4. She prefers to identify with the former version of herself, feeling that “Liza”
was a much better person that “Mrs. Doolittle”.
5. Freddy was strongly infatuated by Eliza and he was spending most of his
nights gazing upon her window to admire her.
Act Five
1. The disappearance of Liza is of great concern to Higgins because now he’s
unable to find anything and doesn’t know when his appointments are. He
misses her services.
2. Alfred Doolittle became what he feared the most: a middle class man who
has some money, therefore some responsibilities.
3. Higgins represents the type of narcissistic character who fails to do any
good self-analysis and regards himself as a person who cannot say or do
wrong, therefore being unable to identify the reasoning for other’s people
actions towards him.
4. Eliza marries Freddy, stays friends with Pickering, manages to tolerate
Higgins and runs her very own flower shop.

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