View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which best describes the first scene?

2. What bet does Higgins make with Pickering?

3. Which of the following first interests Higgins about Liza?

4. What does Higgins say about women?

5. What surprises Mrs. Pearce?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the Gentleman in the first act, and what do he and the note-taker have in common?

2. Describe Higgins.

3. Why does the English language need to be reformed, according to Shaw?

4. What does Higgins think of the Flower Girl's accent? What humorous hyperbole does he use in speaking to her?

5. Describe the Flower Girl.

6. What bet does Pickering make with Higgins? Why does Higgins accept?

7. Who are some of the most important people in England, according to Shaw? Why do you think this is so, again, according to Shaw?

8. Describe Higgins's laboratory. What does it reveal about his character?

9. What does Higgins's housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, think about the plan? Who seems to have a more sensible view of the situation, Higgins or Mrs. Pearce?

10. Who is the note-taker, and what is he actually doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you examine the negative consequences of having money and social status in Pygmalion. Liza's father, Alfred Doolittle, is poor but does not wish to have money. Why? When he comes into money, why does he blame Higgins for delivering him into the hands of middle-class morality? Does he make a good point? What are some of the drawbacks to having money? What are the restrictions of being in a particular social class?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the idea of "small talk" and social hypocrisy in Pygmalion.

Part 1) In Act 3, Higgins talks about how ridiculous small talk is: "You see, we're all savages, more or less. We're supposed to be civilized and cultured--to know all about poetry and philosophy and art and science, and so on; but how many of us know even the meanings of these names?" Shortly afterward, Liza shocks everyone by speaking of taboo topics and using a curse word in polite conversation. Clara is delighted by this slap in the face of "late Victorian prudery."

Part 2) What specifically does Liza say to shock everyone? Do you think Shaw agrees that her talk is shocking and rude?

Part 3) What might their polite, "civilized and cultured" conversation have been like if Liza had not come?

Part 4) What do you think is Shaw's opinion of polite small talk, and of "late Victorian prudery" that governs what is and is not appropriate in small talk?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay describing the transformation of Liza Doolittle from common flower girl to lady.

Part 1) In what specific ways does she change, and why? Are the changes mostly superficial or deep changes?

Part 2) Consider Liza's statement at the end of the ambassador's party: "nothing can make me the same as these people." Is she now really transformed into a duchess? Why, or why not?

Part 3) When and how does Liza truly come into her own as a woman? What does she realize about herself at that point in the play?

Part 4) Does Liza's process of transformation have to do with the way she speaks, or does it have more to do with the way she views herself? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,136 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample