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

Short Answer Questions

1. What shocking word does Liza use during the social visit with the Eynsford Hills in Act 3?

2. What does Higgins say about the experiment with Liza?

3. What is the difference between a lady and a flower girl?

4. What shocking thing does Liza tell her listeners at the social visit with the Eynsford Hills in Act 3?

5. What is the setting at the beginning of Act 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. During the social visit with Mrs. Higgins and the Eynsford Hills, what does Liza say that is shocking?

2. What do Neppomuck and the ambassador's wife conclude about Liza? What does it suggest about class differences and about high society that Liza is so easily able to fool everyone at the party?

3. Why is Liza so upset in Act 4? What does she want to know?

4. How do Freddy and Clara feel about Liza after meeting her, and why do they probably feel this way?

5. Does Higgins really not care about Liza? How can you tell? What comments and reactions on Higgins's part show that he is growing fond of Eliza?

6. Why doesn't Higgins want Liza to fetch his slippers for him and perform other like tasks?

7. What does Liza ultimately think of the party and of her success at the end of Act 3?

8. Why is Doolittle unhappy with his new status? What is ironic about this?

9. What does Higgins think Liza should do with her future? Does he really give it any thought?

10. What does Pickering think about the evening? How do his feelings differ from Higgins's? How does he succeed in hurting Liza as well?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay examining the theme of morality in Pygmalion.

Part 1) "I'm a good girl, I am," Liza repeats in Act 2 when Higgins tempts her with chocolates, clothes, and money. Later, in Act 3, she tells Higgins, "I sold flowers. I didnt sell myself. Now youve made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell anything else." What does she mean by these statements? What do the statements reveal about Liza's morals?

Part 2) Explain the irony in Liza's statement in Act 3. What does it say about the relative morality of low-class flower girls and high-class ladies?

Part 3) What does it say about the morality of upper and lower classes in general?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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