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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 does Mrs. Higgins say Pickering and Higgins have done wrong?

2. What does Liza realize at the end of Act 5?

3. What does Higgins think of Liza at the end of Act 5?

4. Why is Pickering afraid at the party?

5. Why does the policeman stop Freddy and Liza?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe Neppomuck. Who is he, and what does Higgins think of him?

4. What does Higgins mean when he says that people are really "savages"?

5. What does Mrs. Higgins say when she learns the two men have phoned the police at the beginning of Act 5? What does Mrs. Higgins realize about Liza that the two men do not?

6. What type of job does Liza propose to do in the final act? Why might she be better at this job than Higgins?

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

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

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

10. How does Higgins behave during the social visit? Explain. What does this "gentleman's" ungentlemanly behavior suggest about class differences?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay examining the plot of Pygmalion. Tell what the central conflict of the play is and describe how it is developed throughout the plot. In your essay, describe and analyze all of the following plot elements:

--Inciting incident

--Rising action

--Climax

--Falling action

--Resolution

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the ending of Pygmalion.

Part 1) Considering the ending of the play, what do you think Shaw's attitude is toward the traditional "happy ending" of most romances?

Part 2) Why, according to Shaw, does his play not end the way most people might expect?

Part 3) Would the play be more satisfying if Liza had married Higgins instead of Freddy? Why, or why not?

Part 4) (optional) If you have seen it, you may consider the slightly different, more "Hollywood" ending in the movie version of the play, My Fair Lady. Compare the ending of the play with the ending of the movie. Which do you prefer, and why?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining the message about classism in the play.

Part 1) What does the play Pygmalion suggest about the relationships between the classes in England at the time of its writting (1916)?

Part 2) Which social classes are represented in the play, and how are they depicted?

Part 3) What makes Neppomuck, the ambassador, and others believe that Liza must be a princess, and what does that say about the artificiality of class distinctions?

Part 4) Who, according to the play, is a real lady, and who is a real gentleman? What makes a person a lady or a gentleman?

Part 5) What do you think Shaw ultimately wants to say about class divisions in society?

(see the answer keys)

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