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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. Why is Doolittle dressed up at the end of the play?

2. What does Higgins think is a disgusting sight?

3. About how much do Liza's clothes cost?

4. What two subjects has Higgins told Liza she must stick to in polite conversation?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Higgins conclude about the evening and about their joint project at the beginning of Act 4? What does he say that hurts Liza's feelings?

3. How does Liza succeed in hurting Higgins in Act 4?

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

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

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

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

8. Why is Pickering just as important to Liza's transformation as Higgins, if not more so? What is he able to teach her that Higgins could not?

9. Describe Mrs. Higgins and her relationship with her son.

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay examining the theme of manners in Pygmalion.

Part 1) Evaluate Higgins's statement from Act 5, "The secret is not having good manners or bad manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another." What does he mean by this? Do you agree with him?

Part 2) Do you think Shaw agrees with him on the subject of manners? For instance, is there something honest about the rude way Higgins behaves, and something hypocritical about the "polite" manners of other people in the play?

Part 3) Which characters in the play behave the same to everyone, and which characters treat people differently depending on the class they belong to? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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