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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 Liza ask Higgins about her clothes?

2. What does Higgins say Liza might do next?

3. Where is Liza at the beginning of Act 5?

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

5. Whom do Higgins and Pickering go see when they discover Liza is missing?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. What does Liza say about marriage in Act 4? What does her statement reveal about her morals?

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

6. 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?

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

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

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

10. How does Freddy feel about Liza and what does he want from her? How is he different from Higgins?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about feminism in Pygmalion. In the Epilogue to his play, Shaw quotes Nietzsche in saying, "When you go to women, take your whip with you." Does Shaw agree or disagree with this statement? Is he a sexist or a feminist, in your opinion? Explain, using evidence from the play. Consider in your essay his characterization of Liza, Clara, Mrs. Higgins, and Mrs. Pearce.

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 about the theme of language in Pygmalion. At the end of the play, Alfred Doolittle says that he expects now he's going to have to learn to speak middle-class English instead of the "proper English" he normally uses. What is ironic about his statement? Is there really one "proper" way to speak English, in your opinion? What do you think Shaw's opinion is? If everyone speaks Doolittle's low-class English, would it be just as well as if everyone speaks like duchesses?

(see the answer keys)

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