5. 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?

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

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

8. 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?

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

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 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?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the theme of nature versus nurture in the play Pygmalion.

Part 1) Henry Higgins transformsd Liza Doolittle. Does he really change her essential nature, or only the superficial aspects? Explain.

Part 2) Consider Pickering's statement, after the ambassador's party, that "Eliza was doing it so well. You see, lots of the real people cant do it at all: theyre such fools that they think style comes by nature to people in their position; and so they never learn." What does this say about Liza's natural sense of style?

Part 3) Consider how Liza was raised (reread Act 2 for her father's comments about how he raised her). Did Doolittle's nurture (or rather, lack of nurture) harm Liza? Is he to be blamed or credited for the way she is now?

Part 4) While Higgins changes Liza, is she able to do the same with him? Why, or why not?

Part 5) Consider this statement from Higgins: "I cant change my nature." Is this true? Can anyone really ever change his or her nature, or are all changes only superficial? Explain, using examples from the play.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining satire in Pygmalion. Satire is a humorous writing that exposes the foolishness of certain customs, behaviors, and institutions of society. What conventional beliefs and attitudes of the English middle class does Shaw satirize? Examine in particular:

--The speeches of Alfred Doolittle about middle-class morality and marriage.

--The arrogance of Higgins, and what his mother and Mrs. Pearce think of him.

--Neppomuck's foolish pomposities at the Embassy party.

--The characters of the snobbish Clara and her mother Mrs. Eynsford Hill, who clings to her past.

(see the answer keys)

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