Pygmalion Questions ©

Act 1 Questions ©

1. What purpose does the rain shower serve? All types and levels of society are force to huddle to avoid the rain. ©

2. The note taker is assumed to be of what profession 2. The note taker is assumed to be of what profession? What actually is his profession? He is assumed to be a policeman or a spy for the police. He is actually a student of phonetics. His name is Professor Higgins. His profession is teaching wealthy people who aspire to climb the social ladder to speak properly. ©

3. What does the note taker say about a “woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds”? Higgins constantly tells her to cease making these "detestable" noises. ©

The note taker brags about what he could do for the flower girl within three months. What does he claim? He brags that "in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party." ©

5. Who takes the cab Freddy brings? Why? Eliza, thanks to the sudden windfall of money from Higgins, engages the cab to take her home. ©

6. What do Higgins and Pickering have in common? It turns out that Pickering came to England to meet Higgins, and that Higgins was about to embark on a journey to India to meet Pickering. They both study dialects. ©

Act 2 Questions ©

1. When Higgins recognizes the flower girl, what is his reaction? When Higgins recognizes her, he orders her away because he has already recorded enough of her type of "Lisson Grove lingo." ©

2. What does Eliza Doolittle want? She wants to obtain a job as a lady in a flower shop, but she won't be hired unless she can speak in a genteel, ladylike fashion; thus, she has come to take speech lessons from Higgins because last night, he bragged about his ability to teach proper speech to anyone. ©

3. Even after he agrees to teach her, what is Higgins’ attitude towards Eliza? Higgins continues to be rude and insulting towards Eliza. She is even willing to pay as much as a shilling an hour (about twenty-five cents an hour, an absurdly ridiculous sum — so absurdly low, in fact, that it appeals to Higgins' imagination). Higgins calculates that Eliza's offer is a certain proportion of her daily income, and therefore represents, for her, a large payment. ©

4. Describe Mrs. Pearce’s role. Mrs. Pearce is a housekeeper. She's also, like Pickering and Mrs. Higgins, a voice of reason. Mrs. Pearce watches out for Eliza from the very beginning; like Mrs. Higgins, she's used to dealing with Henry Higgins, and she knows he can get carried away with his little projects. After she shows Eliza to the bathroom, she tells Higgins in no uncertain terms: this scheme is ridiculous. She wants to make sure Eliza doesn't get hurt. ©

5. Eliza determines to leave rather than to be further insulted 5. Eliza determines to leave rather than to be further insulted. How does Higgins persuade her to stay? Higgins tempts her with some chocolates and with the thought of some young man wanting to marry her. ©

6. What is the point of the bath scene? The bath scene shows how Eliza has always lived. ©

7. Mrs. Pearce makes some suggestions to Higgins. What are they? She asks Higgins to watch his behaviour around the young girl; that is, he should try to cease swearing, use better table manners and try to act more like a gentleman. ©

8. Why did Alfred Doolittle come to see Professor Higgins? He wants his daughter. We however realise that he might be there to extort money. ©

9. Doolittle says, “I’m undeserving, and I mean to go on being undeserving.” Why does he not want to better himself? Doolittle proclaims himself to be a member of the "undeserving poor"; there has been too much attention paid to the deserving poor, he says, and it is time for the likes of him, who are undeserving, to reap some of the benefits of money. "Undeserving Poverty" is his motto, and if Higgins and Pickering give him five pounds, he promises that he will not save it; by Monday, he will have spent the entire five pounds on one single drunken spree with his "missus." ©

10. Why does Doolittle want only five pounds instead of the ten he is offered? Doolittle demurs, saying that ten pounds might cause him to feel prudent, whereas five pounds is just enough for a spree. ©