Chris Busco

Period 2
5/18/15
Pygmalion Study Questions Acts 2-5 and Sequel

Act Two:

1. The setting of this act is Higgins laboratory contained within his home on
Wimpole street. In stark contrast of Elizas pitiful dwelling, the laboratory is fully
furnished and cluttered with items relating to Higgins profession. It is obvious
that Higgins is wealthy to some degree. Furthermore, the volume of professional
items in the laboratory allow us to infer that Higgins is entirely devoted to his
craft. Furthermore, his newspapers, engravings, and piano show that he is a
man who prides himself on culture and refinement. Furthermore, the stage
directions allude to Higgins role as the sculptor Pygmalion through their
reference to Piranesi, an artist famous for engravings and etchings. They also
classify him as a man devoted to the classics and a shrewd and intellectual
professional.
2. Higgins wears fancier and cleaner clothes reflecting that he is a man of
wealth and of a higher class. Meanwhile Eliza wears dirty and old clothes.
Though it is evident she tried to spruce her outfit up to look as high-class as
possible, it is obvious she still looks very poor. Her outfit definitely suggests that
she does not have much money and is of a poorer class. However, through her
change into clean high quality clothes, she starts the beginning of a transition to
a state of much higher class. Though, the outfit is only the first part in a very

hard journey, with the emphasis that Shaws society places on appearance, it is a
step which is truly life-changing.
3. It is obvious from the dialogue between Eliza and Higgins that they are
both very stubborn and petty. Though Higgins does dominate Eliza in some
respects, it is clear that much of this is due to his higher position in society he
occupies. It is obvious that Eliza has the potential to retaliate against his bullish
remarks. We also learn from their dialogue that Eliza truly wants a better life for
herself. She really took what Higgins said earlier in the play to hearth. She
believes that if she works hard enough she may be skilled enough to work in a
flower shop and own much more than she did before. Furthermore, we learn that
Higgins truly does not regard her with any respect at all. In fact, it seems he
simply regards her as common filth until the idea of a competition arises. Then it
seems as if she really is only an experiment for him.
4. Pickering and Mrs. Pearce both are worried that Higgins is going to simply
through Eliza back onto the street after he is done with her. They recognize that
it is not right to have her leave her old life and life with them for sixth months
growing accustomed to a certain lifestyle that she certainly does not have the
ability to keep up. They insist that Higgins must think of the girl as simply more
than an experiment. Higgins responds to their allegations by using a lofty tone to
elevate himself to a position of intellectual superiority and declaring that he is
simply trying to be kind to the girl. This is a stark contrast from Higgins
storming tone which he uses to order what is to become of Eliza. This shows
his true feeling that Eliza is nothing more than an experiment.
5. Mrs. Pearce acts as almost a motherly figure to Eliza. She is tough on
Eliza when she needs to be, such as when she has to force Eliza to get over her

irrational rejection to bathing. However, it is obvious that she also cares for Eliza
and her well-being. She attempts to represent Elizas best interests to Higgins
(though it is to no avail). She also attempts to give Eliza advice on how to
navigate life with Higgins.
6. Mrs. Pearce in a sense almost serves as a motherly figure or caretaker to
Higgins. She is not afraid to provide him with advice while necessary. Though
he rarely takes this advice voluntary, there are some things that she is insistent
upon him doing. It is obvious that their relationship transcends that of a
traditional housekeeper and employer. As far as her explanations of Higgins, I
believe that overbearing, is definitely a better description of Higgins. He is
definitely childish; however, he is too pretentious and confident in his opinions to
be shy or diffident. His insistence on his way makes him come off as
extremely overbearing throughout the novel.
7. Elizas father, Mr. Doolittle is a pickpocket who works as a garbage
collector. It is also evident that he spends a good portion of his income on
booze. He comes to Higgins home in order to extort him for money in exchange
for allowing his daughter to stay there. In his plea for receiving money from
Higgins he reveals much about his social views. He believes that so-called
middle class morality is really just an excuse to not be generous to those that are
undeserving poor. However, Doolittle prefers being the undeserving poor
because he does not have to be moral. He can drink too much and enjoy himself
more than he should. Doolittle is obviously going to spend all this money on
alcohol. Satisfied with this response, Higgins tries to give him ten pounds. But,
Doolittle refuses because he believes that he would feel bad about spending ten

pounds rather than five, and as a result he wouldn't be able to spend it on booze.
Doolittle also gives his view on marriage. He believes that it ties the woman to
him, so he does not have to woo her as much as he does when she is not
married to him. I agree that this might have been true back then. However, our
society is getting increasingly more progressive. As a result, it is much easier for
a woman to divorce a man and live on her own than it was back then.
8. It is obvious that different characters in this play have different views on
money. Higgins and Pickering both lead very financially stable and comfortable
lives as part of the wealthy upper class. As a result, money to them does not
seem to be an object of great significance. This is in stark contrast to Eliza who
so wishes to be treated like a lady that she is willing to spend a massive
percentage of her current income in order to have a chance at possibly making a
better living and advancing her social class. However, Doolittle, who is also of
the lower class, regard money as a curse. He struggles for just enough so that
he can keep drunk and happy. However, he knows that responsibility comes
along with money and that is not something that he wishes to deal with. As for
religion, Higgins views his pupils as sacred because he views the very institution
of learning as sacred. It may not be that he is a religious man, but he obviously
takes his profession quite seriously and as a result he knows that he can not
teach effectively and get involved with his students. As for why he treats Eliza so
bad, it is because he believes he is so far above her intellectually and socially.
He would never disgrace the institution of teaching by getting involved with her,
but that does mean he respects her specifically. Furthermore, Mr. Doolittles
rejection of responsibility it is magnified through religion. When Higgins brings up

that Doolittle has the eloquence to be a clergyman Doolittle is disgusted as he is

afraid of the morals that come along with higher class.
9. Elizas lessons seem to be very vigorous and tough. As far as Higgins as
a teacher, he is extremely demanding and just as abrasive and insulting as ever.
In learning to be lady, Eliza is uncomfortable. She often dislikes the social
conventions she is forced to follow. She finds many of them silly or
uncomfortable.
Act Three:
1. Mrs. Higgins home is definitely one for more show purposes than practical
purposes. Though they are old, all the furnishings are definitely expensive and of
good taste. It is clean and free of clutter, or any truly useful items for that matter.
In contrast, Higgins house, while nice, is much more cluttered. It has a more
lived-in and practical feel to it. This setting reveals that Mrs. Higgins cares a lot
about impressing people and her social status.
2. Mrs. Higgins and her son seem to have a love-hate relationship. She
loves him and puts up with him because he is her son, but if he were not she
would probably not enjoy his company. Mrs. Higgins believes her son is rude
and improper. She believes that he does not give people the respect they
deserve, or follow traditional social conventions. I definitely agree with Mrs.
Higgins assessment of her son's social skills. First hand validation of her
assessment can be seen by Shaws description of his actions during his mothers
at-home. He completely ignores all social conventions and insists that they all
focus all on what he was saying despite the presence of guests.
3. I do think that Higgins is too cynical. I think Shaw designed him this way,
in part, to show us the downfalls of being too intellectual. Because of his passion

only for his craft and the learning of classical skills, he is distant from others,
rude, and extremely cynical. As a result, few people truly like him.
4. The two men seem to treat Eliza as if she simply did not exist as a human
being. They seem to see her and treat her as the inert subject of some
laboratory experiment. They show a complete disregard for her feelings and
thoughts about anything they are doing involving her. Almost all of their
discussions about her are very alarming because it is clear they have little regard
for her personal welfare, and they do not understand the full implications of what
their experiment could do to her. Mrs. Higgins is most certainly right in her
observation that the two men treat Eliza as a doll. To them she is merely an
inanimate object to their little science experiment.
5. The change of costume suggest that through Higgins lessons Eliza has
transcended her lower class state to one of prestige. This reinforces Shaws
point about the superficialness of classes, because despite lacking some of the
substance of an upper class lady, she is accepted as being one simply because
of her appearance.
6. Elizas performance in terms of manners and speech are impeccable.
However, it is obvious that she lacks some of the substance and knowledge
regarding conversation that go along with being a true upper class lady. She
does technically stick to the topics that Higgins has insisted she stick to.
However, she does so in an extremely odd manner. Furthermore, she slips back
into her slang (though her accent and pronunciation remain perfect). This along
with the odd facets of conversation revolving around her assigned topics give the
impression that she does not really belong in the circle. Though Elizas manners

are impeccable when compared to Higgens. He knows which topics to discuss,

and the way to discuss them so that he will not seem out of place.
7. It is obvious in this act that Mrs. Eynsford hill cares very much about being
proper. She does not have much money anymore, but she holds onto her social
class as the last remaining thing she has. As a result she takes great pains in
order to make sure she acts in a way fitting of her class. As for Freddy, it is clear
that he is a nice and sweet guy. He seems not to care terribly about social
conventions. He is just trying to do his best to make life comfortable for his
mother and sister. As for Clara, it is evident from her immediate attempt to pick
up Elizas sland, that she is trying so desperately hard to fit in. She knows that
she does not have the money to fit into these circles. As a result she attempts to
compensate by being the first in many of the new social trends.
8. Eliza has most definitely changed drastically. Her pronunciation and
manners were good before. Now however, she has begun to perfect the other
aspects of being a lady. She now can discuss and carry herself in such a way
that she passes herself off as princess. I would describe Eliza during the
ambassador's party as radiant. She has truly completed her training, and the
transformation was a tremendous success. I believe the reason that Shaw called
her a somnambulist in a desert because she is so perfect in her mannerism that
it could be too good to be true.
9. The whiskers are important because they serve as a physical
manifestation of a metaphorical mask that hides the Hungarians true identity. He
seems to be an expert employed to help the ambassador and provide him with
information. However, secretly he uses his powers in order to blackmail people,
and as a result is not really helping anyone but himself. He is different from

Higgins because he uses his power for bad. He also is more skillful at placing
languages at different regions in the world.
10. In this act the ideas of love, marriage, and social position are definitely
satirized in some respects. The first two are addressed in Higgins ridiculous
conversation with his mother about having a penchant for older women who were
close in likeness to his mother. In fact, one of the only reasons why Higgins isnt
married is because he cannot find anyone to replace his mother. This adds an
element of absurdity to the traditional ideas of love and marriage. It shows how
they can be twisted into the most ridiculous of concepts. As for social positions,
these are satirized in the behavior of the Eynsford Hill family. Their pitiful attempt
to cling to their class by attempting to follow all the social conventions shows just
how ridiculous all of them really are.
11. These two revelations show that language (manners) and class are very
directly related in some aspects, but not in others. It is important for the nobility
to have good manners and language. However, they do not have to be perfect,
and part of the reason that they fit into nobility is because they do not care that
they are not perfect. On the other hand, Eliza makes every attempt to be perfect.
As a result, she succeeds tremendously. However, this makes her stick out as
much as she would have as a poor flower girl. The truth of the matter is she will
never fully fit in with this crowd simply because she cares too much about having
others perceive her as upper class. It seems that in this book, all being a lady
really entails is formal dress and light small talk. However, it is also important to
seem like one does not care too much for their pronunciation or language. In
fact, it is very important to simply not care what one thinks of you.

Act Four:

1. The two men are ecstatic about the ambassador's party. They talk about
what a great success they did. They congratulate each other on a job well done.
However, they completely ignores all the hard work that Eliza put in. In fact, they
hardly really even acknowledge her existence at all. Her feelings and fears about
the future are definitely not addressed by them at this moment.
2. Eliza has simply made it a habit of performing simple tasks like that for
Higgens. This is why she fetched the slippers, she was doing something she
was accustomed to doing around the house. Higgins also responds as one would
expect him to after he finds the slippers. He doesn't even acknowledge that they
were found for him. He just assumed that he was magically able to find them. It
is appropriate that she is eventually throws them at him because it represents a
rejection of his overbearing dominance and her transcendence into a truly
independent thinking, and headstrong young women. She casts off the need to
perform menial tasks to prove her worth to Higgins. Now, she will only perform
such tasks when she feels inclined to.
3. Eliza is extremely upset because she feels as if Higgins and Pickering do
not care for her welfare. She is uncertain as what is to happen to her now that
this little experiment is over. She wants Higgins and Pickering to acknowledge
her contribution and achievement and provider her with some encouragement
and admiration for the part she played in their endeavour. She believes that
marriage is like selling herself because if she gets married to someone she does
not like simply for the money, then all she is really doing is selling her body. I do
not believe that her ideas of buying and selling have changed from acts one and

two. It seems as whether it's a rose or a person selling something is still the
same at its very core.
4. In some ways Eliza from chapter one is still very close to Eliza in chapter
four. She is still tied down, just as she was when she had nothing. Except she is
tied down in a different way. Now her education keeps her from stooping down to
the level she once was at. However, she has no way in order to make money
with which to maintain the comfortable lifestyle to which she had been
accustomed to. Though I believe she has definitely improved herself as a
person, I do not believe that she has improved her economical prospects.
5. I do not believe that this statement is true. Eliza is not any more free than
the moment that Pickering and Higgins took her in off the street. Her barriers are
different then the once were, but they are certainly still there. First, because she
has grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle, it is nearly impossible for her to go
back to how she was once living. Secondly, the accent she has been given
would make it impossible for her to work on the menial tasks she once did.
Furthermore, as she has been trained to be an upper class lady, there is really no
work in which it would be proper for her to perform. As a result, she is either tied
to being supported by Higgins and Pickering all her life or she is forced to marry.
6. Higgins is shocked and hurt when Eliza acquires as to what she can
keep so that she will not be accused of thievery. Higgins is shocked and hurt
that Eliza would think him so low as to accuse her of thievery for taking all the
things he had so generously given to her. To him, this is like her rejecting all the
generosity he has shown her. There is definitely symbolism associated with the
ring Higgins gave her. As it was the only thing Higgins personally bought for her,
it was not covered in the bet he and Pickering had. As a result, it was the only

true gift from Higgins in all the items. To Higgins and Eliza it marked a turning
point in their relationship. Higgins finally recognized Eliza not just as a subject,
but also as a person. Eliza recognized that with this gift, Higgins was starting to
see her as the person she was and not merely an object.
7. Eliza changes into a walking dress. This dress is not as glitzy as the
formal attire she wore to the ambassadors party, thought it is still nice. This
represents her shift into a lifestyle not centered around all the customs that come
along with high class. She is still keeping her training and education; however,
she is rejecting the traditions and customs that she would be required to follow as
a member of high class society.
8. It is definite at the end of this act that Eliza will be having some type of
romance with Freddy. This is definitely different from her relationship with
Higgins. First, it is a romantic relationship, while Elizas relationship with Higgins
is not that. Secondly, this is a relationship of affection, whereas her relationship
with Higginss is based on the improvement of the mind. Freddy can definitely
giver her something that Higgins cannot. While Freddy may not be on the same
level intellectually, he is definitely ahead of Higgins in the emotional department.
He is capable of giving Eliza the emotional attention and affection that she
needs.
Act Five
1. Higgins and Pickering are extremely distraught over Elizas departure.
They barge in frantically to Higginss mothers house to complain about it. They
insist that she had no right to leave this way, and they cannot think of anything
that could have possibly driven her away. Both of them are attempting to locate

her through the police department. Following Mrs. Higgins explanation of Elizas
reasoning, both Higgins and Pickering respond quite differently. Higgins
continues to insist that Eliza was in the wrong and that this was not his fault. He
adamantly believes that Eliza should stop her nonsense and come back to live
with him and Pickering. On the other hand, after an explanation by Mrs. Higgins,
Pickering starts to realize that they might have been in the wrong. Accordingly,
he becomes much more apologetic than Higgins, though he stills wants Eliza to
come back with to live with him and Higgins.
2. Since Act II a philanthropist has offered Mr. Doolittle four thousand dollars
a year in order to lecture for the Wannafeller Moral Reform League in order to
demonstrate that Americans care about the opinions of people from all walks of
life. This has effectively moved Doolittle into the middle class. He has been
forced to take upon him all the responsibilities and social customs that come
along with this. Just like Eliza, Mr. Doolittle has been forced into a class he does
not feel he belongs in. With Eliza, her impeccable speech has forced her to
become part of the upper class, while with Mr. Doolittle it is the money that the
philanthropist is paying him. Eliza recognizes that this change in her social
status makes life much more uncertain for her. She know that she cannot go
back to what she was because of what she has become. However, she knows
that this is what she asked for so she is not angry about it. On the other hand,
her father, Doolittle, strongly rejects his social change. He believes that it has
taken away all the freedom he had before and he would trade it all to get back
the freedom he once had.

3. When Doolittle says that marriage is not the natural way he means that it
was an institution largely designed and practiced by people who could afford to
do so. Humans are really the only beings that practice this institution. Though
some animals mate for life, none of them have a formal ceremony. Doolittle is
trying to convey that in the grand scheme of things a marriage ceremony is not
all that significant and is a privilege mostly enjoyed by those with the necessary
resources. I do not believe either Pickering or Eliza would agree with him.
Pickering is very traditional in his beliefs and mannerisms, and would certainly
not agree with Doolittles dismissal of the institution of marriage. As for Eliza,
through her constant insistence that she is good girl, it is clear that she places
importance on conventional social customs. Therefore, it would be very unlikely
for her to approve of her fathers belief about marriage.
4. I do definitely agree with Eliza in some sense. There are many times
when the difference between a lady and a flower girl are simply the way they are
treated. However, I also believe that being a lady (or a gentleman) also involves
some work in the part of the man/woman. As a result, there are also many
people who at this time are undeserving of being called a lady or gentlemen.
After reading this book, I still hold my own beliefs of what a lady should be. I
believe that a lady is someone who is willing to stand up for her own views and
opinions. She should also be polite, caring, and as educated as she has had the
opportunity to be.
5. I believe Higgins has learned something new. Though his manner stills
seems very abrasive, it is evident from this quote that he regards Eliza as more
than an object or experiment. At the beginning of the play it was clear that

Higgins did not really regard Eliza as anything more than an object for him to
experiment with. When he did acknowledge her, he treated her worse than dirt.
However, with this revealing quote, we learn that Higgins has grown to see the
value in Eliza as a person. It doesnt matter that he has recordings of her. Those
recordings are not her. In this sense Higgins has grown to appreciate and even
love Eliza.
6. The relationship between Higgins and Eliza in act five is definitely
strained. This is because Eliza is looking for something that Higgins cannot
provide her. During the duration of this act she eventually figures this out. The
reason Higgins cannot provide everything that Eliza wants can be clearly seen in
their starkly different outlooks on life. Higgins believes in a life of intellectualism.
He does not need sentimentalism and emotions. Whereas Eliza is a need of
these things. She wants emotions and sentiments. To her it is important in life to
have somebody that is caring and affectionate. By the end of the play it is
evident that Higgins cannot provide this to her as his philosophy on life keeps
him from doing so. However, Eliza is able to arrange so that Freddie provides
her with the emotion, whereas Higgins can continue to stimulate her intellectually.
7. Much like the original Pygmalion myth, Higgins is sculpting Eliza into the
women he wants to her to be. He regards her as his creation; he believes that
he has given her everything. However, unlike the original Pygmalion myth,
Higgins has no intention of making Eliza his bride even after he has finished his
grooming her. Though he too, like Pygmalion, eventually sees his creation as
more than simply an object. For Pygmalion this came when Aphrodite brought
his statue for life. For Higgins, the transition was more subtle as he slowly came

to appreciate Eliza as a person rather than simply a science experiment. Another

difference between the Pygmalion myth and the play is that Eliza is a real being
with her own thoughts, feelings, and emotions, while Pygmalions sculpture starts
as a block of lifeless marble. This is significant because Higgins could not make
Eliza completely to his liking. This makes the re-telling more realistic as in reality
no art is perfect in its creators eyes.
8. This ending scene suggests that Eliza will continue to play a part in
Higgins life. Through this seemingly mundane statement we can infer that she
plans to continue to help Higgins with the things that she has been helping him
with before. We can thus infer that she has recognized in some sense that she
needs Higgins to continue to stimulate her intellectually and help her grow and
mature as a person.
9. In the end of the play, everything worked out to a degree. Higgins
education eventually did end up improving Elizas station. So in that endevor, it
could be considered a great success. However, because of Higgins lack of
foresight for what Eliza could do with this education, she was almost in a worse
off. Teachers and students should take a lesson out of this. They should heed
its warning and be more careful in choosing what they teach and what they learn
so that they make sure that it only betters them and never places them in
position to be worse off. This play also heavily satirizes social classes. The
ultimate message in this respect is that there's really no inherent difference
between social classes. Rather it comes down to the work one puts in and the
education and opportunities one receives. Finally, this play also provides
commentary on marriage and family life. It explores the idea from the deviation

of traditional family. Eliza does not have to be married to Higgins or Pickering to

take advantage of what they have to offer her. Rather, she can be married to
Freddy and treat Higgins and Pickering as kind of adopted fathers. This is
essentially a rejection of the idea that a family has to fit into the traditional mold.
Furthermore, Doolittles notion that marriage is not natural brings up the
interesting point that marriage is simply a social convention invented by humans.
At its core level it really has no meaning. In his mind, getting married is a
privilege of the middle class, those with the money and morality to complete the
necessary ceremonies.

Sequel

1.
a. I personally preferred the more open ending of Act V. I
believe that it was open enough to encourage the reader to think, while it
contained just enough information to give the reader a vague idea of what
happened. I believe this is a perfect balance.
b. Yes I do, despite her claim that she will not keep Higgins and
Pickering in her life, she relies on them for support of her flower shop.
She also goes to them for advice and visits them regularly to help with
tasks around the house. Also, despite her obvious disdain for Higgins,
she continues to learn from him and even employs him as a teacher
again.
c. I believe that these amorous implications result from the fact
that she shares a certain bond with the man she sees to have molded her

into the person she is. He is her creator in the very loose sense of the
word. That bond is very strong, and can manifest itself in certain ways,
such as amorous implications.
2.
a. Shaw defines romance as a needed and mutually beneficial
relationship between two people, rather than the current melodramatic
view that two people fall in love on the basis of fate and live happily ever
after.
b. Shaw claims that Eliza married Freddy because she knew
that she could not ever come between Higgins and his mother. Also
because stronger personalities are attracted to weaker ones. Although I
do believe that opposites do attract in some sense, I do not believe that
this relationship can be quantified so rigidly in this constraining rule.
c. I believe that Eliza does live happily ever after with Freddy.
It is not happily ever after in the traditional manner that many of us are
used to. Rather it is a more real version of happily ever after. Everything
does not go perfectly for them. However, they are still together and there
store is finally starting to make a profit after all the hard work they put it.
They also have two very fine and educated older gentlemen waiting to
help them (however begrudging Higgins might be) with whatever ails
them.
3. In the postscript, Clara changes because of her reading of H.G.Wells.
She finally learns that she doesn't need to really care about what other people
think and that she does not have to follow all the social rules and conventions.
After this realization, it seems she became much more pleasant to be around.
She started gaining real friends, though she did also make a couple enemies.

The Play as a Whole

1. I did find this structure in Shaws play. The exposition was all the action
leading up to Higginss and Elizas argument. This argument and Elizas
eventual disappearance was the complications. The discussion was the
conversation that Higgins and Eliza had at Mrs. Higginss home.
2.
a. In the general introduction Eliza gains a desire to improve
herself using Mr. Higgins lessons. Here she gains initiative to make a
better life for herself. During the bet and its fulfillment, Eliza gains the
skills and manners that she was hoping to learn from Pickering and
Higgins. Finally, during Elizas independence from Higgins, she finally
transcends into the independent thinker that she needed to become in
order to be truly free and truly a lady. She no longer needs all the silly
social customs. Also, she has no need to perform any menial labor that
she does not want to do.
b. Clara gets educated through the books of H.G. Wells. She
learns that one does not need to follow all the social customs and do what
everybody else does to fit into a society. Mr. Doolittle learned the hard
way how much responsibility being middle class was. Both Eliza and Mr.
Doolittle learned how to function in classes much above their own.
However, the difference between Eliza and Doolittle was that Doolittle
hated the responsibility that came along with being a middle class citizen.
3. The lower class are presented as two types: those who wish to improve
their station and those who fear responsibility. This is exemplified by the
difference between Eliza and her father. The upper classes are also presented

as two types: those with money and those without. The main difference is that
those without money try even harder to obey every little social custom, so that
they can prove to their friends and their neighbors that they are still deserving of
their station. As for upper class intellectuals, once again two types are present:
those who are respectful and those who are pretentious. This can be supported
by the contrast between Higgins, who is overbearing and quite pretentions, and
Pickering, who is more inclined to be polite to all people.
4. It wants us to remember the myth so that we focus on Higgins, rather than
Eliza. By reminding us about the story of Pygmalion, we remember that it was
the story of the sculpture, rather than the sculpture. This prompts us to look
closely at the character of Higgins because the author obviously had a reason for
making him the focus of the play.
5. I believe that, when achieved organically, the discussion of this play can
be very helpful, insightful, and interesting. That being said, I believe the play
should be read through, all the way, as quickly as possible, with no interruptions
for discussion first. This gives the reader the ability to first appreciate the big
picture of the play and the main message and story. Once this is done, then I
believe we should pick out passages that we did not fully understand on our first
reading to reread and analytically and thoroughly unpack. As for this assignment
that we are doing right now. I hated it. It was very obvious that this study guide
was busy work. After spending well over six hours on it, the play has almost
been completely ruined for me. I am sick of it. This play is a work of art, and
should be appreciated as such. Beating it to death with a stick through overanalysis is heartbreaking because it is such a beautiful piece of art. We covered

most of these topics in class discussions, and honestly completing this study
guide was a waste of my time, energy, and precious sleep. Honestly, I feel no
better for having done it and fully regret the time I have spent on it. The only
thing that has been produced is twenty-two pages of work that you will have to
waste your time reading and grading. I do not reccomend this study guide be
done again. If it is, please notify the entire class in advance that it is due (not just
specific groups) and place it on your website. A message in 10 point font at the
very bottom of the page that says, study questions will be due on the day of
discussion for each act, is not sufficient. Especially since we did not discuss the
acts on separate days, but rather simply finished the play. Anyway, when we did
go over topics in class I did learn a lot.