Name:__________________________

Notetaker for Shaw’s Pygmalion

Instructions: After you read each act of Pygmalion (either aloud with your small
groups - with each member taking a different role in the scene, including reading
the stage directions in italics/brackets - or on your own), answer the following
questions.

Act 1 (pages 7 - 17)

1. How do the stage directions, which visually introduce the reader to
Liza/Flower Girl, describe her in comparison to the Mother and
Daughter/Clara nearby? If you are reading the digital version, this is on
page 9. What is the tone of the stage directions here?

The stage directions of Liza portray her as a much more dirty and more
unhygienic person compared to the mother and daughter. They describe the
condition of her clothes and her hair. This creates a comparison between the
two characters and Liza. The tone is very condescending and judgemental.

2. Looking at page 12, what seems to be the overall reaction the crowd has
to the idea of police involvement in this moment? Who, to the best of your
ability, makes up this crowd of people gathering around Liza and the
Notetaker/Higgins? Why would they react this way to the thought of police?

They seem to not like the fact that the police are getting involved mostly
because they're worried of the unfair rules the police might implement on them
due to things they can control
Name:__________________________

3. On page 16 of the digital version, how would you describe Higgin’s

character based on what he says about Liza?

He seems very rude and arrogant in the way he treats liza

4. Liza, Higgins, and Pickering are the three main characters of the show.
How are they characterized? Include all that you can in mannerisms,
personality, and behavior.
a. Liza
She seems kind of witty and just complains alot and she gets defensive very
easily

b. Higgins
He is only really respectful of pickering but as to everyone else especially liza
he is dismissive and rude

c. Pickering
Hes respectful and seems kind towards liza
Name:__________________________

Act 2 (pages 18 - 41)

1. How are Higgins and his office space characterized by the stage directions
at the beginning of Act 2 (pages 18-19)? What is the tone of this
characterization?
He seems to hoard alot of stuff and his tone sounds like mockery

2. How does the following interaction characterize the four people in this
scene?

HIGGINS [peremptorily] Sit down.

THE FLOWER GIRL. Oh, if you’re going to make a compliment of it—

HIGGINS [thundering at her] Sit down.

MRS. PEARCE [severely] Sit down, girl. Do as you’re told. [She places the
stray chair near the hearthrug between Higgins and Pickering, and stands
behind it waiting for the girl to sit down].

THE FLOWER GIRL. Ah—ah—ah—ow—ow—oo! [She stands, half

rebellious, half bewildered].

PICKERING [very courteous] Won’t you sit down?

LIZA [coyly] Don’t mind if I do. [She sits down. Pickering returns to the
hearthrug]. (Shaw, 21-22)

Liza is being very overdramatic and only really listened to someone when
theres mutual respect, higgins again is pretty respectful Mr pearce seems to be
very orderful of liza and seemingly kind of strict while pickering is consistently
rude
Name:__________________________

3. After Pickering offers to pay Liza’s costs for language lessons, Higgins
makes the following claim. What literary device is his claim, and how do
both Liza and Mrs. Pearce respond? How do their responses align with
how they’ve behaved in this act thus far?

LIZA. Who’d marry me?

HIGGINS [suddenly resorting to the most thrillingly beautiful low tones in his best
elocutionary 1style] By George, Eliza, the streets will be strewn with the bodies of
men shooting themselves for your sake before I’ve done with you.

MRS. PEARCE. Nonsense, sir. You mustn’t talk like that to her.

LIZA [rising and squaring herself determinedly] I’m going away. He’s off his
chump, he is. I don’t want no balmies2 teaching me.

Liza gets pretty mad because shes takes everything he is saying very
seriously and Mrs pearce thinks hes setting unrealistic expectations on what
they are able to achieve

4. Pages 27 to 30 see both Mrs. Pearce and Pickering pushing back against
Higgins in his scheme to teach Liza. What are each of them worried about,
in terms of the dynamic between Higgins and Liza? How does Higgins
respond to both their concerns?

Pearce is worried about what liza will do and how she will be treated while
Pickering is worried about her reputation

1
Overly embellished
2
extremely foolish; eccentric
Name:__________________________

5. Liza’s father enters the scene and stays from pages 33-40. What has
Doolittle come for, and what is his reasoning behind it? How do Higgins
and Pickering react to him?

He has come to take his daughter in exchange for little cash and pickering does
not like the idea at all

6. What is the argument Doolittle makes in the following monologue? How

valid is this argument?

DOOLITTLE. Don’t say that, Governor. Don’t look at it that way. What am I,
Governors both? I ask you, what am I? I’m one of the undeserving poor:
that’s what I am. Think of what that means to a man. It means that he’s up
agen middle class morality all the time. If there’s anything going, and I put
in for a bit of it, it’s always the same story: “You’re undeserving; so you
can’t have it.” But my needs is as great as the most deserving widow’s that
ever got money out of six different charities in one week for the death of
the same husband. I don’t need less than a deserving man: I need more. I
don’t eat less hearty than him; and I drink a lot more. I want a bit of
amusement, cause I’m a thinking man. I want cheerfulness and a song and
a band when I feel low. Well, they charge me just the same for everything
as they charge the deserving. What is middle class morality? Just an
excuse for never giving me anything. Therefore, I ask you, as two
gentlemen, not to play that game on me. I’m playing straight with you. I
ain’t pretending to be deserving. I’m undeserving; and I mean to go on
being undeserving. I like it; and that’s the truth. Will you take advantage of
a man’s nature to do him out of the price of his own daughter what he’s
brought up and fed and clothed by the sweat of his brow until she’s growed
big enough to be interesting to you two gentlemen? Is five pounds
unreasonable? I put it to you; and I leave it to you.
Name:__________________________

Hes pointing out the unfairness between class divisions and just because he is
poor he doesnt deserve to be seen as any less or undeserving of things every
normal person should have

Act 3 (pages 42 - 56)

1. The reader is introduced to Higgins’ mother in Act 3. Based on their
dialogue on pages 43-45, what is this relationship like? How do they act
towards each other? Is there love between mother and son? Does Higgins
treat his mother differently from others?

His mother was being resentful towards him although he is showing her
affection.

2. What is the B-word Mrs. Pearce warned Higgins about using, which Eliza
uses before she leaves the gathering? (Hint: Ron Weasley likes to say it
before the word “hell”, and it’s on page 51.) What is wrong with using
language like this?

The B-word was “bloody” the problem with this is that it's not very ladylike.
Name:__________________________

3. After reading Liza’s “small talk” with Mrs. Higgins and the Eynsford Hill
family (the Mother, Daughter, and Freddy from Act 1), does it seem like
Liza actually succeeded in passing as part of the middle/upper class - both
in manner of speech and in what she discusses? Why or why not?
Consider everyone’s reactions to her during and after the conversation
until page 52, when Mrs. Eynsford Hill leaves.

She did not succeed in making small talk, she talked about a murder
conspiracy and highly scientific weather statistics. The mother is shocked,
freddy is amused as well has Higgins.Pickering was abstaining from the
conversation. Mrs Higgins criticizes her son for teacher Liza poorly.

4. On page 53, why does Mrs. Higgins say Liza’s speech “would be quite
proper—say on a canal barge; but it would not be proper for her at a
garden party” (Shaw, 53)?

Shes saying that she'd fit in on a ship with sailors but not in a sophisticated
place like a garden party.

5. For the following two questions, refer to pages 52-56.

a. How are Higgins and Pickering talking about Liza? What analogy
does Mrs. Higgins use to describe this relationship? Does her
analogy impact or affect the men at all?

They compare her to a parrot because she mimics everything they do, they
speak of her like an experiment. She says that they are babies playing with an
alive doll, This provokes the men to defend her and say that it's for educational
advancements.
Name:__________________________

b. What does Mrs. Higgins mean when she says “a problem” comes
with Liza (Shaw, 55)? Does anyone else seem to share a similar
concern?

The “problem” is what Liza will do when they are done using her for
entertainment, nobody else is concerned with this.

Act 4 (pages 57 - 63)

1. What mood is established, and how, from the beginning of this act, in the
stage directions, to the following direction: “Eliza looks at him darkly; then
leaves the room” (Shaw, 57)? What does this mood imply?

The mood is uncomfortable or uneasy. This is shown in how tiered eliza looks
and how moody shes acting. This implies that something is wrong.

2. Explain the purpose of the following stage direction: “Eliza’s beauty

becomes murderous” (Shaw, 59)?

It shows how truly pissed eliza is at the men, they’re ignoring her and not
valuing the triumph shes achieved.

3. From pages 59-61, Liza and Higgins talk about why she’s upset. How does
this conversation go? What does this reveal about both characters?
Name:__________________________

This conversation is mainly just Higgins naming things that could have upset
her and Elza saying they are all wrong, she tells him shes upsent because of
what he said. He then minipulates her into thinking hes right and not ever
taking blame for his own actions.This reveals that higgins is unable to take
responsibility.

4. Why does Liza provoke Higgins throughout pages 62 and 63? What is she
doing by emphasizing the question of what actually belongs to her?

By provoking higgins she is able to get an emotional response out of him

wichch makes up for being ignored, this is to take control of the conversation.

5. Why does Liza look for the ring she gave to Higgins, which he then threw
at the fireplace, at the end of the Act?

She looks for the ring because it was a symbol of friendship and care and she
wants that.

Act 5 (pages 64 - 83)

*Please be aware - there is a sexist curse word used in this Act, with the intention of insulting
Liza, immediately followed by the best compliment Higgins can give (in his mind). It has been
blocked out, but doesn’t change the fact that Higgins is an absolute coat hanger.

1. Mr. Doolittle returns! What is the reason he is upset, as per pages 67-68?
Name:__________________________

Doolittle has lost his easy ways and is nowto conform to middle-class morality, along
with its confining respectability. The sum is so large that Doolittle is intimidated and
can't properly give it up

2. Who does Liza thank for her education? When did that education start, and
why did it matter so much to her? What makes her real teacher different
from the other teacher?

She thanks pickering saying it's what made her a lady, respect was a big thing
to liza so her education only started when she received respect

3. In Act 5, Higgins says the following lines: “The great secret, Eliza, is not
having bad manners or good 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” (Shaw, 77). This is his
justification for why he treats everyone the same. How does Liza respond
to this argument? Do you think this is a valid life philosophy?

Shes angry because of the lack of respect shes receiving which is the only
thing she really wants from him

4. What is the irony between the two following statements Higgins makes in
Act 5, and what does this reveal about his character?
Name:__________________________

“You [Liza] call me a brute because you couldn’t buy a claim on me by

fetching my slippers and finding my spectacles. You were a fool: I think a
woman fetching a man’s slippers is a disgusting sight: did I ever fetch
YOUR slippers? I think a good deal more of you for throwing them in my
face. No use slaving for me and then saying you want to be cared for: who
cares for a slave? If you come back, come back for the sake of good
fellowship.” (Shaw, 78)

“Oh, by the way, Eliza, order a ham and a Stilton cheese, will you? And
buy me a pair of reindeer gloves, number eights, and a tie to match that
new suit of mine, at Eale & Binman’s. You can choose the color.” (Shaw,
83)

The irony is how higgins demands that liza be his equal but he never treats her
as such

5. Explain the kind of relationship Liza wants, based on the following lines:

LIZA. Freddy’s not a fool. And if he’s weak and poor and wants me, maybe
he’d make me happier than my betters that bully me and don’t want me.

HIGGINS. Can he [Freddy] MAKE anything of you? That’s the point.

LIZA. Perhaps I could make something of him. But I never thought of us

making anything of one another; and you never think of anything else. I
only want to be natural. (Shaw, 80)

She wants a happy healthy relationship in which she is cared for and treated
equally
Name:__________________________

6. After Liza points out she can use his teaching to make a life of her own, in
teaching others how to speak and act like the middle/upper class - finally
hitting Higgins on something he actually cares about - he both insults her
for this treachery and praises her for it too, painting this idyllic scene: “You
and I and Pickering will be three old bachelors together instead of only two
men and a silly girl” (Shaw, 82). Is this Liza’s future? Why or why not?

No as the future liza longs for is one of happiness and support from her partner
which she would never be able to find in pickering or higgins