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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. For how long will Liza stay with Higgins as his pupil?

2. What does the taxicab driver realize about Liza that humiliates her?

3. What does Higgins think of the way the Flower Girl speaks?

4. What is the strange man (Higgins) doing behind the pillar?

5. What city is the setting of Shaw's play?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are some of the most important people in England, according to Shaw? Why do you think this is so, again, according to Shaw?

2. What does Liza likely mean when she says "I'm a good girl, I am"? Why does she say this?

3. What bet does Pickering make with Higgins? Why does Higgins accept?

4. How does Higgins feel about women?

5. Who are Alexander Melville Bell, Alexander J. Ellis, Tito Pagliardini, and Henry Sweet, and why are they heroes to Shaw?

6. How are Clara and her mother different?

7. Why does the English language need to be reformed, according to Shaw?

8. Who is the Gentleman in the first act, and what do he and the note-taker have in common?

9. Why does Liza become upset when Mrs. Pearce takes her up for a bath? What does this incident show about Liza?

10. Describe Higgins's laboratory. What does it reveal about his character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Critics of Shaw often comment that the servants in his plays have better sense than their masters. Write an essay in which you examine the role of Mrs. Pearce in the play, looking in particular at the way she argues with Higgins in Act 2 over what should be done with Liza. Does Mrs. Pearce have better sense than Higgins? Explain, using examples from the play.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the character of Clara and her transformation in the play.

Part 1) How does Clara change in the course of the play, and why?

Part 2) How does Shaw satirize various foibles of society through Clara (for instance, snobbery and fads among young people)?

Part 3) How are we meant to view Clara? Is she a sympathetic figure, a ridiculous figure, or some mixture of both?

Essay Topic 3

In the Preface to Pygmalion, Shaw says that all great art should be didactic; that is, it should teach something. What does Shaw hope his play will teach people--both about language and about how reforming it might help society? Do you think the play is successful at communicating the intended message? Write an essay about this topic, using quotations from the Preface as well as from the rest of the play.

(see the answer keys)

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