Pygmalion
ACT I
Study Guide
Vocabulary
portico-a covered passageway
gumption-drive and initiative
draught-[U.S.–draft] a current of air
plinth-the rectangular base of a column
deprecating-to express disapproval of
repudiate-to refuse to be concerned with or responsible for, to refuse to accept something as valid
or true
haughtily- too pridefully
bilious- ill-tempered
mendacity-untruthful
florins-British coins
1. The first three characters we meet are minor ones who will reappear later.
Briefly describe the following:
A. The mother –
B. Freddy, the young gentleman –
C. The daughter Clara –
2. Although Shaw’s stage directions are lengthy, be sure to read them because the information
included there is important. How does he describe the flower girl that Freddy bumps into?
3. Why does the flower girl accuse Freddy, the young gentleman, of a lack of manners? Why is
his mother worried that the flower girl may know her son by name?
4. Why does the bystander tell the flower girl to be careful? Why does she insist, “I’m a
respectable girl: so help me, I never spoke to him”?
5. What is it that the note taker, who has been mistaken for a “copper’s nark,” has been
writing in his notebook. What is a “copper’s nark”?
6. Describe the attitude of the crowd toward the note taker.
7. What technique does Shaw use to get this crowd of people in a situation where the note
taker will be able to show off his abilities.
8. Earlier, the flower girl says that Freddy lacks manners. For what reasons can it be said that
the young Clara and the note taker lack manners?
9. Why does the note taker say, “This is an age of upstarts”? How does he profit financially
from this new social class?
10. The note taker says, that the flower girl’s English “will keep her in the gutter to the end of
her days.” Given what you know about the setting of this play, do you think that is
possible? Is it possible today?
11. Higgins’ comments raise several questions: If people change their speech patterns to that
associated with a higher class, will this change also affect their manners; if it does not
change their manners, will anyone be fooled? In addition, since how you speak has nothing
to do with how good a human being you are, is it a change worth even considering? If you
change your speech patterns, are you disrespecting the people you come from?
ACT II
Vocabulary
laryngoscope- an instrument used to examine the larynx
scuttle-a small container for coal
mezzotint-a method of engraving on copper or steel
impetuous- impulsiveness; rash
zephyr-a gentle breeze
balmies-crazies
remonstrance-a formal public statement or protest against
diffident-modest
magisterially-authoritatively
navvy-unskilled laborer
1. How does the playwright describe Higgins at the opening of Act II?
2. Why is Higgins disappointed when the visitor turns out to be the flower girl?
3. Why has the girl come, and why is she righteously indignant?
4. In the next six pages of dialogue, what reaction does each character make in regard to Liza?
Mrs. Pearce -
Higgins -
Pickering -
5. What are Eliza’s feeling during these seven pages?
6. What is the purpose of Alfred Doolittle’s visit to Higgins’ house? For what reason does he
initially fail?
7. Shaw’s plays, described as dramas of ideas, frequently present ideas that run against the
grain of conventional thinking. Because of this, his particular brand of humor is described as
Shavian wit. Explain how this wit operates in regard to Alfred Doolittle, one of the
“undeserving poor.”
8. As a member of the Fabian Society, Shaw was a committed socialist. Does Doolittle seem
to be a socialist? Does Doolittle’s speech advance any socialist tenets; does his speech
demonstrate any sympathy for the poor?
9. Again, when Higgins proposes giving Doolittle a fiver, Pickering says that he is afraid
Doolittle will make “a bad use of it.” What do you suppose Pickering means by that
comment and how does Shaw turn that idea on its head?
10. Does Doolittle’s refusal to take only five pounds, not ten, strike you as not believable?
11. What observation about social class and cleanliness does Liza make about bathing? Why do
you suppose that given her life in the slums, bathing could not have been a treat for her?
12. As this act ends, what is Liza’s desire?