STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Analyze the master-pupil relationship between Eliza and Higgins in Pygmalion.

2. Trace the growth and development of Eliza's character. How does she not only change externally but also internally?

3. Analyze the plot structure of Pygmalion. Do you think that the ending is anticlimactic?

4. What are the major social concerns that Pygmalion explores?

5. Examine Shaw's critique of the conventional morality of the English middle class as seen in the character of Alfred Doolittle.

6. Explain the varied nuances of the term "lady" and "gentleman" as used in the play.

7. Analyze Higgins as a comic protagonist. Does his redeeming characteristics justify his dishonorable ones?

8. Examine Shaw's denunciation of a class-based society through his use of phonetics as a leitmotif.

9. Is Pygmalion a didactic play? If yes, does art successfully transcend the didacticism?

Interpret the ending of the play. Why does Shaw leave it so ambiguous?

10. Compare Shaw's interpretation of the Pygmalion myth to the original. What are the similarities? What are the differences?

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