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   amy-lepore Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Absolutely.  For one thing, Higgins takes on Eliza as a student due to a dare with a friend.  Higgins, without regard for Eliza as a person at all, takes the dare that he can make her speak like Royalty so well that no one will detect the fraud in very little time.

   For another thing, Eliza and Higgins come from two very different backgrounds and social classes.  Neither truly understands the other, although Eliza is a good student and she learns quite a bit more than the speaking patterns in her crash course.  Regardless, her "new" self leaves her in limbo--she doesn't fit in her old world, and she doesn't really fit into the new one either.

   Higgins never expects or plans for emotions.  He approaches everything from the perspective of an experiment.  It doesn't work that way when people are involved.  His mother points this out, as does Pickering and Eliza herself.

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   http://www.enotes.com/pygmalion

   http://www.enotes.com/pygmalion/characters

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   Posted by amy-lepore on Thursday October 22, 2009 at 7:37 AM