Pygmalion Group

Question:

aaron19
aaron19
Student
Vocational

In "Pygmalion", what was the underlying cause of Eliza's anger with Higgins in act 4?

In Act 4 of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, what is the underlying cause of Eliza's anger toward Professor Higgins?

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Posted by aaron19 on Saturday August 15, 2009 at 5:00 PM and tagged with anger, characters, eliza, higgins.

Answers:

  1. thewritingteacher
    thewritingteacher Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering spend the evening after the party in self-congratulatory celebration, ignoring Eliza and her contribution to the success of the deception. Eliza, understandably is infuriated by Higgins' conceit, but the final straw was his condescending dismissal, telling her to "go to bed like a good girl and sleep it off."

    Eliza understands that her entire life (and livelihood) is forever altered by her transformation, but Higgins appears both unobservant and unconcerned. His telling Eliza to just marry well is an insult to Eliza's integrity, and she lets him know that as a scientist he may have succeeded, but as a human he failed miserably.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/pygmalion/act-4-summary
    http://www.enotes.com/pygmalion/characters

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    Posted by thewritingteacher on Saturday August 15, 2009 at 6:21 PM