PYGMALION
GEORGE BERNARD
SHAW
Act 4
ACT 4 – Main Scenes - No. 1
Higgins Keeps teaching Eliza, and preparing her for the
ambassador's Party
Eliza Passes the Ambassador's party test, and wins the bet
of being a Duchesse
ACT 4 – Main Scenes - No.2
As Higgins and Pickering sit down and discuss the
great triumph of the day, we hear that Eliza has been a
tremendous success at the garden party.
Higgins then admits that after the first few minutes, it
became obviously apparent that he was going to easily
win his bet with Pickering, and, as a result, he was
bored for the rest of the time.
Pickering then retires for the evening, followed by
Higgins, yelling to Eliza to put out the lights.
ACT 4 Main Scenes - No. 3
Eliza was so angry, when Higgins returns, looking for his
slippers. Eliza hurls it at him with all her force. She called
him a "selfish brute" who is ready to throw her back into
the gutter now that she has won his bet for him.
Higgins refuses to acknowledge that she had anything to do
with his winning the bet. The entire feat was accomplished
by his coaching and his brilliance.
She physically attacks him, asking what is to become of her,
Higgins restrains her and says, "What does it matter what
becomes of you?" Higgins’ wonders and questions her about
her anxieties and offers a glass of champagne to relieve the
strain of the day.
ACT 4 Main Scenes - No. 4
He assures her that she will feel better now that the
garden party is over. Eliza's concerns, however, clearly
and seriously involve the future. She asks: "What am I
fit for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to
go? What am I to do? What's to become of me?"
Higgins has obviously never given it a moment's
thought.
Eliza then informs him that all that she has ever done is
sell flowers; now, as a lady, she can't even sell flowers;
all she can hope to do is sell herself. She wishes Higgins
had left her where he found her.
ACT 4 Main Scenes - No. 5
Eliza wonders about what clothes may she keep and what clothes
belong to the "experiment." She reminds Higgins of her past: "I'm only
a common ignorant girl; …..I have to be careful." Higgins tells her that
she can take all the clothes, but she cannot have the jewelry; it was
rented.
She also returns a ring which he bought her, but he throws the ring so
angrily into the fireplace that Eliza crouches over the piano, crying,
"Don't you hit me."
Higgins now feels wounded and leaves, slamming the door savagely
and calling Eliza "a heartless guttersnipe.“
Alone, Eliza senses her triumph over the master; thus, she quickly
kneels and digs the ring out of the ashes. She finds it, considers it for a
moment, and then flings it down and goes upstairs in a rage.
ACT 4 – PLOT ANALYSIS
➢ This act presents the completion of the artist's masterpiece; Here, we see a person
completely transformed from the "guttersnipe" that we saw in Covent Garden in the
first act.
➢ At the beginning of the act, the two gentlemen were celebrating their success. They fail to
grasp the fact that Eliza has worked exceedingly hard to be able to speak like a lady; as a
result, she developed an intense devotion and loyalty towards her two masters and
also a strong desire to please.
➢ The image which Shaw uses is that of a well-trained puppy dog fetching its master's
slippers, as Eliza did at the beginning of the act. The men, however, fail to pet and admire
the "puppy" for her achievements, and therefore the trained puppy turns on its
masters, by having Eliza throw the slippers at the master.
ACT 4 – PLOT ANALYSIS
➢ Higgins has been able to polish the outside of Eliza to a high degree of perfection, but he
failed to note that at the same time, his creation was developing an inner soul and a mind
of her own.
➢ Shaw was interested in what happened after the triumph. And Eliza herself asks, what is
she fit for, and what will become of her? Higgins has been so completely involved with his
experiment that this question has never entered his mind.
➢ At the end of the act, Eliza wants to see him hurt just like she has been hurt; she wants
him lose his temper, and she is able to enjoy the spectacle of her teacher losing his selfcontrol.
Questions
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
1- What do you think Eliza is feeling when Higgins and Pickering are
discussing the bet after the high ball ?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
1- What do you think Eliza is feeling when Higgins and Pickering are
discussing the bet after the high ball ?
▪ Eliza’s feelings was the high ball : upset because she realizes that she was no more
than an experiment.
▪ Both men fail to grasp the fact that Eliza has worked exceedingly hard to be able to
speak like a lady.
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
2- What small indication does Higgins give in acts 3 and 4 that he has
become attached to Eliza?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
2- What small indication does Higgins give in acts 3 and 4 that he has
become attached to Eliza?
•
In Act 3, Mr. Higgins purchased a ring for Eliza
•
In Act 4, He lost his temper when Eliza got angry and returned that ring back to
him.
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
3- At the end of this act, a reversal makes us feel that Higgins in some way
has been toppled ( fall down) and Eliza has gained the upper hand. How
does Eliza do this? Why is she so happy when Higgins claims to be
"wounded to the heart"?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
3- At the end of this act, a reversal makes us feel that Higgins in some way has been
toppled and Eliza has gained the upper hand. How does Eliza do this? Why is she so
happy when Higgins claims to be "wounded to the heart"?
▪ At the end of the act, Eliza returned the ring he bought her, which made Higgins so furious,
and he threw the ring into the fireplace.
▪ She provokes him until she makes him lose his temper, and she is able to enjoy the spectacle
of her teacher losing his self-control.
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
4- What is the crisis in this act?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
4- What is the crisis in this act?
▪ The crisis comes when Eliza gives vent to her anger and frustration, finally standing
up to Higgins in the face of his insensitivity.
▪ Fear floods her at the thought that, having no further use for her, he will abandon
her, throwing her into the street—just as her father and stepmother had done.
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
5- In Act 4 of Pygmalion, why does Eliza wish Higgins had left her where he
found her?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
5- In Act 4 of Pygmalion, why does Eliza wish Higgins had left her where he
found her?
▪ Eliza finds herself thrust into a new social status, with "manners and habits that
disqualify a fine lady from earning her own living.
▪ Eliza can’t go back to her old past as a flower girl selling flowers in streets.
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
6- In Act 4 of Pygmalion, when Higgins tells Eliza to look in the mirror "and you
won't feel so cheap," what does he reveal about his perception of Eliza?
ACT 4 - QUESTIONS
6- In Act 4 of Pygmalion, when Higgins tells Eliza to look in the mirror "and you
won't feel so cheap," what does he reveal about his perception of Eliza?
▪ In his perception, Eliza is what he can see and, of course, hear. Therefore, he thinks this is
all that will matter to her as well: she can look in the mirror and see her value.
▪ Higgins treats her fear lightly, saying, "I shouldn't bother about it if I were you," and
suggests that now she can marry well.
▪
▪ Higgins fails to recognize that his creation, Eliza, possesses a human soul , and it has
nothing to do with what she can see in a mirror.
Quotations
ACT 4 - Quotations
1. “The garden party, a dinner party, and the opera! Rather too much of a good
thing…….. . Eliza did the trick, and something to spare, eh? Comment?
Mr. Pickering to M. Higgins, at the Wimpole Street Lab. (P. 63)
ACT 4 - Quotations
2. “What the devil have I done with my slippers?” “There are your slippers. And there.
Take your slippers……. have a day’s luck with them!” Comment?
Eliza Doolittle to M. Higgins, at the Wimpole Street Lab. (P. 65)
ACT 4 - Quotations
3. “What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to
do? What’s to become of me?” Comment?
Eliza Doolittle to M. Higgins, at the Wimpole Street Lab. (P. 67)
ACT 4 - Quotations
4. “I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. Now you’ve made a lady of me. I’m not fit to sell
anything else. I wish you’d left me where you found me.” Comment?
Eliza Doolittle to M. Higgins, at the Wimpole Street Lab. (P. 68)
Thanks