Zenaida Rodriguez

English 4B
Mr. Waak
March 26th, 2020

⅗ Pygmalion Essay

After the visit to Mrs. Higgins’s home, Higgins and Pickering sit down to talk with Eliza.
Pickering praises Eliza for how she responded to the guests present at Mrs. Higgins’s home, but
Higgins exclaims that she still needs to improve because she used slang terms and he was forced
to cover for her. Eliza states that she has improved greatly and should be proud of this moment.
Pickering tells Higgins that this test is already a great step in hiding Eliza’s identity and changing
her. Higgins begins to argue with Pickering telling Pickering that Eliza has improved slightly,
but she still has a long way to improve before the final test.
Eliza is fed up with hearing them argue about her and stands up to them, stating that she
is right there. She is not a lab experiment and is more than capable to speak for herself. At this,
both Pickering and Higgins are taken aback; although they have just been reprimanded by Eliza,
she has done it with such eloquence and mannerisms that they are simply in awe. After Eliza is
done talking with them, she leaves and goes to her room. Pickering feels ashamed and wants to
go after her to apologize for his behavior, but Higgins says to let her be. She is simply a foolish
woman causing a scene. At this Pickering realizes how they are treating Eliza, objectifying her
and dismissing the fact that she does have feelings. He wants to call off the wager, but Higgins
says that Pickering is most likely just scared of losing the wager. Pickering becomes frustrated
with Higgins and leaves. Higgins brushes off what has happened and feels like he is surrounded
by a group of incompetent people, so he attempts to come up with new ways to rid Eliza of her
slang terms.
While Higgins was coming up with new techniques for Eliza, Alfred Doolittle was
coming up with a new way to extort more money from Higgins. Some way that would not cause
him any trouble but would also not cause Higgins to tell Eliza about him. And that was when the
idea came to Alfred. If Eliza was able to learn how to speak proper, well then so could he, and he
would profit from it much more than Eliza.
 As time goes by, Higgins continues perfecting Eliza, improving her diction, mannerisms,
and ridding her of her slum mannerisms and slang terms. Higgins then goes to his mother and
tells her to invite the same guests present the first time he brought Eliza. He wants to test Eliza
and see how much she has truly improved. Mrs. Higgins tells her son she does not want that
street girl near her distinguished guests, yet after some time arguing with her son she reluctantly
agrees and informs her son that she will invite them in the following week. The next week, Eliza
and Higgins arrive to meet with Mrs. Eynesford-Hill and her children, Freddy and Clara. When
Eliza gets there, Freddy sees her and runs to her side like a love-sick puppy. Eliza greets him
formally by his last name, but he tells Eliza to simply call him Freddy as they are friends and are
on a first-name basis. Eliza smiles and at this Freddy is ecstatic.
Eliza walks to Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Eynesford-Hill, and Clara. She formally greets Mrs.
Higgins, and Mrs. Higgins is surprised at how perfect Eliza’s diction has become. Mrs.
Eynsford-Hill is not as happy to see Eliza, remembering that because of her Clara began to make
a fool of herself in front of the other families they visited. Clara sees her and is not necessarily
happy to see her, but is intrigued and curious to learn more “new talk” from Eliza. Eliza is now
able to speak freely with the guests, and she does a wonderful job. Higgins watches her the
whole time and realizes how much Eliza has improved, and he is proud. Not of her though, after
all, the only reason she has been able to improve is because of him. Higgins has created a
beautiful woman with perfect diction and mannerisms, in a sense, the perfect woman.
Eliza spends her time talking about literature and authors she enjoys reading, paintings
that she wants to visit in museums, and operas she wishes to see. Freddy becomes so entranced
by Eliza, not just her looks but also the passion and elegance she talks with, that he does not
realize that Eliza has asked him a question. Freddy begins to stammer, and Eliza begins to laugh,
while Clara tells Freddy to stop gawking at Eliza as if she had two heads on her neck. Higgins
sees Eliza laughing and tells her that time is up and that they have to get going; he does not want
her perfect diction to be lost when her emotions get the best of her. Eliza is confused and even
irritated, she does not want to leave since this is the only time she is able to talk with other
people besides Mrs. Pearce, Higgins, and Pickering. Higgins does not care and tells his mother’s
guests that they are leaving. Eliza does not want to leave, but she also does not want to cause a
scene so she reluctantly leaves, but not before Freddy tells her that he will see her again.
 Meanwhile, Alfred Doolittle has been improving his diction on his own by watching and
listening to how “fine folk” speak, and he truly believes he has got it down, so he decided to test
it out, but not before changing his clothes. He didn’t have any money to buy something, so he
decided to take one of his old suits, patchy and worn, and try to make them appear nice. Once he
had finished, he put on his suit and went to visit the nicest bookstore, a place where there
wouldn’t be that many people who might be able to call him out on his plan.
Three months later, Eliza, Pickering, and Higgins are all invited to an ambassador’s
garden party where there are high class people. Higgins bought Eliza a new dress for this event
in order to impress the guests of the garden party. While there, Higgins is questioned on his work
by an ambassador. Higgins responds by saying that he has an experiment going on right now,
taking place at the event. Pickering then appears with Eliza, and Eliza greets the ambassador and
his guests, leaving the ambassador to stare at Eliza. After some time, the Eynsford-Hill family
enters and Freddy sees Eliza. Eliza excuses herself from the ambassador in order to greet Freddy.
The ambassador then asks Higgins who his subject is, and where they are currently at the event.
Eliza spends her time talking with Freddy who adores her and as the party goes on, Higgins tells
the ambassador that his subject is Eliza, leaving the ambassador amazed at Higgin’s teachings.
Higgins tells the ambassador that he worked on Eliza for months, perfecting her diction and
mannerisms so as to appear to be a duchess.
Surprisingly, on the other side of the room, Alfred is also entering the garden party, and
this is because while he was in the bookstore, he was noticed by a famous author and from there
started working for him, earning a good wage. He sees Eliza and wants to apologize for his
behavior in the past, but Higgins sees him and turns to talk to the ambassador, leaving Alfred
disheartened.
Higgins excuses himself from the ambassador and tells Eliza that it is time to leave the
party. Eliza leaves with Higgins and Pickering, and they all go to Higgins’s house. As soon as
they get there, Pickering tells Higgins that he has won the wager, but Higgins no longer cares for
that. He has fallen in love with Eliza; she has the diction and mannerisms of a duchess, and better
yet his mother. Eliza is in awe at how Higgins is acting towards her, and she dismisses him
because although he taught her how to speak well, he did it out of greed and pride in hopes of
winning a wager, not out of the goodness of his heart. Eliza leaves and goes back to the
ambassador’s party to tell Freddy everything that has happened. Alfred then walks toward Eliza
and even she is surprised to see the man that her father has become. Alfred apologizes to his
daughter and although the past is not forgotten, a relationship has begun to build. Although
Freddy finally knows Eliza has no money and the transformation she has gone through to better
herself, he accepts Eliza, and even helps Eliza get a job in a flower shop. Unlike Eliza and
Freddy, Higgins stays alone, wondering what he did wrong, but not taking the blame, being left
behind to live a sad life.