1. Did you consider Ovid's Pygmalion and Galatea a true love story? When Shaw refers to his play as "a romance in five acts" do you anticipate a love story?

2. After reading Shaw's Preface, do you expect the play to be a "didactic" piece on speech and class differences or a romance? Both?

3. If Professor Higgins is not a portrait of the phoneticist Henry Sweet, as stated in his Preface, is he a portrait of Bernard Shaw?

4. What do you learn of the principle characters in the introductory Act I? Are any of them likable?

5. What is the chemistry between Henry Higgins and the Flower Girl in the opening act? Do you find yourself agreeing with Higgins or the girl regarding her "kerbstone dialect?"

Act II

1. Did you note the sharp contrast between Eliza's shabby little room at the end of Act I and Higgins' parlour in Act II? What can be learned about him from his surroundings? (Any thoughts on Eliza's birdcage and Higgins' etching by Piranesi - of an Imaginary Prison?)

2. Why did Higgins accept Eliza as his student? If you were Eliza, coming to Higgins for speech lessons, what would you make of his threats of physical abuse and outrageous put-downs? Is this all for stage purposes - good slapstick comedy? Why didn't she walk out?

3. Which seems to better describe Higgins..."overbearing" as Mrs. Pearce describes him or "shy, "diffident," and "never feeling grown-up,"as he describes himself. Both?

4. What words of caution do both Mrs. Pearce and Colonel Pickering give to Higgins and how did you react to his response? What causes the change in Mrs. Pearce's attitude towards Eliza?

5. What does Eliza's father want from Higgins? What is it about his preference to remain one of the "undeserving poor" that is irresistable to Higgins? How does Shaw speak through this character?

Act III

1. What is the relationship between Mrs. Higgins and her son? Did you like her, or find her a snob? How does Henry defend himself against her criticism of his terrible manners?

2. Did you find Higgins' statement that his idea of a lovable woman is someone like his mother, reminiscent of Shaw's relationship with his own mother and with his wife, Charlotte? Could this be the reason why he (Higgins) is not able to fall in love with a younger woman?

3. Are Pickering and Higgins equally guilty of acting like "a pair of pretty babies playing with a live doll," as Mrs. Higgens tells them? Does this remind you of Pygmalion and his ivory doll? What's the twist in this story?

4. Have Higgins and Pickering succeeded in changing Eliza into a different human being by creating a new speech pattern for her? Does Eliza believe this?

5. What is the irony in the surprise ending of Act III, Nepommuck's conclusion that Eliza is a fraud?

Act IV

1. Do you see a different Eliza in each of the five acts so far? How does she change between Acts III and IV?

2. How do Col. Pickering's remarks about Eliza's performance contrast with Higgins'? Which of Higgins' remarks are the most painful for Eliza?

3. Do you sense any trace of emotion in Higgins? Does he mean what he says? Does he not care what becomes of Eliza? Is he as unprepared as she is for life after the experiment?

4. Is Eliza really free now to do as she pleases? What is Shaw saying about the value of education and the opportunity it affords? Has Eliza benefited from her hard work?

5. Why does Eliza think that getting married is like selling herself? Has she changed her thinking from the first act? Why does Eliza go off with Freddy? What does he provide for her that Higgins does not?

Act V

1. Eliza asks a good question - "What am I to come back for?" What?

2. In what way does Henry's transformation take away Eliza's independence? What do you see as her options?

3. How does Alfred Doolittle's response to the change in his social class and position differ from Eliza's? Has he changed? Is he happy to marry the missus for the reasons he had expressed earlier? Has Eliza's view of marriage changed?

4. Has Higgins indeed, unknowingly created a "duchess?" Why does Eliza not wish to attend her father's wedding?

5. Shaw says he doesn't believe in endings. Do you think Eliza will return to the Professor's - or marry Freddy? How does Shaw's play end? What was his message?

Sequel

1. Why has Shaw felt compelled to write a real ending to the story in the sequel to his play, when he never intended for it to be staged?

2 Why does Eliza conclude that Higgins does not fit her definition of good husband material? Where and when did she get these ideals?

3. Does Liza's continual nagging and snapping at Higgins belie her resentment at his indifference towards her?

4 . Do you think that Eliza's secret wish to get Higgins away on a desert island is a good indication of her true feelings towards him throughout the play? Why do you think Shaw included that little tidbit in the sequel? Do you see contradictions in the ending of the sequel?

5. Has Higgins succeeded in creating a real woman, more real perhaps than the mythical Pygmalion he has chosen for his title? What was Shaw's intention when writing this play? Do you feel he succeeded?