Back to: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
A few months pass after the event at the end of the second Act and the story resumes at the Higgins residence. Mrs. Higgins’s mother of Mr. Higgins is greeted by her son who reveals his experiment to his mother.
Mrs. Higgins is appalled and reacts in the same way as Mrs. Pearce did previously. She also informs her son about some guests who were on their way to the house and she did not want Higgins to ruin her meeting with his clever criticisms.
Soon, the guests arrive. It is Freddy, Clara and her mother from the garden. Clara finds Higgins charming and tries to seduce him. However, Higgins is not interested and males fun of her lack of knowledge and literary skills.
They are joined by Eliza who seems to be a woman transformed. Freddy fails to recognize her and falls for her beauty. Eliza is eloquent and everyone is impressed by her.
However, her knowledge is limited. She even ends up using slurs and curses words. Even though Mrs. Higgins is shocked by her outburst, the rest of the guests are more welcoming.
Clara even calls her language new and refreshing. Higgins breathes a sigh of relief as he remembers the characters from the scene in the garden. Mrs. Higgins arranges for Freddy to have a private conversation with Eliza.
After a few moments the family exits the place and Mrs. Higgins is left with Pickering and her son. She remonstrated with them and claims that no amount of exterior dressing will hide Eliza’s true nature.
She says that Eliza will be exposed sooner than they assume. She also asks them if they had thought about Eliza’s life after the challenge gets over. He men claim that they will some sort of work for her to support herself even if it be impersonating people at different plays.
