Read the following passage from Act V of George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion carefully before choosing the best answer.
(1) LIZA. I stood up to you. I'm not afraid of your words and
your arguments and your playacting. I know that if my
coldness was a pretence, now it's real. If you can't be
appreciated unless you're bullied, I'll bully you.
(5) HIGGINS. [Gazing at her with admiration] By George,
Eliza, I said I'd make a woman of you; and I have. I
like you like this.
LIZA. Yes: you can turn round and flatter me now,
now that I've found a way to get my own back.
(10) HIGGINS. Flattery! You lie. I bully you because I'm a
bully, and because I like to see you stand up for
yourself. I've made you a consort battleship. Now
you're no longer a mere flower girl crying for a couple
of pence. You're a tower of strength, a super-dreadnought.
(15) LIZA. You want me to go back to Wimpole Street, to be
your servant and fetch your slippers, while you throw
them at my head?
HIGGINS. I never threw them at your head. I threw them
on the floor, because you brought them when I didn't
want them. But I don't want a servant. I want a sister,
(20) a friend, a helper, a comrade. I want a woman who
can stand on her own two feet, and who will not
cry when I stamp my foot. And by George, Eliza, I think
you're that woman at last.
LIZA. I will marry Freddy.
(25) HIGGINS. [Rising in a fury] What! That insignificance!
LIZA. He loves me. And he writes to me twice a day, on
sheets of paper as big as a window.
HIGGINS. You're a fool. He's a fool. He cannot support you.
LIZA. I don't want him to support me. I can support
(30) myself. I'll teach phonetics. I'll advertise myself as
your pupil, and I'll go to that hairy impostor, Nepommuck,
and show him how to do his business.
HIGGINS. [Threateningly] What! You'll betray my secrets!
You'll sell my inventions to my rivals!
(35) LIZA. I will. I'll teach girls how to be duchesses, and
how to behave themselves. I'll make a fortune.
HIGGINS. [Wrenching her hand] By George, Eliza, if you
do, I'll wring your neck.
(40) LIZA. [Joyously] Wring away! What do I care? Now I don't
care that [snapping her fingers] for your bullying and
your big talk. I can do without you: you say you can do
without me. I didn't want to marry you; I only wanted
to be treated as a lady, not as a servant. Now I am
(45) independent of you. I can earn my own living, and I can
make a career of my own. I have found my voice.
HIGGINS. [Gazing at her, completely defeated yet fascinated]
By George, Eliza, you are a tower of strength. I
wouldn't have you back if you were a slave; I want you
(50) as a free woman, who can fight her own battles.
In lines 37–50, Higgins’s transition from threatening Liza ('if you do, I’ll wring your neck') to praising her ('you are a tower of strength') primarily reveals which of the following about his character?
- Ais pleased that Eliza has decided to marry Freddy and will no longer require his direct financial assistance
- Bseeks to dominate Eliza completely and is merely using reverse psychology to make her return to Wimpole Street
- respects Eliza's defiance and autonomy more than her subordination, despite the challenge it poses to his authorityCevap
- Dis using Eliza's threats as a theatrical ploy to convince other characters of his teaching success
- Erepresents the playwright's absolute critique of the rigidity of class structures in Edwardian society