It's worth
noting that Eliza did not, in fact, receive an education of any real substance, but was taught
the surface mannerisms an educated woman of the age might affect. Although she was taught how to
speak like a lady, the opinions she related in social situations were comically empty. She also
realized later in the play that this cosmetic change rendered her unfit for her old profession
as a curbside flower vendor, but didn't prepare her for any newer or more remunerative
profession. She didn't learn any business skills, for example, or a skilled trade. Even Higgins
thought her best option was for Col. Pickering to set her up in a shop somewhere.
Her best prospect, which Shaw spelled out in the play's textual coda, was to run off
with Freddie, a similarly unemployable bit of fluff with a surface veneer of sophistication and
little in the way of substance or prospects. (She may have briefly returned to fetch Professor
Higgins his slippers once, but certainly did not stick around to do it twice!) She did possess
the self-awareness to see her predicament, but I suspect the rest of her life hinged on the
survival skills she learned long before she met our Professor Higgins!
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