After ignoring Eliza and all her efforts to help Higgins win the bet at the Embassy Ball, Higgins tries to part from Eliza to go to bed by asking her to turn off the lights and to tell Mrs. Pearce that he would like tea in the morning – Higgins parts from Eliza when she is going to her father’s wedding by asking her to buy him food and accessories for his suit. Eliza ignored Higgins’s wishes the first time, and it is likely that she will do it once more. In Act 4, Eliza is absolutely fed up with Higgins’s and Pickering’s improper treatment and begins to act rashly as seen when she has a tantrum on the floor and throws Higgins’s slippers at him. Not only does she begin to think less of her actions, but also her words- Eliza says “them slippers” instead of “those slippers”, which shows that she is not thinking carefully of the words coming out of her mouth. If she cannot watch her grammar when her emotions are getting the best of her, she most likely is not thinking about the words she is saying to Higgins. Everything she said to him that night in Act 4 is an exaggeration of what she feels and it is her attempt to hurt Higgins the way he hurt her. She does not think thoroughly about her diction and actions; after her argument with Higgins’s, she tries to commit suicide, but resorts to running away to Mrs.Higgins’s home instead. Her intense and rash actions and word choices prove that she may actually leave Higgins because she is running mostly on emotion and not rational thought, although rational thought would still tell Eliza to get away from Higgins. If she could run away from Higgins once, she could do it again.
Another thing to note is that Eliza is very confident in knowing how she should be treated – she knows that the way Higgins treats her and others is very improper, and she is not afraid to call him out on it. She does not tolerate his bad manners, and Freddy encompasses all that is good for her because he is the living version of all her ideals of good manners and sophistication. In Act 5, Eliza emphasizes how much she appreciated Pickering’s view on her as a duchess and not just a flower girl- Higgins’s still sees Eliza as a simple flower girl and that is exactly what she does not want. Both Pickering and Freddy view and treat Eliza the way she desires, and that is something Higgins cannot offer her. Her confidence in knowing what she wants is also noted by Higgins, who actually begins to admire her more when she stands up to him. Her confidence is what drove her away from Higgins, and that is what will drive her away at the end of Act 5. Although Higgins could offer her the independence she wanted, Eliza wants the fairytale ending even though it means that she would have to give up her independence of rash actions and give in to wifely duties. She appreciates being treated the way she wants to be, and she is willing to give up part of herself for that- she signed up for that when she came to Higgins for lessons in the first place. She is ready to leave Higgins and have the life she wanted. Also to note, when Eliza first arrives at Higgins's home and he treats her poorly, she threatens to leave but Higgins tempts her with chocolates and persuades her to stay with delights. Eliza did not know her worth at this time because she still believed that she is just a flower girl, but at the end of Act 4, she knows that she is not just a flower girl, but a woman of worth. When she knew this, it gave her the power needed to walk away from Higgins. With this power, she is capable of walking away again.
I think Shaw left the ending for the audience to interpret as they wished because the entire play is thought provoking and he wanted us to connect the dots for ourselves. He wants us to appreciate his writing techniques of character development to determine the ending- using the characters previous actions and dialogue, thoughts, and morals give clues on how the ending will be.
Another thing to note is that Eliza is very confident in knowing how she should be treated – she knows that the way Higgins treats her and others is very improper, and she is not afraid to call him out on it. She does not tolerate his bad manners, and Freddy encompasses all that is good for her because he is the living version of all her ideals of good manners and sophistication. In Act 5, Eliza emphasizes how much she appreciated Pickering’s view on her as a duchess and not just a flower girl- Higgins’s still sees Eliza as a simple flower girl and that is exactly what she does not want. Both Pickering and Freddy view and treat Eliza the way she desires, and that is something Higgins cannot offer her. Her confidence in knowing what she wants is also noted by Higgins, who actually begins to admire her more when she stands up to him. Her confidence is what drove her away from Higgins, and that is what will drive her away at the end of Act 5. Although Higgins could offer her the independence she wanted, Eliza wants the fairytale ending even though it means that she would have to give up her independence of rash actions and give in to wifely duties. She appreciates being treated the way she wants to be, and she is willing to give up part of herself for that- she signed up for that when she came to Higgins for lessons in the first place. She is ready to leave Higgins and have the life she wanted. Also to note, when Eliza first arrives at Higgins's home and he treats her poorly, she threatens to leave but Higgins tempts her with chocolates and persuades her to stay with delights. Eliza did not know her worth at this time because she still believed that she is just a flower girl, but at the end of Act 4, she knows that she is not just a flower girl, but a woman of worth. When she knew this, it gave her the power needed to walk away from Higgins. With this power, she is capable of walking away again.
I think Shaw left the ending for the audience to interpret as they wished because the entire play is thought provoking and he wanted us to connect the dots for ourselves. He wants us to appreciate his writing techniques of character development to determine the ending- using the characters previous actions and dialogue, thoughts, and morals give clues on how the ending will be.