Higgins and Pickering arrogantly carry on their conversation,
“Oh lord! What and evening! What a crew... […and catches sight of the slippers looking at them as if they had appeared their out of their own accord.] Oh! They’re there are they?”
Even though Eliza approached Higgins he still took no notice of her, showing his selfishness. Throughout the play Pickering has always been the gentleman who never forgot his manners. In this particular incident they slipped and he became, what seemed to be, like Higgins.
“Well I feel a bit tired. It’s been a long day. The garden party, the dinner party and the reception! Rather too much of a good thing, but you’ve won you bet Higgins. Eliza did the trick and something to spare. Eh?”
Pickering knowingly speaks over Eliza as if she wasn’t there. This sheer lack of consideration produces sympathy towards Eliza.
“Were you nervous at the garden party? I was. Eliza didn’t seem a bit nervous.”
Again this shows Pickering willingly talking directly over Eliza. Not caring what her feelings and opinions are. However, Higgins was not ignoring her intentionally; he didn’t realize that he was being rude. Slowly Eliza’s temper starts to boil,
“Eliza’s beauty becomes murderous.”
Higgins naively asks where his slippers are,
“What the devil have I done with my slippers?”
Eliza then explodes hurling the slippers at Higgins with all her might. At this moment the reader gets a hint of Higgins unaware state. He genuinely was shocked by this gesture,
[Astounded] “What on earth - ! What’s the matter? Get up. Anything wrong?”
Astounded by Higgins’s unawareness Eliza become more and more aggravated,
“’I’ve won your bet for you, haven’t I?
Higgins replies rather crudely,
“You won my bet! You! Presumptuous insect….”
Even though both Higgins and Eliza had a joint effort in winning the bet, neither can accept it. The reader is torn between sympathizing for Eliza or Higgins. Each has been hurt by one another. Eliza now starts worrying about her future making the reader also worry for her future,
“You thank God it’s all over, and that now you can throw back again there, do you?”
Higgins replies in the exact wrong tone,
“The creature is nervous after all.”
To the reader this seems like a rude and totally unacceptable remark, but for Higgins it was an unintentional mistake not meaning to be offensive. Eliza loses all self control and reacts violently,
“[Darts her nails at his face]”
The reader probably thinks that is justified, frowning upon Higgins for driving Eliza to such drastic measures. Crushed by his superior weight she starts to question her future,
“What’s to become of me? What’s to become of me?”
The short sentences show Eliza is truly distressed and petrified of what’s to become of her. The reader finally has sympathy for Higgins,
“Why have you begun going on like this? May I ask if you complain of your treatment here?”
This shows that he genuinely doesn’t understand why Eliza is in such a state. His remarks and gestures aren’t purposely malice or offensive. The friction between them is caused by unintentional conflict. Higgins then attempts to calm the situation,
“Perhaps you’re tired after the strain of the day. Will you have a glass of champagne?”
Eliza collects herself remembering her manners. She soon goes into another hysterical fit, unable to keep her emotions under control. She exclaims,
“What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to do? What’s to become of me?”
Her short sharp sentences show her desperation and anxiety, making the reader feel sorry for her. Higgins finally realizes her problem,
“So that’s what’s bothering you. I shouldn’t bother about it if I were you.”
The reader has sympathy for Higgins, always unintentionally saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“You go to bed and have a good nice rest and look at yourself in the glass; and you won’t feel so cheap.”
Eliza gets the ‘wrong end of the stick’ and thinks she’s being called a prostitute.
“I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. Now you’ve made a woman out of me I’m not fit to sell anything else.”
You feel sorry for Eliza because she has been transformed into a lady without a social or financial background. Finding a job worthy of her new standards would be tough and with Higgins ‘toying with her’ she emotionally snaps.
“He might want them for the next girl you pick up and experiment on.”
On hearing this comment Higgins loses all sense of self control. For the first time in the play he loses his temper. The reader can now understand that Higgins really did care about Eliza. She was not just ‘another experiment’. He was genuinely hurt.
Act 4 sends the reader’s feelings constantly moving between Eliza and Higgins.