My first point is that the book is actually a play. This story was made to be acted at the theatre, where the epilogue at the end of the book would not be able to be read, nor acted, as it has not script written in the book, although the director could improvise. This epilogue could not be acted in a film version (and wasn’t) either, unless it was improvised by the director. This leaves the audience with a feeling that the play has more loose ends than an Afghan rug and that nothing was cleared up at the end of the play.
Another point is that Professor Higgins never made his feelings known to any of the characters, and not even the audience. He never showed how he truly felt for Eliza, and if he wanted to marry her out of true feelings of love, or just as a trophy wife, or possibly because he felt challenged after being threatened by Eliza – “I’ll advertise it in the papers that your duchess is only a flower girl that you taught, and that she’ll teach anyone to be a duchess just the same in six months for a thousand guineas.” Higgins reaction to this threat clearly shows that he now feels intimidated by Eliza, or more possibly, because she is a woman. Not even at the end of the play did he truly express his feelings. Not to Eliza, not to himself, not to anyone. Some viewers may have wanted to see Higgins have a sensitive part in the play, rather than just a harsh, rude character.
Although, some may class this as a happy ending after all. She still talked to Higgins and the other characters, she got married to Freddy and she opened her flower shop. However, most of these ‘happy ending’ points were explained in the epilogue, which I have already labelled as pointless for a play.
Now for my actual criticisms of the epilogue. While I stand by my original opinion that the epilogue is pointless for a play, even if it could be shown at the theatre it is still very vague, dull, and concentrates on Eliza. It doesn’t explain Professor Higgins true motives or feelings, it doesn’t mention Pickering much, and it is overall very spanned out. It may be vague, but it can be cleared up a lot more with a simple page of writing, much like at the end of “Treasure Iharacters and tells youꔀ쀆됇됀耀㈀0ကᤀ搀ᤀﰀ
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Ȁዿༀ倀礀最洀愀氀椀漀渀 䔀猀猀愀礀ఀ䌀栀爀椀猀 倀椀渀搀攀爀ఀ䌀栀爀椀猀 倀椀渀搀攀爀 Still, this would only work for people reading the play, rather than watching it being performed.
This is why I think that this play has a bad ending. The points clearly show how the ending of the play is not satisfactory for a book or a play, unless you like those sorts of endings. The epilogue is vague for the readers, and not possible for the audience. The actual play ending is very bad, and other, happier endings could have been made such as Higgins’ true feelings finally being expressed.
