Alfred
Doolittle has no interest in becoming middle-class. In fact, after Higgins writes a letter
praising him, which earns him a stipend of four thousand pounds a year (a large income in 1913
England) from the American philanthropist Ezra D. Wannafeller, Doolittle is unhappy. His life,
he complains, has become a misery. First, he is now expected to live by the restrictions of
middle-class morality, such as marrying his partner. Second, people are now constantly after him
for money. His relatives, formerly content to ignore him, are now circling around him, and
doctors are suddenly worried about his health. He feels beset upon and mourns his freer, more
anonymous existence as a poor man at liberty to drink and enjoy life on his own terms.
Eliza is much more aspirational than her father and sees the value of trying to climb
into the middle class. When Higgins brags that he could pass her off as lady by changing her
accent, she finds her way to his home, determined to pay him for elocution lessons. She puts up
with his verbal abuse and insulting behavior and works hard to improve herself because of her
goal of becoming a lady.
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