What are some examples of humor in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion?

's  contains many
examples of humor; the play lampoons the rigid British class system of the Victorian
era.

Because this play satirizes the types that the characters represent, the
personage of Professor Henry Higgins is that of the intellectual who is impatient with society
and prone to sarcasm. When Colonel Pickering proposes a wager that he can teach the flower girl
they encounter to speak so well that she will fool the upper class at the ambassador's garden
party, Higgins looks at Liza and is tempted. 

This dialogue between Higgins
and Pickering in act 2 demonstrates sarcasm:

HIGGINS
[tempted, looking at her] It's almost irresistible! She's so deliciously
lowso horribly dirty
LIZA [protesting extremely] . . . I ain't
dirty: I washed my face and hands afore I come, I did.
PICKERING You're certainly not
going to turn her head with flattery, Higgins.

Professor
Higgins grows excited at the prospect of molding "a guttersnipe" into a fake
"duchess." He tells Mrs. Pearce, his housekeeper, to take Liza away and "clean
her." He also instructs Mrs. Pearce to burn Liza's clothes. Then he instructs Mrs. Pearce
to call his servants and have them procure new clothes. In the meantime, he dismissively
suggests that Mrs. Pearce simply "[Wrap] her up in brown paper" until these clothes
arrive.

Further, Shaw satirizes the upper-class snobbery when Pickering asks
Higgins if it has ever occurred to him that "the girl has some feelings."

HIGGINS [looking critically at her] Oh no, I
don't think so. Not any feelings that we need bother about. [Cheerily] Have
you, Eliza?

Ironic humor is also part of Shaw's , and, in
act 3, there is thiswhen Shaw ridicules the falseness of the upper class when Higgins has Liza
come to his mother's house where she has invited some guests. The guests are impressed with the
loveliness of Liza, who poses as Miss Doolittle. The conversation goes well until Mrs. Eynsford
Hill brings up the subject of influenza, and Liza comments that her aunt died of influenza.
However, Liza, who falls back into her own , adds that she thinks those with whom her aunt lived
were responsible for "doing her in" because this same aunt had survived
diphtheria.

When Mrs. Hill asks what "doing her in" means, Higgins
quickly "explains" that this is the "new small talk" for killing her. Liza
continues to speak in her real dialect, elaborating upon her aunt's death. She explains the
relationship her uncle had with her aunt, saying his conscience always bothered him while he was
sober, but if he had "a drop of booze," he became happy. Unfortunately, when his wife
came down with influenza, he kept "ladling gin down her [the aunt's] throat until the poor
woman sat up, bit the spoon, and died." Among her listeners is Freddy Eynsford Hill, the
son of the lady to whom Liza speaks. He is delighted, believing that she is
conversing figuratively and colorfully.

FREDDY The new
small talk. You do it so awfully well.

Professor Higgins
clears his throat nervously as he rises from his chair, and Liza quickly glances at him and
understands.

LISA Well I must go. So pleased to have met
you. Goodbye.
FREDDY. [opening the door for her] Are you walking
across the Park, Miss Doolittle? If so
LIZA Not bloody likely. . . . I am going in a
taxi.
MRS. EYNSFORD HILL (After the door closes.) Well, I really can't get used to the
new ways.