Henry Higgins

Higgins is the central character in Shaw’s Pygmalion. He is a professor of Phonetics. He is also

the author of Higgins’ Universal Alphabet. He is a bachelor who lives on Wimpole Street.
Higgins is a very curt in his remarks. In fact, he is very rude to Eliza. He hates people who don’t
speak English properly. He thinks he can close the gap between classes through language. But
Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Higgins tell him that he is wrong. Eliza also makes him understand that
money is important to maintain one’s class and not just language.

Higgins is very attached to his mother. But he does not listen to her when she says that Eliza will
have identity problems after becoming a lady. When Eliza shouts at him for not appreciating her
and for not thinking about her, he feels hurt. He misses Eliza when she is not at home. He also
likes Eliza when she speaks for herself. At the end, even after Eliza marries Freddy, he and
Pickering help them.

Shaw makes a linguist the central character in Pygmalion. Perhaps he thinks that only a linguist
can bring about better changes in society. (195 words)

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza is yet another central character in Shaw’s Pygmalion. She is a flower girl who lives in Angel
Court. She is a low class, dirty young woman who is clever at selling flowers. When Higgins says
that he can make a duchess of her, she decides to learn spoken English. She feels hurt when
Higgins is rude to her. She is very moralistic and says, “I am a good girl, I am.” Eliza always feels
that she should be treated with respect like every other person.

When Higgins makes her live at his place, Eliza begins to act like a lady. She wants to travel only
in a taxi. She almost forgets her past life. But when she understands that without money she
cannot be a lady, she gets angry. She shouts at Higgins for destroying her life. She even throws
his slippers at him.

Eliza is independent. When her sixth stepmother turns her out, she learns to live on her own. At
the end, she marries Freddy. She even tells Higgins that she will not be seeing him again. But
since Freddy and she don’t have money, she depends on Higgins and Pickering for money. She
is Higgins’ creation like Pygmalion’s Galatea. But she has a voice of her own and fights for her
rights. (216 words)