Henry Higgins - 1403 Words

Henry Higgins Higgins is an extremely interesting character and the life of the play. Although the plays obvious concern is the metamorphosis of a common flower girl into a duchess, the development of Higgins character is also important. The play isnt only Elizas story. One also detects changes in Higgins or to be more precise he appears to the reader in a new light at the end. This is seen when he tells Eliza that he has grown accustomed to seeing her face and hearing her voice. This is not much of a sensitive display of emotions but it is quite different than the savage invective he hurled at her at the beginning of the play in Covent Garden. Higgins is portrayed as being highly educated. Apart from being a professor of†¦show more content†¦At a certain level Higgins is an overgrown child. Shaw wrote in his stage directions that Higgins is, but for his years and size, rather like an impetuous baby taking notice eagerly and loudly, and requiring almost as much watching to keep him out of unintended mischief. His manner varies from genial bullying when he is in a good humor to stormy petulance when anything goes wrong, but he is so entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments. This trait of impetuous childishness in an otherwise extremely articulate and learned adult lends complexity to his characterization. This interpretation is confirmed by Higgins himself when he defends himself against the imagined notions held by Mrs. Pearce. He tells Colonel Pickering, Here I am, a shy, diffident sort of man. Ive never been able to feel really grown-up and tremendous, like other chaps. And yet shes firmly persuaded that Im an arbitrary overbearing bossing kind of person. I cant account for it. His blindness to his faults serves to endear the audience to him despite him being an egoist and a bully. It is important to note Higginss lack of interest in women. In Act Three, Higginss conversation with his mother regarding Elizas society appearance gradually turns to the topic of young women and his antipathy towards them. Higgins dismisses the idea of any romantic association with a faint contempt for the fairer sex and dismisses them asShow MoreRelated The Character of Henry Higgins in Pygmalion Essay1562 Words   |  7 Pagescharacters are usually seen as mere puppets propelled by the crisis of the plot or as mouthpieces for his socialist viewpoint. However in Pygmalion,, Shaw vindicates himself of these charges by the creation of rounded and life-like characters such as Higgins and Eliza. Clearly they are not authorial stooges. They have a peculiar quality that leaves a lasting imprint on the readers memory. But there is some truth in the charge that Shaw created a mouthpiece for his own ideas and the character of AlfredRead MoreThe Misogynistic Henry Higgins1990 Words   |  8 PagesThe Misogynistic Henry Higgins The key to understanding George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion lies in understanding the power struggle between the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots† – specifically the active and intentional disenfranchisement of women at the turn of the 20th century. At the core of Pygmalion there is a focus on the societal inequities of the day, with Shaw presenting society’s treatment of women as property without rights and with little understanding of their surroundings or place in society.Read MoreCharacterisation of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins in Shaws Pygmalion1730 Words   |  7 PagesPygmalion is written by dramatist, playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw in the year 1912 and was first published in the year 1913. 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At the heart of these aspects are Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, a relationship that Shaw depicts as a romance. Shaws clever use of phonetics ephasises the broad cockney accent which suggests that Eliza is lower class. The audience give her their sympathies specifically because ofRead More Pygmalion Essay1651 Words   |  7 Pagescomes across a rude Professor, named Henry Higgins, he sarcastically offers her to â€Å"learn how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florist’s shop†¦..at the end of six months you shall go to Buckingham palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed.† This is what he proposes to Eliza when she comes to ask for English lessons from the Professor. He then makes a bet with another man, Colonel Pickering, who says he will pay for her new clothes and English lessons, if Higgins can make a lady out of her in six