Back to: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Professor by trade, Higgins is a man of many talents. He is a writer, scholar, and a speech therapist. His acumen is highlighted by his books and the work he has done with some famous personalities.
He is a teacher of linguistics and phonetics and likes to observe how people talk and behave with each other. He strikes a close relationship with Pickering, the only one he shows respect
Even though he is intelligent and skilled at his work, he lacks basic social skills of respect and softness. He is rude and treats others as inferior. He is disrespectful to others and treats them as things.
He uses them for his own purpose and whim and then discards them as objects. He is also skeptical about people’s motives and inattentions. He finds people to be hypocrites and selfish and devoid of any true compassion or empathy.
He is also very cynical about social hierarchy and their traditions and conservative attitude. He rejects their morals and values and mocks them by grooming Eliza to become a part of them.
However, he does not feel any compassion or affection toward even though he suffers from an emotional outburst when Eliza returns his gift (ring).
