Character Analysis of Henry Higgins

 

Henry Higgins is one of the central characters of Pygmalion. He is a brilliant professor of phonetics who has deep knowledge of speech and language. Higgins believes that a person’s accent decides their social position, and he takes pride in his scientific skill of changing speech. His intelligence and confidence drive the main action of the play.

Higgins is arrogant and self-centred. He treats people as objects for experiment rather than as human beings with feelings. This is clearly seen in the way he treats Eliza Doolittle. He accepts her not out of kindness but to prove his ability. To him, Eliza is a “project” and not a person. He often insults her, makes fun of her accent, and shows little sympathy for her struggles.

At the same time, Higgins is honest and straightforward. He does not pretend to be polite or caring when he is not. He treats everyone—rich or poor—in the same rude manner. In his own way, he believes this makes him fair. Unlike others, he does not judge people by their background but by their speech and behaviour.

Higgins is highly dedicated to his work. He spends months training Eliza and succeeds in transforming her speech so perfectly that she passes as a duchess at the ambassador’s party. This proves his professional excellence. However, once the experiment is over, he quickly loses interest, showing his emotional immaturity.

One of Higgins’ major weaknesses is his lack of emotional understanding. He fails to see that Eliza has developed self-respect and needs dignity, not instructions. When she rebels, Higgins is confused because he cannot understand emotions as well as he understands phonetics.

By the end of the play, Higgins remains largely unchanged. However, he begins to admire Eliza’s independence and courage. Through Higgins, Shaw criticises the arrogance of intellectual superiority and shows that knowledge without empathy can be harmful.

“Henry Higgins represents intellectual brilliance without emotional maturity, showing that knowledge alone cannot replace human sensitivity.”