The Character of Henry Higgins in Pygmalion Essay -- Character Analysi

Shaw has a good deal been criticized for his inability to create well- developed round timbres. His characters are usually seen as mere puppets propelled by the crisis of the plot or as mouthpieces for his socialist viewpoint. save in Pygmalion,, Shaw vindicates himself of these charges by the creation of rounded and life-like characters such as Higgins and Eliza. clear they are not authorial stooges. They have a peculiar step that leaves a lasting imprint on the readers memory. But there is round truth in the charge that Shaw created a mouthpiece for his own ideas and the character of Alfred Doolittle is a case in point. While Doolittle is undoubtedly a staple comic character, he is an artificial and flat one. Doolittle is there for a mean - he serves Shaws didactic needs. As such he is in the Dickens nervure of exaggeration. Doolittles character is drawn for the sole purpose of ridiculing the Victorian philosophy of the worthless poor. One cannot imagine such a character existing in real life. On the whole, however, Pygmalion is peopled with imaginative and lively characters. While Higgins and Eliza are excellent, even the minor characters are well drawn. Henry Higgins Higgins is an extremely kindle character and the life of the incline. Although the plays obvious concern is the metamorphosis of a viridity 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 a lot precise he appears to the reader in a new frail at the end. This is seen when he tells Eliza that he has grown accustomed to seeing her grammatical case and hearing her voice. This is not ofttimes of a sensitive display of emotions only when it is quite diffe... ...ough the character of Higgins. It is obvious that Higginss manners are not much better than those of the Covent Garden flower girl. In fact Higgins comes off much worse because of the fact that he has had all t he civilizing benefits of wealth and education as yet he is rude to the point of being boorish and ill mannered, is stipulation to frequent inflammatory outbursts, and possesses abominable table manners. The fact that such an ill- mannered person is accepted by society as a human provides Shaw with an opportunity to expose the shallowness and hypocrisy of such a society. Shaw gum olibanum critiques a society that views wealth and the ability to speak correctly as the constitutive criteria of a prescriptive gentleman. It is one of Shaws master ironic strokes to shoot such a rude and boorish egotistical bully the primary(prenominal) agent for transforming a common flower girl into a lady.