Pygmalion Characters

Higgins is what you might call a bundle of contradictions. He's a woman-hating mama's boy; an incredibly talented, educated whiny little baby of a man; a personable misanthrope; a loveable jerk. Th...

From Manic Pixie Flower Girl...Eliza comes very close to being a walking cliché.She's the poor girl from the streets who turns out to be equal parts brilliant and beautiful. She's smart, independe...

Silver Tongued DevilAlfred Doolittle is a smooth-talking garbage man, a serial monogamist (although he's not always really married), a drunk, and a deadbeat dad. He's got a lot to say about "middle...

A Genial Guv'norColonel Pickering is the closest thing Pygmalion has to a father figure. He's a sweet old chap, an expert in Sanskrit, and an all-around nice guy. He and Higgins hit it off right aw...

If You're Good To Mama, Mama's Good To YouMrs. Higgins, Henry Higgins's mother, was once a young, intelligent independent woman with progressive ideas. When we meet her, she's older, but she's no l...

Mrs. Pearce is a housekeeper. She's also, like Pickering and Mrs. Higgins, a voice of reason. In fact, if Pickering is the Eliza's primary father figure, then Mrs. Pearce is her primary mother figu...

We can cover these two women at the same time. They're always together, after all. (You can read more about Clara in the "Character Roles" section.) And they really just represent two stages of wha...

Freddy is the Romantic Interest. In another play, he might have a big part, but in Pygmalion, he barely has a part at all. Shaw's way more interested in linguistics than in love affairs. And, hones...

The Parlor-Maid is Mrs. Higgins's maid/housekeeper. 'Nuff said.

In the first act, there are a number of peripheral characters, some sarcastic, some not, who make comments and move the action along.