Pygmalion Major Character Profiles Professor Henry Higgins Professor of phonetics Plays Pygmalion to Eliza Doolittles Galatea Reduces people and their dialects into what he sees as readily understandable ID: 271834
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "George Bernard Shaw’s" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
George Bernard Shaw’sPygmalion
Major Character ProfilesSlide2Slide3
Professor Henry HigginsSlide4
Professor of phoneticsPlays Pygmalion to Eliza Doolittle's
GalateaReduces people and their dialects into what he sees as readily understandable unitsUnconventional man; goes in the opposite direction from the rest of society in most mattersSlide5
Impatient with high society, forgetful in his public graces, and poorly considerate of normal social niceties
At heart a good and harmless man; his biggest fault is that he can be a bullySlide6
Eliza DoolittleSlide7
Defies conventional notions of the romantic heroine
Sassy, smart-mouthed kerbstone flower girl with deplorable EnglishTransformed by Higgings into
a (still sassy) regal figure fit to consort with nobilitySlide8
The real (re-)making of Eliza happens after the ambassador's party, when she decides to make a statement for her own dignity against Higgins' insensitive
treatmentShe then becomes, not a duchess, but an independent woman. Higgins begins to see Eliza not as a mill around his neck but as a creature worthy of his admiration.Slide9
Colonel PickeringSlide10
Author of Spoken Sanskrit
A match for Higgins (although somewhat less obsessive) in his passion for phoneticsAlways considerate and a genuine
gentleman; a
civilized foil to Higgins' barefoot,
absent-minded
crazy professor.
Helps
in the Eliza Doolittle experiment by making a wager of
it;
he will cover the costs of the experiment if Higgins does indeed make a convincing duchess of
her
While
Higgins only manages to teach Eliza pronunciations, it is Pickering's thoughtful treatment towards Eliza that teaches her to respect
herselfSlide11
Alfred DoolittleSlide12
Eliza's father
Elderly but vigorous dustman who has had at least six wives and who "seems equally free from fear and conscience”Tries to profit off of Eliza’s presence with Higgins
An
unembarrassed,
unhypocritical
advocate of drink and pleasure at other people's
expense; amusing
to
HigginsSlide13
Through Higgins' joking recommendation, Alfred becomes a richly endowed lecturer to a moral reform
societyTransforms from lowly dustman to a picture of middle class morality; he becomes miserable
A
scoundrel,
but one of the few unaffected characters in the play, unmasked by appearance or
language
Though
scandalous, his speeches are
honest Slide14
Mrs. HigginsSlide15
Professor Higgins' mother
A stately lady in her sixties who sees the Eliza Doolittle experiment as idiocy, and Higgins and Pickering as senseless childrenHas serious concerns about the Eliza
experiment
Characters turn to her when the experiment encounters problems
Because
no woman can match up to his mother, Higgins claims, he has no interest in
them
She
completely understands all of Higgins
failings
and inadequacies; this is a good contrast to the mythic proportions to which Higgins portrays himself
as
a scientist of phonetics and a creator of
duchessesSlide16
Freddy Eynsford HillSlide17
Higgins believes Freddy is a fool
In the opening scene he is a spineless and resourceless lackey to his mother and sister
He
becomes lovesick for Eliza, who still speaks cockney, and courts her with
letters
At
the play's close, Freddy serves as a young, viable marriage option for Eliza, making the possible path she will follow unclear to the
readerSlide18