Pygmalion / Characters

Characters in George Bernard Shaw's classic play Pygmalion.

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza

Flower girl, wants to own a flower shop and so tries to improve her English with Higgins's help.

Arranged Marriage: After learning this is what happens to the upper class, Eliza regrets her decision.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Eliza is every bit as kind as she is pretty, unless you piss her off.
If I Were a Rich Man: Eliza not only has this fantasy, she tries to live it. Unfortunately being rich is not as good as it sounds, and it takes her a lot of effort.
Lessons in Sophistication: Eliza undergoes this as part of her rigorous training to become a member of the elite.
Rags to Riches: Her original plan.
Sophisticated as Hell: She takes diction lessons to improve her speech, but it takes a while before her social etiquette catches up.

Henry Higgins

Professor of linguistics, helps Eliza become a lady.

Absentminded Professor: He relies heavily on Mrs. Pearce and later Eliza to keep his affairs in order.
Alliterative Name: Henry Higgins.
Ambition Is Evil: Downplayed. While trying to achieve his aim of getting people to notice him and winning his bet with Pickering, he doesn't care about Eliza at all.
Big Fancy House: Has one of these.
Deadpan Snarker: Gets a few good jabs at Eliza.
Hypocrite: As his mother, Mrs. Pearce, and, at the end, Eliza point out to him. For all of his effort to turn Eliza into a lady, he has fairly poor manners for a gentleman himself.
It Amused Me: Inverted. The fancy ball Higgins attends to win his bet is this to him. It turns out so is everything, all his exploits, Eliza's hard work.
It's All About Me: As he says near the end: "I won the bet!"
Manchild: A pouty and childish individual who believes in only one person: himself.
Never My Fault: His pride makes it nigh-impossible for him to accept blame.
No Social Skills: Doesn't know how to communicate with anyone, and doesn't even WANT to even do so.
The Sociopath: Higgins shows shades of this.
What Have You Done for Me Lately?: Higgins asks Eliza this question as part of his selfish nature. Eliza naturally doesn't take it so well.

Sarcastic Bystander

A sarcastic bystander who witnesses the opening standoff between Eliza and Higgins.

Deadpan Snarker: In the one scene he is in, he distinguishes himself from the crowd with this.
Sarcasm Mode: It's in the name.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After that one scene, he disappears with the rest of the crowd and is never mentioned. Justified as he is just there purely for show and comedy.

Mrs. and Miss Eynsford-Hill

A mother and daughter who are initially part of the wealthy elite but lose some status along the way.

Asshole Victim: It's hard to feel sorry for Clara when her family becomes poor at the end. Her mother, on the other hand, averts this trope.
Fake Aristocrat: Used to be real aristocrats, but they lost quite a bit of money and became this.
Impoverished Patrician: Became this at the end of the novel.
Laser-Guided Karma: Clara didn't like hanging out with the poor, and became one herself by the end of the book.
Rich Bitch: The daughter definitely counts as one, as she didn't want to associate herself with the lower class.
Riches to Rags: Lost a huge part of their fortune and became lower class. Kind of the opposite of Eliza's journey.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The third act reveals they have become poor. After that, they are never seen again.

Freddy Eynsford-Hill

The earnest, if a bit cloud-headed, son of the Eynsford-Hill family.

Cloudcuckoolander: Has a quirky fascination with Eliza’s newfound manner of speaking.
Dogged Nice Guy: Writes Eliza more than daily.
Generic Guy: Doesn’t get a whole lot of characterization.
Maybe Ever After: With Eliza, depending on if you subscribe to Shaw’s original intent or the succeeding adaptations.
Only Sane Man: At times, to his family. At others, less so.
Upper-Class Twit: Has shades of this.