He even maintains that he could take this 'ragamuffin' of a flower girl and teach her to talk like a duchess in three months. His hobby is identifying everyone's accent and place of birth. The note taker, it turns out, is Professor Henry Higgins, an expert in phonetics. When the flower girl (Eliza) loudly proclaims that 'I am a good girl, I am,' the bystanders begin to protest. Members of the crowd warn the girl against taking the money because there is a man behind her taking notes of everything she says. This gentleman, Colonel Pickering, refuses to buy the flowers, but he gives the girl some money. After he is gone, the mother is interested in how such a 'low' creature could know her son's name she discovers that the flower girl calls everyone either 'Freddy' or 'Charlie.' When an elderly gentleman comes into the shelter, the flower girl notes his distinguished appearance and tries to coax him to buy some flowers. As he leaves, he collides with a young flower girl with a thick Cockney accent, and he ruins many of her flowers.

When he returns in failure, he is again sent in search of a cab. Eynsford-Hill and her daughter, Clara, who are waiting for the son, Freddy, to return with a cab. Paul's Church for protection from the rain. Thus, while an inconsiderate character-and often a misogynist-Higgins at least sees through the hypocrisy and fallacies of the Victorian social hierarchy, and relishes the opportunity to beat high society at its own game by making Eliza pass as a lady.On a summer evening in London's Covent Garden, a group of assorted people are gathered together under the portico of St. As he tells Eliza in Act Five, he treats everyone the same (that is, rudely) regardless of social class.

He is impatient with class hierarchy and the Victorian obsession with manners. Higgins is rude not only to Eliza, but generally to everyone he meets. He views Eliza, for example, as an experiment and a 'phonetic job.' He doesn't so much invite Eliza to stay with him and learn to speak like a lady, but rather orders her to. Instead, he sees people mainly as subjects of study. Higgins is so focused on his academic interest that he lacks empathy and fails to consider other people's feelings or concerns. He first appears in Act One as the suspicious man in the back of the crowd jotting down notes on everyone's manner of speech.

Higgins is a brilliant linguist, who studies phonetics and documents different dialects and ways of speaking.

Pygmalion play