In Act 1, when speaking to a crying Eliza, Mr. Higgins uses hyperbole to communicate the extent of his distaste for her and the way that she communicates. His language in this scene oscillates between grand bragging and violent tirades against others, particularly Eliza. The conflict between them sets the stage for their relationship to follow, and the early characterization of their relationship is an important part of the play’s first scene. Eliza is wailing at his feet; she is distressed because she thinks he is a police officer who has been writing down her conversation with Pickering. Higgins is very dismissive of her. He says:
A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere—no right to live.
Higgins’s remarks are extreme, and give the audience a strong sense of his character. The combination of his overblown intellectual elitism and his disdain for the keening young woman characterize him as a man whose perceptions of the world are informed by both sexism and classism. His hyperbole in this scene, in which he tells Eliza that she might as well be dead, is extreme enough to be memorable throughout their relationship. He resorts to violent language in order to communicate the extent of his disgust for her, saying things that surpass the literal and move into the hyperbolic. His speech therefore sets the stage for his continued condescension and hypocrisy, which will plague his relationship with Eliza throughout the play, even after she becomes well-mannered and gains the ability to pass as upper class.
