Professor Henry Higgins Higgins is a forty-year-old bachelor who specializes in phonetics and who is an acclaimed authority on the subject of dialects, accents, and phonetics.

Eliza Doolittle She is an uneducated, uncouth “guttersnipe,” the flower girl whom Higgins (for a dare) decides to mold into a duchess. She is probably twenty years younger than Higgins.

Alfred Doolittle Eliza’s father; he is a dustman with a sonorous voice and a Welsh accent, who proudly believes in his position as a member of the “undeserving poor.”

Colonel Pickering A distinguished retired officer and the author of Spoken Sanskrit. He has come to England to meet the famous Professor Henry Higgins. He is courteous and polite to Eliza, and he shares in Higgins’ experiments in phonetics in teaching Eliza to speak as a duchess.

Mrs. Higgins Henry Higgins’ mother, who thoroughly loves her son but also thoroughly disapproves of his manners, his language, and his social behavior.

Mrs. Eynsford-Hill A lady of the upper-middle class who is in a rather impoverished condition but is still clinging to her gentility.

Clara Eynsford-Hill Her daughter; she tries to act the role of the modem, advanced young person.

Freddy Eynsford-Hill Her son; he is a pleasant young man who is enchanted by Eliza upon first meeting her.

Mrs. Pearce Professor Higgins’ housekeeper of long standing. She is the one who first sees the difficulty of what is to happen to Eliza after Higgins and Pickering have finished their experiment with her.