Explore how Shaw presents the character of Higgins in Pygmalion. Remember to support your answer with relevant textual details.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme. The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. AO1: Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and synthesise relevant textual detail to support exploration and analysis.
2. AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure of texts, and explain how these are used to create meanings and effects.
3. AO4: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which texts were written and received.
4. AO5: Communicate clearly and cogently in writing, using appropriate vocabulary and grammar and accurate spelling and punctuation.
5. Indicative Content (Examiners should reward any valid interpretations):
6. - Candidates should explore how Shaw presents the character of Higgins.
7. - Responses may include exploration of: Higgins’ initial arrogance, intellectual brilliance, and eccentricities; His passion for phonetics and language; His lack of social graces and insensitivity towards others, especially Eliza; His patriarchal attitudes and objectification of Eliza as a scientific experiment; His underlying vulnerability or inability to form conventional emotional connections; His complex relationship with Eliza; His refusal to change or acknowledge his flaws; His symbolic role as a critique of scientific detachment and class prejudice.
8. - Candidates should also consider Shaw’s techniques in presenting Higgins.
9. - For example, candidates may refer to: Language: his witty, often condescending, dialogue, his scientific terminology, his frequent interruptions; Structure: his dominant presence in many scenes, his clashes with other characters, particularly Eliza; Form: his role as a dramatic catalyst, his representation of a certain intellectual type, his function in Shaw’s social critique; Context: Edwardian masculinity, the role of science in society, the 'new woman' challenging male dominance, Shaw’s exploration of unconventional relationships.