Notes

The attitude that Henry Higgins holds towards women is one of contempt as he finds them to be burdensome and rebuffs the idea of creating friendships with the opposite sex. Based on his past experiences, Higgins spurns companionship with women as he finds that once he's let "a woman make friends with [him], she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance," and he, in turn, becomes a man whom he is ashamed of. He describes women with derogatory insults, demonstrating his disdain towards the opposite sex, and feels that women and men bring out the worst in one another. Higgins firmly believes that women and men are not compatible and are incapable of building friendships, as a "woman wants to live her own life; and the man wants to live his... wrong track." He knows that women and men have different paths they want to pursue in life and that, oftentimes, their aspirations contradict one another and lead to disagreeable compromises if they wish to keep their friendship. He uses negative connotations while explaining this, such as "dragging" them and "wrong track," to show how he feels that not only are women and men unsatisfied with their obligatory agreement, but that the process to reach said consensus is an forceful one that leaves neither of them satisfied. Higgins regards the women that he works with as "blocks of wood," demonstrating his indifference towards them regardless of their beauty. He purposefully builds a distance between himself and his pupils, focusing strictly on business and ensuring that he does not grow close to any woman he teaches. His cynical regard towards women and how they affect men causes him be firmly against the idea of growing close to females, hence his blunt and often rude attitude towards them. Henry Higgins is a man with a pessimistic regard towards women as he finds them to be troublesome and opposes forming friendships with them.