Henry Higgins is a professor in phonetics and is the author of Higgins' Universal Alphabet and in his mind has a simple understanding of all languages around the world.  He is a very unconventional man and is obviously very impatient with upper society.  He is sometimes rude and does not always think about how he is treating a person.  He can be quite a bully at times as well.  Deep down inside, Professor Henry Higgins is a man with a big heart.  He just does not make it available to many people because he lacks trust in people.