Colonel Pickering is a considerate, genuine gentleman, and he treats a flower girl like a duchess. He shares Higgins' obsession with phonetics, but is not as careless and boorish as Higgins. In the play, he serves as a foil to Higgins. When the two engage in the experiment with Eliza Doolittle, it is Pickering who has the most impact on her. By being kind and thoughtful, he eventually is able to teach Eliza the value of respecting herself.
