AIC Flashcards
(stage directions)
how the furniture looks
- (substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike) 1.1
stage directions
lighting
- (The lighting should be pink and intimate until the INSPECTOR arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder) 1.1
stage directions
birling
- (portentous…rather provincial in his speech.)
stage directons
mrs birling
- (a rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior)
stage directions
gerald
- (easy well-bred young man-about-town)
stage directions
eric
- (not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive.)
how stage directions describe the family and Gerald at the start of the play
- (pleased with themselves.)
1.2
B trying to suck up to G, he wants him to marry S
3
B - “You ought to like this port, Gerald. As a matter of fact, Finchley told me it’s exactly the same port your father gets from him.”
G - “I don’t pretend to now much about it.”
S - “you don’t know all about port”
Birling praising cook. SB saying nah
- B – “Good dinner too, Sybil. Tell cook from me.” – 1.2
- SB – “(reproachfully) Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things-” – 1.2
SB patriarchal
married, men business work
- SB – “When you’re married you’ll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that just as I had.” – 1.3
what S describes E as when he (suddenly guffaws)
- S - “squiffy” – 1.3
B doesn’t give a shit abt engagement, just wants to work w/ Crofts
- B – “perhaps we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together – for lower costs and higher prices.” -1.4
Gerald controls Sheila. even controls what ring she should have
“is it the one you wanted me to have?” - S 1.5
Sheila childlike at start
2
- S – “Look – Mummy – isn’t it a beauty?” – 1.5
- S – “I’m sorry, Daddy. Actually I was listening.” – 1.6
what B describes himself as
- B – “hard-headed business man,” - 1.6
Birling dramatic irony
when G and S marry in the future
- B – “When you marry, you’ll be marrying at a very good time.” – 1.6
Eric asks abt war. B shuts him down
- E – “What about war?” – 1.6
- B – “fiddlesticks!” – 1.6
- B – “there isn’t a chance of war.” – 1.6
Birling. d.i. titanic
- B – “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” – 1.7
B hatred for Russia
peace, progress
- B - “There’ll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere – except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally.” – 1.7 – expresses his distaste for Communism
B’s hatred for socialist sympathisers
- B – “We can’t let these Bernard Shaws and H. G. Wellses do all the talking.” – 1.7
B 1.8
why B wants a knighthood so bad
- B – “Lady Croft … feels you might have done better for yourself socially-” – 1.8
G 1.8
G abt Birling family.
d.i.
- G – “(laughs) You seem to be a nice well-behaved family-” – 1.8
what Birling thinks clothes are to women
- B – “a sort of sign or token of their self-respect.” – 1.9
B’s capitalistic views
look after + family
- B – “a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his family too, of course, when he has one” – 1.9
what he calls socialists
- B – “cranks” – 1.10
what B compares socialism to
- B – “bees in a hive” – 1.10
stage directions
inspector
3 parts
he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.) – 1.11
1.11, 1.16
B trying to intimidate I
2
- B – “You’re new, aren’t you?” – 1.11
- B - “How do you get on with our Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts?” – 1.16
Inspector immediately startles Birling family with suicide thing
3 parts
- I – “Two hours ago a young woman died in the Infirmary. She’d been taken there this afternoon because she’d swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course.” 1.11
B doesn’t give a f*** bout Eva’s suicide
- B - “(rather impatiently) Yes, yes. Horrid business.” - 1.12 –
B 1.14
B’s views of his responsibilty in Eva’s suicide
2
rhetorical q - shows his diminishing power - asking I for validation
- B – “Still, I can’t accept any responsibility.” – 1.14
- B – “If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?” – 1.14
B not assertive anymore after I arrived
Eric, B
- E - “By Jove, yes. And as you were saying, Dad, a man has to look after himself-” – 1.14
- B - “Yes, well, we needn’t go into all that.” – 1.14
what B believes his duty was and why he was justified
- B – “it’s my duty to keep labour costs down,” – 1.15
E opposes B on sacking Eva
- E – “He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out.” – 1.15
I schools B about topic of punishment
Earth
- B – “Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth.” – 1.15
- I – “better to ask for the earth than to take it.” – 1.15
Inspector being cold again. doesn’t fall for B’s attempts to scare him initially
I - (dryly) “I don’t play golf.” - 1.16
B lecturing E on responsibility. Ironic as he can’t accept responsibility
- B - “It’s about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities.” – 1.16
Eric is educated at an expensive university unlike his father who made it out the trenches. B blames the school system instead of taking responsibility for being a bad parent.
- B - “That’s something this public-school-and-Varsity life you’ve had doesn’t seem to teach you.” – 1.16
B’s bad stigma of lower-class women.
- B - “Have you any idea what happened to her after that? Get into trouble? Go on the streets?” – 1.16 –
S 1.16
Sheila chidlike
SB sent her to fetch the others to the drawing-room
- S – “Mummy sent me in” – 1.16
Sheila’s 1st reaction when hearing of Eva Smith
- S – “Pretty?” – 1.18
S first opposes B on topic of sacking Eva
- S – “But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.” – 1.19
B 1.21
B belittling S. not in front of her this time tho (to Inspector). shows he truly believes this
- B – “(angrily) Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?” – 1.21
stage directions 1.21
B losing power over I
retort when dipping to comfort S after she got shown photo of Eva
- B – (BIRLING looks as if about to make some retort, then thinks better of it, and goes out, closing the door sharply behind him.) – 1.21
inspector being cold. wants to get investigation done asap.
- I – “if you’re easy with me, I’m easy with you.” – 1.22
S beginning to take responsibility
2
she felt bad before, now she feels..
- S – “I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse.” – 1.23
- S – “(miserably) So I’m really responsible?” – 1.23
why S sacked Eva
- S – “She was the right type for it, just as I was the wrong type.” – 1.23
S jealous and prejudiced. She isn’t mindful of her actions
2 parts
- S – “How could I know what would happen to her afterwards? If she’d been some miserable plain creature, I don’t suppose I’d have done it.” – 1.24
S 1.26
S sucking I’s dick
after G has just told her he’s involved but is gonna hyde it from Inspector
- S – “(laughs rather hysterically) Why – you fool – he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see.” – 1.26
2.27/28
G presents himself as a protector of women. Priestley highlights how women are treated as if they can’t exist independently
2
(inspector, gerald) unpleasant, disturbing
- I – “And you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?” – 2.27
- G – “If possible – yes.” – 2.28
what G thinks of S. destroys their relationship.
- G – “(bitterly) I see.” – 2.28
- G – “You’ve been through it – and now you want to see somebody else put through it.” – 2.28
I on sharing responsibility and guilt
- I – “(sternly to them both) You see, we have to share something. If there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt.” – 2.29
S sucking I’s cock. she has been affected greatly by him
- S – “(staring at him) Yes. That’s true. You know. (She goes close to him, wonderingly.) I don’t understand about you.” – 2.29