AIC - Mrs Birling Flashcards
opening stage directions
“her husband’s social superior”
controling
inevitable conflict when IG arrives
“now stop it you two”
“I don’t think you ought to talk business on an occassion like this”
used to having her own way and she cant control IG
“A triffle impertinent”
“Peculiar and offensive”
dodges questions / refusal to take responsibility
The middle class’s COMPLACENCY when it came to the law
complacency - (smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself)
A dramatic device to develop tension - resistant - the audience waits for her total confession - tension / frustration with every rebruff / abrupt refusal
Lies outright for two pages:
“no, why should i?”
what does priestley say in his radio show about women
after the war, women were more concerned about their own lives than helping others
Priestley wanted to show how petty / self centred some people can be when they live easy lives
why did eva come to the charity in the first place
In 1912 there was no NHS, no benefit system, and no access to contraception so women were reliant on charities to help them cope when they were struggling
What does Mrs birling being in the charity commitee reveal about the system
- the system was FALIBLE
- Being part was more to do with how it looks to chair such a committee and to WEILD (use) their power.
- Mrs Birling is old-fashioned
- her way of thinking is ARCHAIC
- “I’ll ring from the drawing-room when we want coffee”
- bells had fallen out of common use by 1945
- Priestley famously claimed in 1927 that the practice of having domestic servants was ‘as obsolete as the horse’
- increase in work opportunities in other industries;
- development of technology that meant housework was easier to perform- the presence of domestic staff had greatly diminished in middle class homes
