Arthur Birling

Question 1

ACT 1

“She’d had a lot to say - far too much - so she had to go”

Answer 1

• Use of “had to” invokes the repeated notion of Birling’s ‘duty’
• He uses the idea that he has ‘duties’ to excuse his behaviour

THEME: POWER

Question 1

ACT 1

“A man has to make his own way - has to look after himself- and his family, too, of course, when he has one - and so long as he does that he wont come to much harm”

Answer 1

• Shows Birling’s selfishness as another of his ‘duties’
• Patriarchal mindset of being the superior in the household, despite being his wife’s social inferior

THEME: GENDER

Question 2

ACT 1

“The Titanic - she sails next week… and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.”

Answer 2

• dramatic irony - 1945 audiences know that the ship sank
• repetition of ‘unsinkable’ shows Birling’s inexorable ignorance
• he is very adamant in his beliefs, reflecting the stubborn older generation

THEME: AGE/GENERATION

Question 3

ACT

“And to that i say - fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war.”

Answer 3

• Dramatic irony - 1945 audiences have now experienced 2 world wars
• this aims to irritate audiences with birling’s stubborn nature
• exclamative of ‘fiddlesticks!’ shows the extent of birling’s ignorance

THEME: AGE/GENERATION

Question 4

ACT 1

“Community and all that nonsense … mixed up together like bees in a hive.”

Answer 4

• simile: bees in a hive shows birling’s opinion that the working class are insects with no ability to think for themselves
• euphemism: “all that nonsense” aims to irritate audiences with birling’s fixed views

THEME: AGE/GENERATION

Question 5

opening stage directions

“heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties”

Answer 5

• 1. ‘portentous’ shows the family’s social status -> they have money to eat well
• birling presents the sin of greed -> his heavy frame could symbolise this