blame/responsibility Flashcards
act 1 Mr Birling
‘as it happened more than eighteen months ago- nearly two years ago- obviously it has nothing to do with the wretched girls suicide’
- his reasoning is ignorant and illogical, yet his use of the adverb ‘obviously’ shows his arrogant defensiveness and disregard for own social responsibility
- his inability to display any kind of remorse is reflective of the stubbornness of the older generations, he doesn’t allow there to be any questions of him being responsible.
- the apostrophe on the noun ‘girl’s’ shows how believed the suicide belonged to her and it did not involve him; more macabre matters were possessions of the working class.
mr birling act 3
‘(jovially) but the whole things different now’
stage directions ‘jovially’ depict an unorthodox emotion for a play concerned with the matter of suicide, mr birling is so self absorbed he seems to operate in his own realm. his is apathetic towards the things that happen around him. it also emphasises mr billings indifference to the well being of Eva smith as the ‘whole things different now’ due to there being no social or legal consequences affecting Mr birling.
mrs birling act 2
‘girls of that class-‘
-dismissing the lower class as an aggregate inferior group that all behave in the same way. she ties blame to the social class as she bases her understanding of morality on the individuals position in the class system
- collective noun ‘girls’ is used to belittle eva and her social group, having connotations of feebleness and immaturity.
‘i consider i did my duty’
- noun ‘duty’ could be a tool to explore the disparity in the perspectives if capitalists and socialists, for capitalists, upholding the class system was paramount, thus for mrs birling, her duty may be to uphold the class gap by refusing eva help
- noun ‘duty’ also is used to expose mrs birlings perception of duty as limited to a capitalist society duty of keeping the rich people rich and the poor people poor. in doing so, she rejects her moral duty to provide assistance to those most in need
‘i wont believe it’
- she’s incapable of addressing her own, or her family’s wrongdoing. this also suggests that her ignorance and blindness previously discussed is a deliberate choice of extending from selective belief.
- her incapability to accept responsibility is reinforced when she says ‘first i blame the girl herself. secondly, i blame the young man’ - she deflects the blame onto eric inadvertently yet her hypocrisy is revealed when she realises and states she ‘didn’t know’ implying that she wouldn’t of placed the blame on her son for the same action which shows her double standards because she also says that she would want the young man to ‘confess in public’ and this shows how mrs birling is not consistent with her morals when her reputation is at stake as eric being publicly shamed would tarnish the reputation of the birling family
sheila act 2
‘mother, she died a horrible death- don’t forget’
- plosives little her speech: ‘died’, ‘death’, ‘dont’. harsh sounds emulate the harsh reality that she is trying to make her irresponsible family face.
- fragmented speech resembles she is placing emphasis on directly addressing her mothers irresponsibility
- ‘horrible’ sheila is the only one expressing genuine emotion towards Eva’s suicide
sheila act 3
‘but you’re beginning it all over again to pretend that nothing happened’
‘you’re beginning to pretend all over again’
- repetition of ‘petend’ shows she’s trying top make them see they can’t remain oblivious to ignore their responsibility
- plosives on ‘but’, ’pretend’ and ‘happened’ creates a harsh tone reflecting the harsh truth that responsibility is unavoidable.
sheila act 3
‘i suppose we’re all nice people now’
- priestly uses the rhetorical device, coupled with a sarcastic tone to convey sheila’s disapproval of her parents and gerald’s lack of remorse. the lack of a potential criminal conviction doesn’t alleviate their immoral actions.
gerald act 1
‘it isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else’
- eric is finding a voice and is disagreeing with his father highlighting mr birling’s stupidity
- emphasises the helplessness of women
eric act 3
‘you don’t understand anything.you never did. you never even tried’
- repetition of pronoun ‘you’ continues to place blame on others
- hyperbole exaggerates her wrong doings.
- eric continues to undermine himself as he berates his mother. priestly’s use of repetition and hyperbole creates a parody of the sweeping statements we might expect a teenager to use in an argument with their parents
gerald act 3
‘i did what i did. and mother did what she did. and the rest of you did what you did to her’
- personal pronoun ‘i’ shows personal accountability and responsibility eric is taking for his actions
- direct address of ‘you’ highlights how eric is directly shaming his oblivious parents for their disregard of their responsibility
gerald act 3
‘every thing’s all right now, sheila. (holds up the ring) what about this ring?’
- he wants to rid himself of responsibility by erasing the events of the evening
- the metonymy of ‘ring’ exposes his materialistic and capitalist views- he seems less emotionally invested in the marriage now than at the start of the play.
gerald act 1
‘we’e all respectable citizens and not criminals’
- the upper class tend to glorify themselves and vilify the poor-yet the play this attitude as ignorant as they have all committed actions which would not be deemed as ‘respectable’
- the collective pronoun ‘we’re’ portrays this segregative belief as he uses it to unify them against ‘criminals’ it is ironic as gerald in fact has no true reason to claim that the birlings are respectable which exposes aristocratic prejudices as ignorant .
gerald act 1
‘i dont come into this suicide business’
- he uses the semantic field of ‘business’ to distance himself from the responsibility for Eva’s suicide. it also shows his preoccupation with money and wealth, he views everything through the lens finance thus portraying him as callous
inspector act 2
‘(cutting in with authority)
His stage directions are indicative of his power and affirmative nature as Priestley utilises him to showcase the serious and desperate need for responsibility. His intolerant and brutal demeanour is used by Priestley to ironically show how it is the upper- and middle-class members of society who require ‘to come down harshly on these poople’ (Mr B Acti) - their wilful ignorance and oblivion can only be shattered with forcing them to face the bleakness of reality.
