Class/Mrs Birling

Question 1

“Her husband’s social superior”

Answer 1

Mrs Birling is, as Priestley describes her in the stage directions​, her husband’s “​social superior​”. Therefore, her ​upper class social etiquette​ and mannerisms are not natural to Mr Birling and we see that this causes embarrassment to Mrs Birling; image, the way they are perceived by others, is everything.

Question 2

“Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things”

Answer 2

Mrs Birling admonishes Mr Birling when he compliments his own chef, accidentally betraying that he is not from the same class as his wife, who tells him that he isn’t “​supposed to say such things”​ . Mrs Birling desires to maintain an image of not associating with, and almost ignoring the existence of, lower-class people.

Question 3

“Disgusting affair”

Answer 3

She is critical of Gerald’s “​disgusting affair​” as a result of its ​inter-class nature​, rather than because of his disloyalty to Sheila.

Question 4

“girls of that class”

Answer 4

This makes it clear that her rejection of Eva’s case was purely based on ​prejudice​, shown by Mrs Birling’s generalisation “​girls of that class​”. The determiner ‘that’ demonstrates contempt of the working class and is further evidence of how deep-rooted the class divide was in 20th century Britain.