Important quotes Flashcards
‘I did nothing I’m ashamed of’ - Mrs Birling
L= nothing pronoun
Shows how Mrs Birling refuses to take responsibility for her actions and refuses to believe that she is part of the chain of events.
‘girls of that class’ - Mrs Birling
Stereotypical views of the WC
‘gross impertinence’ - Mrs Birling
L= noun
should show humility, shows how the WC are misinterpreted. creates sympathy.
‘well’ - inspector
cliffhanger, coincides with Aristotles dramatic unities.
The end of the play being Naturalistic
imitates reality, Aristotles dramatic unities, repeats which subverts the reality making the audience feel uneasy providing no neat resolution. Shows that Priestley’s message needs to be acted on to solve the dissonance.
‘Its better to ask for the earth than to take it’ - inspector
hyperbolic metaphor, emphasises unreasonable nature of Mr Birlings exploitation of the WC.
‘lonely, half starved , desperate’ - inspector
emotive language, makes the birlings feel guilty, audience fells sympathy for Eva.
‘young ones.. more impressionable’ - inspector
adverb=more, reflects Priestleys hope for social reform lay with the younger generation. Targeted at the younger middle class audience post ww2.
‘your daughter isn’t living on the moon’ - inspector
hyperbolic imagery, should be able to know what’s happening so she can change it for the better.
‘we are members of one body’ - inspector
metaphor, health of the body represents society and depends on its parts to survive=how society treats each other.
‘fire and blood and anguish’ - inspector
violent tricolon, emphasises Priestlys hope for change, audience in 1946 lived through 2 ww’s. realise need for change.
‘you slammed the door in her face’ - inspector
metaphor/ idiom, refusal from Mrs Birling emphasises terrible consequences. Audience feels disgust. shows abuse of power
‘used her as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person’ - inspector ∆∆∆∆
noun thing reduces her to an object, audience feels pathos to Eva smith and feels horrified at how Eric dehumanises her. this also coincides with a Marxist perspective as she is reduced to a object brought for sex in a capitalist society. reflects on the lack of power that women had in Edwardian society. Ties in with priestleys critical views of capitalist economy that reduces people to possessions completely dehumanising them.
‘public men… have responsibilities as well as privileges’ - inspector
nouns responsibilities and privileges. emphasises that people in power have a duty to other members in society to treat them equally an don’t abuse their power.
‘chain of events’ - inspector. + ‘share’
verb=share, COE= metaphor all responsible and their actions have consequences. No person more responsible for another.
‘pink and intimate’ ‘brighter and harder’
shows how the Birlings see the world through rose tinted glasses due to their privileges but how the inspector is about to cause tension and shatter their expectations of reality by shining a spotlight on their actions to others.
‘The Titanic.. unsinkable’ - Mr Birling
symbolism and dramatic irony. shows how the inspector will be the metaphorical iceberg that will destroy Mr Birlings self confidence. shows the downfall of capitalism as all the things that capitalism has put trust in has failed and will continue to fail. audience knows that the titanic sank.
‘you musnt try to build up a kind of wall between us and the girl’ - sheila
metaphor, mrs Birling refuses to accept responsibility.
‘like bees in a hive’ - Mr Birling
simile, mocks socialism.
‘I dont play golf’ - inspector
inspector determined to teach them a lesson and will not be intimidated.
‘fairy prince’ - Sheila
metaphor and simile, try to act as a saviour and abuses his power and status.
‘Pitiable little bit of..charity’ - Inspector
emotive adj pitiable, 1912 no welfare state, sympathy for daisy.
‘Eva Smith’
related to Eve from the bible + smith is a common British name.
‘our police inspector all right’ - Eric
plural possessive pronoun, emphasises collective responsibly, inspected them morally.
‘its a hoax’ - Gerald
creates mystery and makes audiences question if it is the same girl.
