Mr Birling Flashcards
Give analysis for “fiddle stick!”
Dramatic irony
His language is also very dismissive when he says
‘Fiddlesticks!’ and ‘silly’ - he belittles other’s ideas.
Exclamatory sentence – he’s passionate and convinced about what he’s saying.
Give analysis for ‘The Titanic – she sails next week…and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’
Titanic symbolizes his own family – believes they are untouchable until the Inspector arrives and rocks their boat by giving them a rude awakening.
Give a quote that has dashes/what does it show?
“A man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his family too, of course”
His language changes when the Inspector arrives as he speaks in short, sharp fragments and uses lots of dashes.
Give a quotes about Mr B previous jobs?
“I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago – and I’m still on the Bench – so I know the Brumley police offers pretty well”
Give analysis for “I was an alderman for years”
He often uses ‘I’ which conveys his selfish attitude, however, as the play continues he switches to the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ to diminish the scale of the problem (Eva’s death) and shift blame.
How does Priestly present Mr B?
Priestley uses Birling as a symbol of the callous and heartlessness of capitalism. Through his character he is criticizing the complacency of capitalist prosperity.
How does the use of colloquial language present Mr B?
He is representative of the older generation who were unwilling to change.
However, he is presented as a realistic character by Priestley through his use of colloquial language “y’know” appropriate for the time.
Mr B is described as Panic stricken what does that suggest?
indicates that his defiance and bravado have finally been shattered and so Priestley lets the audience see someone who is so blindly wrong and never as really in control of events as he would like himself and others to think. Therefore the audience is invited to feel sympathy.
What simile is used to describe society?
“you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up like bees in a hive –community and all that nonsense.”
When does Mr Birling say fiddle stick?
In response to Eric’s question about
war, Birling describes the idea that war is going to break out as ‘fiddle sticks
When does Birling talk about a community being like a beehive?
When he lectures Eric and Gerald that a man should look after himself and his family and no one else
