Mr. Birling Flashcards
‘Titanic - unsinkable’
L - Metaphor, dramatic irony
Titanic is a comparison to the upper middle class. It reflects Mr. Birling’s complacency and believes that his position of privilege will remain unchallenged.
C - the Titanic sank in 1912 and the class system in England changed after the two world wars.
R - this prophetic speech makes Mr. Birling a figure of ridicule for the audience.
‘She’d had a lot to say…she had to go’
C - working class and women were not allowed a voice, but this was challenged by the rise of unionism and the suffragette movement.
‘If you don’t come down sharply on these people…they’d be asking for the earth’
L - hyperbole, metaphor, adverb
Working class’ demands are unreasonable to Mr.Birling. They need to be crushed.
‘Get into trouble? Go on the streets?’
C - reflects the upper middle class prejudice against the working class. They were considered immoral and troublesome.
It is ironic because the Birlings are exposed as immoral, not Eva Smith.
‘A man has to look after himself’
C - Mr. Birling is set up as a foil to the Inspector to allow Priestley to present his political debate. Mr. Birling represents the capitalist individualism.
‘ a socialist or some sort of crank…he talked like one’
L - noun
Mr. Birling mocks socialists as cranks.
R - by the end of the play, it is Mr. Birling who is exposed as a fool and implicitly his capitalist principles as well.
‘Like bees in a hive’
L - simile
D - this suggests Mr. Birling feels socialism strips people of their individuality and makes them drones of the state working for common good of society.
R - the play was first performed in Russia in 1945 so the audience had no sympathy for Mr. Birling which increases sympathy for Priestley’s socialist argument.
‘there’ll be a public scandal’
C - this reflects Edwardian society’s concern with public reputation.
Mr. Birling feels no guilt for his behaviour and has no sense of social responsibility for others. He is concerned only to protect his reputation.
‘a hoax…the whole thing’s different now’
L - noun
Mr. Birling thinks he is off the hook if the Inspector is not real.
This is ironic because nothing is different including Mr. Birling. He does not change his behaviour and attitude or learn to accept responsibility for his action.
