Mr Birling Flashcards
Titanic = unsinkable
L = metaphor for upper classes. Reflects Mr B’s complacency and that of his class that their position of privilege will remain unchallenged. R = in 1946 knows the class system has changed irrevocably following two world wars & dramatic irony. Titanic sank. R = makes him figure of ridicule for audience.
She’d had a lot to say … she had to go
C = WC and women not allowed a voice. Challenged by rise of unionism and suffragette movement.
If you don’t come down sharply on these people … they’d be asking for the earth
L = adverb, hyperbole and metaphor - WC demands unreasonable to Mr B. WC demands need to be crushed.
Get into trouble? Go on the streets?
C = reflects UMC prejudice against WC - they are considered immoral and troublesome; irony= Birlings are exposed as immoral not Eva
A hoax … the whole things different now
L = noun ‘hoax’ - Mr B thinks he is off the hook if I is not real. Irony = nothing is different including Mr B.he does not change his behaviour and attitudes or learn responsibility for his actions.
A man has to look after himself
C = Mr B set up as foil to inspector to allow Priestly to present his political debate. He represents capitalist individualism.
There’ll be a public scandal
C = reflects Edwardian society’s concern with public reputation. Mr B feels no guilt for his behaviour and has no sense of social responsibility for others. He is concerned only to protect his reputation.
Like bees in a hive
L = simile. D = suggests Mr B feels socialism strips people of their individuality and makes them drones of the state working together for the scam on good of society (represented by the hive) R = performed first in Russia in 1945. Priestly = socialist. Audience lack of sympathy for Mr B = increases sympathy for P’s socialist arguement
A socialist or some sort of crank … he talked like one
L = noun. Mr B mocks socialists as ‘cranks’ R = by end of play it is Mr B who is exposed as a fool, and implicitly his capitalist principles as well.
