Mr Birling Flashcards
He only cares about himself + his family
AO1
Mr Birling’s comments at the start of the play about Sheila’s wedding and society
Mr Birling’s reactions to the Inspector’s questioning about Eva Smith
revelations about Mr Birling’s treatment of his workforce
Mr Birling’s behaviour when the Inspector has left
AO2
presentation of Mr Birling through his pompous manner of speech
developing contrast of Mr Birling with other characters
structural contrast before and after arrival of the Inspector
stage directions regarding Mr Birling
AO3
ideas about boss-worker relationships in a capitalist society
ideas about social class
the Inspector’s ideas about how society could be differently organised
ideas about the importance of family.
how is Mr Birling shown to have treated Eva Smith and how he speaks to the Inspector?
Comments about how society works
Comments about eva’s activism
How is he like when he speaks about worker?
Presentation of his comments about Eva (how does it come across, effects of this)
Throughout the play, Priestley presents Mr Birling as a clear representation of the patriarchal upper class. This reflects a lack of social responsibility and justice in his character, and demonstrates Priestley’s disdain for Capitalist beliefs and society
Mr Birling represents the greed, self-importance and stupidity of capitalism. It is symbolic that his first line – the opening line of the play – is an order to his servant regarding the serving of port
Priestley uses Mr Birling as a symbol to represent the selfishness and arrogance of capitalists in Edwardian society. Priestley wanted his audience to dislike Mr Birling and to see him as a fool. By rejecting the attitudes held by Mr Birling, Priestley’s audience would lead a more responsible, socialist life
Mr Birling is a business man whose main concern is making money. This is what is most important to him and he comes across as being greedy. “we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together - for lower costs and higher prices.”
Argument that Mr Birling does briefly change throughout the play
He goes from confident to desperate to confident, then uncertain at the end
‘[impatiently] Yes, yes.’ ‘Just keep quiet Eric’ at the beginning
Inspector undermines his authority continuously. ‘I’d give thousands, yes, thousands’
“A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.”
Sums up capitalism- self gain/interest
Business double meaning. Commercial, occupational business vs personal business.
Irony: all their personal business gets exposed + they interfere with Eva Smith’s life/business
Order of importance reflects cruel capitalist beliefs that business and you come before everything else. Direct contrast to Inspector.
A society where everyone acts in their own interests is flawed, just like how the Birling family are flawed (they acted in their own interests with Eva)
Imperative ‘has to’ shows his confidence in the belief and makes him seem close-minded; he won’t consider any alternatives (he dismisses Eric’s well-reasoned point on higher wages/prices)
‘his own’ possessive pronoun. ‘man’ not person. Shows his patriarchal views
‘himself’ = class, reputation, money, business
“If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?”
Flawed ideology
Idea that we aren’t responsible for everyone
Lack of responsibility -> treat people badly (as objects)
It did become ‘awkward’ later on in the play- their lives/relationships are badly affected
‘awkward’ is an understatement- shows how Birling doesn’t understand the effects of capitalism on wider society
‘wouldn’t it?’ at the end hints at uncertainty- he needs validation to prove his point. Makes it seem less strong because he needs others to back it up. Implies that this argument isn’t strong
“Clothes mean something quite different to a woman.”
Shows how men/society views women
Women judged on surface level
Objectifying women
Puts a condition on respect
Arrogant, acts like he knows everything
At the end of the play, he is unchanged – and as snobbish, arrogant and unlikeable as at the start.
‘for lower costs and higher prices’ - birling
- considers sheila’s and gerald’s marriage as a business deal which will lead to a large profit for himself
‘hard-headed business man’ - birling
- commonly repeats this phrase highlighting birling’s adoration for himself and his business
‘you’ll hear some people say that war is inevitable. and to that i say- fiddlesticks!’ - birling
- dramatic irony, uses uncaring lexical choice of ‘fiddlesticks’ which is insensitive to the post war audience
‘the titanic {…} unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ - birling
- dramatic irony, describing the titanic which represents capitalism accomplishment (indicates birling’s foolish capitalist optimism as the ship sinks a week later), or the birling family thinking they’re untouchable
‘there’ll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere’ - birling
- dramatic irony, use of polysyndeton heightens audience’s anger as it continuously mentions things that did not happen, creating hatred for birling + is open to ridicule as he represents a typical brainless capitalist
‘you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive’ - birling
- doesn’t think different classes should mix, the simile reduces socialist ideology to animalistic tendencies suggesting birling’s hate + disgust for socialism
‘community and all that nonsense… a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own-‘ - birling
- dramatic device, birling summons the inspector with his anti-community + capitalist message paired with the use of the doorbell which disrupts birling’s ideology
‘i was an alderman for years- and lord mayor two years ago- and i’m still on the bench- so i know the brumley officers pretty well’ - birling
- wants to intimidate the inspector with his power and status and indicate his superiority, but birling’s fragmented speech (interrupted with hyphens) contrasts this and displays his slight fear + worry. also highlights that those in power wield their influence to escape civic responsibility
‘i can’t accept any responsibility. if we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d have anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?’ - birling
- priestley wants to correct this exact idea and using birling (figure of ridicule) makes critique more effective
‘well it’s my duty to keep labour costs down’ - birling
- birling’s only concern is money + has not an ounce of respect for his workers, typical capitalist
‘if you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth’ - birling
- referring to eva, dehumanising his workers by grouping them all together + demonstrates the prejudice between upper + lower class with the use of his abrupt + dismissive language, ‘these people’
‘nothing to do with you, sheila. run along’ - birling
- belittling + infantilising sheila which displays the patriarchal nature; the imperative verb + short, snappy syntax reinforces the idea that birling is in control
‘[angrily] don’t talk to me like that. your trouble is- you’ve been spoilt-‘ - birling
- mad because eric disobeyed him, disregards the fact that he’s lost any sort of relationship with his son, blaming eric for something he caused, fragmented speech suggesting that birling is shocked + taken aback at eric’s defiance
‘[furious, intervening] why, you hysterical young fool- get back- or i’ll-‘ - birling
- birling begins to threaten his own son because he can’t control the situation so has to resort to violence
‘but i care. i was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list’ - Birling
- birling completely overlooks the inspector’s speech and cares about the complete wrong thing,
- highlights the juxtaposition between inspector goole + birling + what they value, they are antithetic to each other. it also displays that birling (+mrs birling) still have not changed at all
‘now look at the pair of them, the famous younger generation who know it all. and they can’t even take a joke-‘ - Mr Birling
- Highlights the separation between the young + older generation, birling is completely back to his old self + prepared to go on another long speech/rant, similar to the beginning of the play, but he is interrupted with the use of a dramatic device (telephone ring) which again disrupts his foolish ideology + also catches the audience’s attention for the last time
“provincial (unsophisticated) in this speech” - Mr Birling, act 1
- The adjective “provincial” is used to show the low-class origins of Mr Birling.
- He has to compensate for his lower- class accent with material possessions
“You ought to like this port, Gerald It’s exactly the same port your father gets” - Mr Birling, act 1
- The verb “ought” reveals Mr Birling’s insecurities regarding social status; he is hesitant to command Gerald (who is of a higher class) like he would command Eric.
“There’s a fair chance that I may find myself into the next honours list.” - Mr Birling, act 1
- Mr Birling’s insecurity is revealed by his feeling of inadequacy due to his lower social status, compared to the Crofts.
- Therefore, he feels the need to compensate with boasts of a potential knighthood.
- Gerald seems to feel uncomfortable by Birling alleging his mother looks down on the Birlings and their social status but Birling seems to try and comfort him by pointing to her position in the social hiearchy which is higher than Birlings and she comes from a traditionally rich landowning family as opposed to the newly rich self made businessman Mr Birling.
- However Birling seems to imply that this gap in social status can be lessened or even removed due to him possibly receiving a knighthood.
- As mentioned before Birling seems to have an inferiority complex and a continuous need to prove himself equal to those richer than him and from more elite families.
“…we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together - for lower costs and higher prices.” - Mr Birling , act 1
- It is clear here that Mr Birling is driven by money, he is a capitalist.
- The fact that he sees his daughter’s engagement as a chance to push for ‘lower costs and higher prices’ shows just how greedy he is.
- He does not consider the impact ‘higher prices’ might have on anyone else, he just wants more money.
- This reveals the true motive behind Sheilas marriage- money. shows the rather business-minded approach to life that Mr Birling has and at a time like this, celebrating an engagement, when the tone should be a more emotional sentimental one.
- Mr Birling devoid of such sentimentality instead uses words like ‘costs’ and ‘prices’, which are more appropriate for a board meeting rather than a celebratory family get together.
- This ties in with his general way of looking at things through the prism of money and numbers including his indifference to the human suffering of his workers and instead focusing on the profits they can generate him.
“But the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive- community and all that nonsense” - Mr Birling, act 1
- The simile “like bees in a hive” is an attempt by Mr Birling to trivialise the concept of socialism.
- By ‘cranks’ it should be obvious that Birling is referring to writers with left wing views such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells whom he mentioned by name earlier.
- However with Birling’s credibility completely discreted with his ‘Titanic’ and no war will happen comments Priestley might be telling the audience to hold the completely opposite opinion and in fact respect these writers.
- These writers are promoting the view that society is one entity whereas Birling is preaching individualism and that everyone should look after themselves or their families.
- However as we find out later on in the play no man is immune from what happens in wider society, Birling himself is impacted by Eva’s poverty through her affair with Eric who steals money from his father and Eva having Birling’s grandchild in her womb during pregnancy.
“A man has to mind his own business and look after himself” - Mr Birling, act 1
- Summarises Mr Birlings capitalist views, relates to his selfishness and arrogance. Shortly after this is said the door bell rings as the Inspector has come to change the Birling family’s views.
“It’s my duty to keep labour costs down” - Mr Birling, act 1
- Priestley uses the noun “duty” to emphasise Mr Birlings dedication to capitalism and profit.
- Through Birling, Priestley is showing the money-obsessed nature of capitalism which sees things through numbers and fingers and not the emotional aspect of human existence.
- It’s Birling’s ‘duty’ to keep labour costs low but not to ensure happy lives for his workers who are there merely to make money for him and disposable when not required almost like objects.
- This is Priestley critiquing employer-worker relations under capitalism.
“If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth.” - Mr Birling, act 1
- The hyperbole (exaggeration for effect) of “asking for the earth” is an attempt by Mr Birling to explain his rejection of Eva Smith’s pay rise.
- However, the absurdity of people “asking for the earth” reflects the absurdity of Mr Birling’s refusal to pay a decent wage.
- This shows Birlings capitalist views. He believes he is doing the right thing and that its his responsibility to punish them, keeping control.
- Priestley wanted the audience to realise that this is the wrong attitude to have, we should be looking after the working class instead.
‘Probably a socialist or some sort of crank’ - Mr Birling, act 3
- Mr. Birling thinks that anyone that isn’t a capitalist is wrong
- The noun “crank” is an attempt by Mr Birling to condemn socialism, however, Priestley’ s use of dramatic irony causes the audience to oppose Mr Birlings views and therefore sympathise with socialists
“Why, you hysterical young fool - get back - or I’ll -“ - Mr Birling, act 3
- Here Priestley uses irony to further create a dislikeable perception of Mr Birling, who insults and threatens violence towards his own child.
- Therefore, it is clear that it is in fact Mr Birling who is “hysterical”. Mr Birling implies here that Eric is a ‘fool’ because he is young. Ironically, it is the older Arthur who nearly resorts to physical violence.
“Now look at the pair of them- the famous younger generation who know it all. And they can’t even take a joke.” - Mr Birling , act 3
- The use of the noun “joke” is significant as it is ironic. It occurs just before the phone rings and a ‘real’ inspector calls on the telephone.
- Also, trivialising Eva Smith’s suffering as a “joke” emphasises the static character of Mr Birling.
- Mr Birling after he realises that Inspector was fake. Sheila respects his teachings
“As it happened more than eighteen months ago - nearly two years ago - obviously it has nothing to do with the wretched girl’s suicide.” - Mr Birling, act 1
- The adverb “obviously” is used to emphasise Mr Birling’s arrogance and disregard for his own social responsibility. Priestley does this to continue Mr Birling’s unlikable image.
“I can’t accept any responsibility” - Mr Birling, act 1
- Mr. Birling refuses to take any blame for what has happened.
- The use of the adverb “any” reveals Mr Birlings complete lack of morality, as he believes sacking Eva Smith had no impact on her life, which drove her to suicide.
- This is precisely the point that Priestley is trying to make. * That we have to be conscious of our actions and the impact it has on others.
- Businessmen need to understand that their workers are not merely useful profit-generating machines but human beings who experience pain and suffering.
- Priestley is urging a more socialist outlook to society where we all see each other as part of one greater whole and try to help each other.
