Mr Birling Flashcards
How does Mr Birling represent the Patriarchal, Capitalist ideologies of the time?
Mr Birling presents the patriarchal, capitalist ideologies of pre war Britain as he is a factory owner that takes advantage of young women, views his wife and daughter as his property and views his daughter’s engagement as a business transaction.
How is Mr B presented throughout the play?
Throughout the play Mr Birling is presented as selfish, exploitative, arrogant and lacking remorse. He is a great example of the generational divide and the capitalist society of Britain at the time. His lack of change in an attitude is symbolic of capitalists unwillingness to accept social responsibilities for the lower classes and failure to adapt a more socialist ideology.
How is Mr B presented as exploitative?
‘This girl. Eva Smith, was one of them, she’d had a lot to say - far too much - so she had to go’ - Act 1
“Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth” - Act 1
How is Mr B presented as arrogant?
‘Fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war.’ -Act 1
‘The titanic- she sails next week’ ‘Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ -Act 1
How is Mr B presented as selfish?
‘I must say, Sybil, that when this comes out at the inquest, it isn’t going to do us much good. The press might easily take it up—’ -Act 2
‘Yes, and you don’t realize yet all you’ve done. Most of this is bound to come out. There’ll be a public scandal’ - Act 3
Mr B is Only concerned about how he looks to the public rather than the death of an innocent girl.
How is Mr B presented as lacking remorse?
‘But the whole thing’s different now. Come, come, you can see that, can’t you? You all helped to kill her… and I wish you could have seen the look on your faces when he said that’ - Act 3
‘ There you are! Proof positive. The whole story’s just a lot of moonshine. Nothing but an elaborate sell!’ - Act3
‘Drop that. There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did’ - Act 3
How is Mr B shown to lack social responsibility?
‘I can’t accept any responsibility. 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?’ - Act 1
‘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’ -Act 1
