Mr Birling Flashcards
How is mr Birling described in the opening
‘A heavy looking rather portentous man, in his early fifties but rather provincial in his speech’
‘heavy’ → powerful aggressive dominating
‘Provincial’ → narrow minded
‘Portentous’ → important / serious
How is Mr Birling presented as untrustworthy in the first act
‘Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’
‘A few German officers talking nonsense’
‘And I say there isn’t a chance of war’
Both of these events ended up happening (WW1 + titanic sinking)
How do we see Mr Birling as a Capitalist in act 1
‘Im talking as a hard headed practical man of business’
Hard headed - ignorant, confident, arogant
‘A man has to make his own way’
‘As if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive - community and all thsy nonsense’
Bees - followers dependent controlled
Hive - hive mind, unity
Mixed - randomness, fair, thoughtless
How does Mr birling act when confronted by the Inspector
He shows no remorse for Eva Smith’s death, and tries to justify his actions
‘still i cant accept any responsibility’
‘She had a lot to say -far too much- so she had to go
‘if you dont come down sharply on some of these people they’d soon be asking for the Earth
How does mr Birling react to Eric in act 3
He is more upset by eric stealing than assulting eva smith. This highlights how he values money over people
‘(Angrily) what do you mean - not really’
In response to eric stealing
‘You mean you stole the money’
‘You damned fool’
How does mr Birling react to learning the inspector is a fake
‘You have allowed yourself to be bluffed’
‘(excitedly) by Jingo! A fake!’
He is excited that ‘the truth’ will not be released
‘the whole thing’s different now’
How is Mr Birling’s Capitalist nature shown in act 3, representing how the older generation does not change
‘I’d give thousands, yes thousands’
‘I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list’
Values status and money over people
How does Priestley use Mr Birling
He is presented as a ridiculous capitalist character who only cares about self preservation.
His actions, to a 1945 audience, seem stupid, making them dislike capitalism
He is a foil to the inspector
