MR birling Flashcards
Capitalism personified
-priestly exhibits Mr Birling as the living embodiment of socialist ideology
-physical appearance is a reflection of capitalism; he wears formal clothes; he is “heavy-looking” symbolises greed and frequently displays “portentous” attitude
-Birling’s pompous perspective- after Gerald’s and Sheila engagement announced. “One of the happiest nights of my life” and toasts to “lower costs and higher prices” rather than daughters health
Mr Birling values Sheila on her capacity to further the family company and thereby objectifies her as a bargaining chip; “she’ll make you happy”. He values the prospect of increased profit over his daughter’s joy
Insecure in his own social position
His humble beginnings are evident from the stage directions as his tendency to “provincial in speech” reveals her lower class. The insecurity cause Birling to constantly remind people of his status in society through bringing up former roles as “Lord mayor” and suggesting “there’s a very good chance of a knighthood” to convince Gerald of his great social status.
Mrs Birling is “social superior”. Mrs Birling was contrastingly brought up within a wealthy household and thus her social etiquette has been refined;she is embarrassed by Mr Birling acknowledging his staff.
-Insecurity in middle-class social position reveals the far-reaching nature of suffering caused by large differences in wealth and clear social divisions; not just lower class that suffer although their hardship is to a greater extent
Seeming superficiality of wealth
-Priestley’s opening description of Birling household through stage direvtions “substantial and heavily comfortable but not cosy or homelike” immediately indicates the great wealth of Birlings, yet the lack of feeling like home reinforces the cosmetic nature of their comfort in their wealth
- Birling compensates for his “provincial” speech and unrefined etiquette through his “substantial”house as clear indicator of high social status.
Dismissive of the Inspector message
The suicide of Eva smith is partly blamed on Mr Birling by inspector to which Birling eagerly trivialises and rejects all claims that his actions began the “chain of events” which led to Eva suicide.
Mr Birling is dismissive to inspector:
-Mr birling has worked through high social status and sees himself as proof that if the lower classes work hard enough they too can succeed like he did- “a man has to make his own way-has to look after himself”
-His desire to dismiss eva suicide is catalysed by the pressure of maintaining public image and ensuring that he is not rejected from society he worked hard to enter.
-social responsibility is portrayed through his dismissive response to eva death with his “impatiently” forced “yes,yes”
Resistant to change and reluctant to accept responsibility
-older generation are especially opposed to societal changes which would lessen the divisions of classes. Birlings “provincial speech” bears connotations of conservatism and an unwillingness to change, ehich is reflected in his rejection of socialism as “nonsense”- “lower costs and higher prices”
-Gerald’s theory of inspector not being real is “eagerly” and “triumphantly” accpeted bymr birling despite his actions being real
-instant relief is felt when the prospect lf a criminal record is no longer apparent,due to inspector not being real
-there it is clear he did not care about Eva Smith’s suicide, but simply for his isn chances of attaining a knighthood by avoiding “ the police court or start a scandal”
-Priestly contrasts the characters of eric and sheila against mr and mrs birling. The younger generation acknowledge their failing their morality. However the older generation merely consider the potential detriment to their social status through prosecution whilst regarding any moral duty.
Cyclical presentation
The cycle lf immorality is implied by the ending of play, which finishes as it began: with mr birling offering gerald a drink. The lack of change in attitude is reflected by the lack of visual change in the play. Priestley conveys message that the flaws of the current society are caused by upper-classes resistance to change.
Quotes-insecurity
“Provincial in his speech”-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 possesions.
“You ought to like this port, Gerald its exactly the same port your father gets”- verb “ought” reveals Mr Birling’s insecurities regarding social status; he is hesitant to command Gerald like he would command eric.
“There a fair chance that i may find myself into the next honours list” - 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 potential knighthood
Cpaitalism vs socialism
“We may look forward to the time when crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together-ror lower costs and higher prices”-this reveals the true motive behind Sheila’s marriage, which is profit rather than love
“As if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive-community and all that nonsense”- simile “like bees in a hive”nis an attempt by mr birling trivialises the concept of socialism
“A man has to mind his own business and look after himself”-speaks in third person in attempt to creat a philosophical element to his speech
“Its my duty to keep labour costs down”- noun “duty” Emphasizes mr birlings dedication to capitalism and profit
“Probably a socialist or some sort of crank”- noun “crank”nis an attempt to condemn socialism, hwoever use of dramatic irony causes the audience to oppose mr birlings view and therefore symphasize with socialists
Older generation vs young generation
“Why you hysterical young fool-get back- or i’ll…“-irony to create a dislikeable perception of mr birling who insults and threatens violence toward his oen child. Clear that it is in fact mr birling eho is “hysterical”
“Now look at the pair of them-the famous younger generation who know it all. And they can’t even take a joke- noun “joke” is ironic. It occurs just before the phone rings and a “real” inspector calls the telephone. Also trivialising Eva smiths suffering as a “joke” emphasizes the static character of mr birling
Responsibility
“As it happened more than eighteen months ago - nearly two years ago - obviously it has nothing to do with the wretched girl’s suicide.”
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.”
The use of the adverb “any” reveals Mr Birling’s complete lack of morality, as he believes sacking Eva Smith had no impact on her life, which drove her to suicide.
“If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody… it would be very
awkward wouldn’t it?”
Priestley’s use of the adjective “awkward”, coupled with Mr Birling’s self-absorbed character reveals that an increased sense of responsibility for everyone would really only be “awkward” for him. This awkwardness extends to the class and ideology that he represents: capitalist middle-class.
“There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did.”
Mr Birling separates himself and Mrs Birling, as the older generation, from Eric and Sheila in the younger generation. This diversion of blame onto his children reveals the selfish core of Mr Birling and inability to develop a sense of social responsibility.
“(jovially) But the whole thing’s different now”
Priestley uses the stage direction “(jovially) “ to emphasise Mr Birling’s indifference to the well-being of Eva Smith, as “the whole thing’s different now” due to there being no social or legal consequences affecting Mr Birling.
(the Inspector is speaking) “Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”
Priestley uses the Inspector as a vehicle for socialism, as Mr Birling is reminded of his “responsibilities” and the need to address them.
Quotes-self absorbed
“It’s one of the happiest nights of my life… your engagement to Shelia means a tremendous lot to me”-The selfish nature of Mr Birling is revealed by the use of the personal pronoun “me” and “my life”. The emphasis on Mr Birling’s own life is due to his own reputation and social status increasing after Sheila’s marriage to Gerald. In reality, it matters not whether Sheila and Gerald are happily married.
“Perhaps / ought to warn you that that [the Chief
Constable is] an old friend of mine.
We play golf together.”-Mr Birling attempts to intimidate the Inspector through the verb “warn”. The belief that association with the Chief Constable puts Mr Birling above the law epitomises the need for greater social justice and responsibility.
“I care. I was almost certain for a Knighthood in the next honours list.”
Priestley uses the short sentence “I care” to create a potential turning point, where Mr Birling finally accepts his moral and social responsibility. However, what follows is an anti-climax as Mr Birling’s static nature as a character is reaffirmed. What Mr Birling only cares about is his social position, not the wellbeing of Eva Smith and other employees.
“There’ll be a public scandal… and who here will suffer for that more than I will?”
This rhetorical question is used by Priestley to demonstrate Mr Birling’s self-pity rather than sympathy for Eva Smith. His social status is more valuable to him than his employee’s lives.
“A heavy looking, rather portentous man”
The use of the adjective “portentous” in the stage directions gives an immediate indication of Mr Birling’s self-indulged temperament.
“Alderman for
years / Lord Mayor two years ago”
Priestley uses these high-ranking local roles to reveal Mr Birling’s belief that social status transcends law and order.
Quotes- dramatic irony
“You’ll hear some people say that war is inevitable.
The use of the noun “fiddlesticks”, alongside Priestley’s use of dramatic irony causes Mr Birling to seem overwhelmingly confident in his arrogance. This
And to that I say - fiddlesticks!”
is due to Britain entering WWl soon after 1912.
“(the Titanic is) unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
The certainty shown by Mr Birling’s repetition of
“unsinkable” demonstrates his poor judgement. This is due to the Titanic sinking.
“time of steadily increasing prosperity”
The Great Depression followed 1912 and engulfed post-war Britain. Therefore, the audience in 1945 would identify Mr Birling as unreliable and thus dislike him.
Topic sentences
• Priestley uses the character of Mr Birling as a construct for capitalism and demonstrates the individualistic nature of this ideology through Mr Birling’s appearance and personality.
• However, Priestley explores the initial insecurity demonstrated by Mr Birling, in his own social position within the social hierarchy of 1912 British society.
Priestley explores the static nature of Mr Birling, as this insecurity is maintained throughout the play - unaffected by the Inspector’s anti-class-system message of socialism.
• Priestley explores the stark contrast between the younger and older-generation, regarding their attitudes to responsibility. Mr Birling’s initial rejection of any responsibility remains constant throughout the play, as Priestley confines the character of Mr Birling to a static development.
• The character of Mr Birling is the antithesis to the Inspector. Priestley explores the ideologies that these characters represent - capitalism and socialism, respectively - and how these are also in direct
