Mr Birling Flashcards
“A h l m… r p i h s.”
“A heavy looking man… rather provincial in his speech.”
The description of Mr Birling in the opening stage directions.
“F! T G d w w”
“Fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war.”
When Mr Birling says this the World Wars are yet to happen. Priestly uses dramatic irony to show the post-war audience that he is a bit of a fool.
“J a k, o c.”
“Just a knighthood, of course.”
Mr Birling attempts to show off to Gerald while acting modest.
“I k t B o p w.”
“I know the Brumley officers pretty well.”
Mr Birling tries to throw his weight around to try and gain respect from his peers. Here, the Inspector is on the receiving end.
“I m d t k l c d.”
“It’s my duty to keep labour costs down.”
Me Birling’s excuse for firing Eva. Shows that he puts profit above everything else, including human life.
“I g t c t u a s a I c.”
“I’ve got to cover this up as soon as I can.”
Mr Birling isn’t concerned about the life of Eva but his own reputation. Instead of making amends somehow he sees it as easier to cover it up totally and forget it ever happened.
“(U) L I - I g t - y t.”
“(Unhappily) Look Inspector - Id give thousands - yes thousands.”
Mr Birling is now willing to pay thousands of pounds whereas he wouldn’t pay 2.5 shillings to save Eva Smith earlier on.
“Y d s t c a a.”
“You don’t seem to care about anything.”
Mr Birling hasn’t realised the implications of what he has done and instead leads an assault on the Inspector. He is panicking.
“Y h a g l o i y!”
“You’ll have a good laugh over it yet.”
If Mr Birling represents the powerful, then this quote sums up Priestly’s concerns that the upper classes will never learn their lesson.
“H-h, p m o b.”
“Hard-headed, practical man of business.”
How Mr Birling likes to describe himself.
