Mr. Birling Flashcards
A quote highlighting Mr. Birling’s attitude towards business deals over family/social events.
“One of the happiest nights of my life”
“One of” - implies the night is not the happiest given that he cares less than he should about the engagement.
“Happiest” due to business deal rather than engagement.
“Life” subconsciously refers his business to his life given that the subject of the sentence is subtly related to business.
“Nights” not day - foreshadows darkness to come.
“Happiest nights” Oxymoron - instills a sense of foreshadowing of confusion/dread and conflict.
Monosyllabic repetition due to his “provincial” speech implying he has not given many speeches; implies he had to work for his success - he didn’t rely on others, therefore, he does not agree with socialism. Also highlighted his narrow-minded viewpoint.
Quote showing Mr. Birling’s forceful manner.
“And I speak as a hard-headed business man”
Leads with head not heart
“Business man” not businessman - no longer is he the subject of the phrase because business is more to him than to your average person and business owns him.
Loose zoomorphism because animals such as rhinos have harder heads than humans.
Alliteration shows forceful manner.
Metaphor shows he is pretending to be something he is not - he relies on his reputation as opposed to to characteristics.
Quote demonstrating Mr. Birling’s foolish views with use of dramatic irony.
“Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
Dramatic irony as the Titanic actually did sink in 1912 to highlight foolishness of capitalists.
Use of repetition to mark the moment. Priestley stresses the point to make him look sillier by comparison.
Titanic doomed to sink just like his capitalist views.
“un” and “sinkable” double negative used which foreshadows his downfall. Natural negativity towards his character advertising his distaste for capitalistic views.
Mr. Birling treating lower class with unusual respect.
(“Good dinner too, Sybil.”) “Tell cook from me” (to the maid)
Imperative, therefore dominant - seems bad but hidden niceness given kindness towards the cook. Occasionally forgets how to treat the lower class given his “provincial” upbringing.
Short sentence; monosyllabic in its entirety - shows he wants to quickly say this due to implied fear of his wife and not wishing to attract her attention.
His wife is his “social superior”.
Pretends to be something he’s not.
Shows his manner is sensible, contrasting with his rural background.
“Easy manners but rather provincial in his speech”
Brought up well - socialist background but London life has changed him - young vs old.
Provincial - outside of London
His background is very different to his current state which emphasises Priestley’s distaste for capitalistic London which was controversial just like his radio show, “Postscripts” in 1940, which was cancelled for being too ‘left-wing’.
Mr. Birling defending a capitalist Gerald. Showing socialist qualities.
“Now Sheila, I’m not defending him. But you must understand that a lot of young men-“
Imperative highlights willingness to stick up for others - a strong socialist action.
Unnecessary full-stop shows he needs time to think as his thought process has been altered by the Inspector.
Use of the negative conjunction “but” implies that not defending is bad - therefore defending is a good thing and encourages a socialist attitude.
He supports understanding. Understanding implies a willingness to empathise and co operate which are distinctly socialist actions. This implies a subtle character arc.
