mrs birling

Question 1

three mrs b thesis statements

Answer 1

Priestley villainses the character of mrs birling in order to create a distain for the backwards miopic mouthpiece for upper class complacency

Priestley highlights the backwards mindset of the upper class women like mrs birling by juxtaposing her charcater with the surrounding women in the play

Question 2

mrs b as a backwards character paragprah

Answer 2

• shes introduced as a cold woman, this is an unnvering oxymoron as the idea of a mother figure is usually drawing connotations to warmth and love, however here she is uncaring and callous
• since the novel was set there had been the suffir=gette mivement and womens rights were incredibly prominent, it would be odd to see someone so complacent in their opression simply as they were one of the few benefactors in the unjust victorian society
• her complacency is highlgihted through her refusal to open her mind- using the card imperitives that she ‘cant’ and ‘wont’ believe the facts the inspector tells her, this is because it was viewed as an act of submission to change ones political stance- hence why she tells the inspector he has ‘no power over me’ power here proves that she sees it as a hierachy thing rather than a battle of ones morality
• she also represents the false morality of the upper class that is really just a tactic to assert their dominence- she claims the father should be made an example of to divert blame away from herself but iupon discovering the character backtracks showing she does not truly hold these morals, similarly she runs a chairty committee to be deemd a respectable woman but has a warped perception of ‘duty’ that means she exploits and mocks desparate vunerbale women
  overall priestley wants to wholeu villainise the charica=taristics of sibil birling so the middle and upper class audience can question is they bear similarities to her and how they can become more moral in a rapidly changing society

Question 3

mrs b and other women paragraph

Answer 3

• whilst priestley draws some clear parralels between sheila and eva as both having inert femenine compassion and a moral compass, he juxtaposes both their characters against the concrete and complacent mindset of mrs birling
• she has no shame in being prejudiced against eva smith, she claims for an act of impertinnece, already a faurly classist term, but its her comfortability in stating how that was ‘one of the things that prejuiced me againt her naturally’ that is shocking as she views it as her birth right to prejudice against vunerable women whilst acting on a charity committee, moreover she doesnt hide that she has multiple sources of her prejudice such as her class and gender we can assume
• she continues her overt classism in stating ‘i dont suppose we could undertsand for a minute why the girl committed suicide, girls ofthat class.’ this is an incredibly isolating sentence that alientates lower class girls as if theor mental states are incomprehendsibe to the upper due to their superiority. that, gives a feeling of disgust and others them whist girl infantilises eva despite being a hard working woman and diminishes her.
• with sheila mrs birling similarly infantilises and belittles her daughter in a way that would presumably continue if it wwasnt for the inspectors intervention- sheila is presented as pretty and excited- deeply shallow terms and uses infantilised langauge such as mummy, whilst mrs b refers to her a sa girl. sheila is brainlessly her mothers mouthpiece, she echos the use of her classist word impertinent showing how rich families can mould their receptible children