MRS BIRLING KEY QUOTES ANALYSIS Flashcards
“Girls of that class”
Mrs Birling
*Shows how loyal she is to her own class since she doesn’t like any other class except for her own.
*Abstract noun “class” shows how Mrs Birling looks down at people from the lower social classes.
*Contextually, women didn’t have many rights to the point they were classified as the property of their husbands. Mrs Birling would’ve been aware of this, however, despite this, she is still pretentious and selfish and ultimately uses her influence to have Eva rejected.
“She seemed to me to be not a good case… I used my influence to have it refused”
Mrs Birling
*Shows Mrs Birling’s hypocrisy. She is supposed to help other women in need, and in this case, Eva Smith, who is in dire need of help and Sybil uses her influence to have it refused.
*Sibilance of “She seemed” and pronouns “me”, “I”, and “my” depict how she is a pompous woman, she understands the power and influence she holds to do good but she uses it in the wrong way.
*Priestley does this to show us who really is immoral: the selfish, lying capitalist woman like Mrs Birling even if Eva was a prostitute. At least she was an honest prostitute.
“I think she only had herself to blame”
Mrs Birling
*Mrs Birling, just like her husband takes no social responsibility for the death of Eva Smith. She doesn’t see it as her duty to use her upper-class influence to benefit poor and weaker women like Eva Smith.
*The alliteration of “h” in “had herself”own fault for her death, how it was her fault she fell pregnant, how it was her fault she is poor.
*Priestley does this to show that no matter how much power and influence an upper-class capitalist has, they will always find a way to make an excuse to not give back to society in order to maximise profits for themselves.
