mrs birling/sybil

Question 1

stage directions

Answer 1

‘cold woman…her husbands social superior’
↳ detached from family, emotionally distant, suggests an uneasy arranged marriage, forceful woman who is unkind
↳ perhaps mrs birling has been forced to become cold to be a ‘superior’

Question 2

‘when you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business’ [ACT 1]

Answer 2

‘you’ll realise’
↳ allows men to do what they want whereas women just do nothing, keen to perpetuate the gender inequality
↳ shows her more rigid views of society, she was raised with these beliefs and tries to also enforce them on her children
↳ reinforcing the status quo doesn’t allow for change, mrs b represents the repressing upper class who cannot look forward to different times
↳ women are expected to accept neglection as a norm in their relationship and this concept is taught in families
↳ patriarchal ideology is so entrenched within society that it is adopted and accepted by mrs b

Question 3

‘you’re squiffy…what an expression, sheila!’ [ACT 1]

Answer 3

colloquial language: ‘squiffy’
↳ mrs birling quickly criticises this statement

exclamative: ‘what an expression’
↳ mrs birling believes her children should not demonstrate working class characteristics, which involves the use of slang
↳ mrs birling is completely rigid with her beliefs, which shows how the older generation were entrenched in their ways & priestley hoped to combat this

Question 4

‘prejudiced me against her case’
[ACT 2]

Answer 4

prejudice = unfavourable opinion without knowledge

Question 5

‘as if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money’ [ACT 2]

Answer 5

‘of that sort’
↳ sybil thinks of the working class as if they are a different species & dehumanises then
-sybil distances herself from them & has a disdain for the poor
↳ no fixed morality, good & evil depends on who does the act

Question 6

‘sorry…but I accept no blame for it all…I blame the father of the child’

Answer 6

juxtaposition: ‘sorry’ vs rest of words
↳ this is a compete antithesis of priestleys view on the treatment of the poor, he believe their suffering comes from capitalists refusal to help

-sybil blames the father until he learns that he’s eric

Question 7

‘(shocked) eric! you stole money?’

Answer 7

interrogative sentence:
↳ mrs birling is more shocked at their relevation than anything about eva’s death

Question 8

how does sybil represent the welfare state?

Answer 8

-she is last to see eva smith before her death and represents the last resort - the welfare state
-in 1912, help of the poor was left to charities with limited money and priestly criticises this by giving valid reasons for sybil to turn eva away impersonation)
-this shows how the welfare state is
urgently needed

Question 9

mrs birling’s key traits

Answer 9

-static character
-symbol for the hypocrisy of the
upper-classes
-demonstration of the need for a welfare state
-mrs birling’s commitment to maintaining the patriarchal status quo
leads her to become complicit in her own oppression and she inflicts this upon her own daughter
-mrs birling perceives displays of emotion to be a sign of weakness
-she thinks that using hysteria to dismiss sheila as delusional is easier than attempting to argue against the views she holds (ad hominem attack)
-symbol of the upper classes, who rejected the suffrage movement
-she has no interest in changing society because she is privileged
-mrs birling’s public image is of utmost importance, she is concerned about how the family is seen by others
-despite mrs Birling benefitting from the class system, she is constanty paranoid about ner reputation being tarnished ⇢ priestley does this to expose the class system for being toxic
-mrs birling is used to getting what she wants, whilst keeping power and
control over others
-this power is something she enjoys (shown by her denial of aid to eva)
-the inspector’s sense of moral authority is therefore met with great opposition from mrs birling
-represents extreme individualism
-morally hypocritical, she only helps ‘deserving cases’, this reveals mrs birling’s joy in playing God in these young women’s lives
-aid is given out at the discretion of the upper classes

Question 10

words to describe mrs birling with: