Selfishness Flashcards
Mr Birling - selfishness
High prices, low wages - improves his own wealth and quality of life at the detriment to the lives of the people around him - “It’s my duty to keep labour costs down.” - he is not actually obliged to do this but he is justifying his selfishness because he knows that its actually not morally right deep down and that people may judge him - but he doesnt care
Often talks about himself - arrogance - “You don’t seem to care about anything. I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood.” - he only cares about the harm hes caused when it affects him and his prospects in the future. He genuinely doesn’t care about Eva’s death, only protecting the reputation of his family and himself.
Makes himself feel better by convincing himself the Insp wasn’t real - confidence in this “there are people in this town who dislike me enough to do that” - his whole family has suffered yet he is the one who is making himself the victim.
“But coming like that, bang on top of our little celebration”
Sheila - selfishness
Eva fired bc she was pretty - “If she’d been some miserable plain little creature, I don’t suppose I’d have done it” “I couldn’t be sorry for her” - S’s own selfishness and inability to think of these girls as their own people - despite what she says - leads to Eva’s death.
Eva’s suicide ruined her night - “I feel now I can never go there again. Oh - Why had this to happen?” - Isn’t immediately thinking about how her actions affected Eva but how they have affected herself and how they are going to affect her in the future.
Gerald - selfishness
He took advantage of the situation to feel better about himself through the guise of supporting her. He “didnt ask for anything in return”, but didnt actively oppose any advances she made. “I suppose it was inevitable”
Even S can see that D was positively impacted “happier than she’d ever been”
He disposed of her without much thought but he gave her genuine joy, so the interpretation of his impact on her is left up to the audience as we never hear from D herself, apart from excerpts from her diary told to the Birlings by the Insp
Absolve himself of blame
Eric - selfishness
His initial meeting with Eva - “Yes, I insisted - it seems” - to go to her “lodgings”. “I threatened to make a row” - he forces Eva to go along with what he wants of her for his own selfish desires of sexual pleasure.
Stolen money - doesnt think about how it affects the people around him and how it would affect eva differently to him - ignorance - due to her class, gender and situation.
His selfishness contrasts to Eva’s selflessness - “She didn’t want me to marry her. Said I didn’t love her”
“I got it - from the office-“
Mrs Birling - selfishness
Did not like Eva as she took the name Mrs Birling and extended this to her judgement of Eva, though she was supposed to be impartial - self-righteous
Represents the wider selfish instincts of the upper class.
“Go find the father, it is his responsibility” - even though she is on the board for a charity that helps disadvantaged girls, she won’t play her role as she was prejudiced against Eva and doesn’t like her due to her own preconceived notions.
However when she finds out the father is E her attitude changes - “there must be some mistake” - cannot believe her family, who she thinks is good, can be involved with the very same people she has always looked down upon
