Mrs Birling

conserved within her class

• Mrs Birling is the paragon (a perfect example of) the aristocratic woman during the Edwardian era.

As a married woman of the upper class, she is secure, almost held in aspic within the hard-wired conventions of a capitalist and classist society, thus anything that threatens these conventions threaten her.

She is introduced as her “husband’s social superior” -

• through which Priestley satirises a society that allows human beings to be defined by their role or purpose within the class system.

• By extension, it seems she is commodified, valued based on what can be achieved from marrying her as opposed to value based on moral judgement.

• This creates an environment in which she can act ignorantly and reject responsibility for her actions.

  • Moreover, in this introduction she is the only character who is not named, even the parlour maid, Edna is individually documented. She is instead referred to as

• Arthur Birling’s “wife”, suggesting her social role dehumanises her and detaches her from any sense of being.

• Priestley reinforces her as a marionette (puppet) of her class as she is complicit in upholding its conventions, she conditions her husband to do the same in saying

  “Arthur you’re not supposed to say such things”,

• trying to iron out any social faux pas (socially awkward or improper) so they operate seamlessly within the expectations of their class, she is reluctant to deviate from these in any way.

  “i think sheila and i better go to the drawing room nad leave you men”

• At the time it was the convention (tradition of the time) for to go to the drawing room after dinner, allowing men to remain in the dining room to discuss politics and news. These were not considered suitable topics for women, so they were excluded from such affairs and confined to domestic chores.this spacial segregation helped to reinforce the gender divide which is so internalised for mrs birling that she actively enhances this separation.

• Mr Birling does not command her to leave; she knows her place and initiates her dismissal from the room - no desire to break free from her gender role

• she acknowledges that marriage is process of enforcing and adopting a different set of controls and norms

• commitment to maintaining the patriarchal status quo (existing state

  of affairs) leads her to become complicit in her own oppression and she inflicts this upon her own daughter.

emphasises the disparity between the generations

“sheila! what an expression! really the things you girls pick up these days” ACT 1

• challenges the younger generation as they threaten the capitalist and classist system she is secure in

• she scolds her daughter

• her superficially drive. codes of conduct are exposed as she cares more about speech and etiquette than anything else

• the noun “girl” shows mrs birling belittles sheila in n order to dismiss her behaviour and portray it as foolish or uncouth

• she reinforces the separation between the older generation who are robust to newer ways of thinking and the younger generation that seem vulnerable of “picking” them up as though the were a diseases

• she tells sheila “when you’re married, you’ll realise”

• which emphasises how her world view is largely based on her role as a wife

• she is a tool for priestley to capture how marriage within the edwardian era was a rite of passage that was drenched in supeficality and opression.

• - men permitted to exert control over their wives - woman would shift to conform to this.

shrouded in pomposity and egoism

she [enters, briskly and self confidently, quite out of key] ACT 2

• entry into act 2 conducted entirely under the arrogance of her social superiority

• she is so performative in her expressions of her class that it seems she is living a different narrative to the rest of the characters in the play

• [affecting great surprise], [smiling, social] and [same easy tone]

• conceited and calculated

• well rehearsed in conducting her social behaviour, but this fails to apply to this present situation they have found themselves in - affable performance does not match the tone of the investigation

• her class driven egoism characterises her as controlling - extends from her behaviour in act 1 when she scolded sheila’s behaviour

• stage direction “rebuking them” and her announcement of “i’m talking to the inspector now, if you don’t mind” - her belief in her inherent superiority - defensiveness as her reputability is threatened.

• groups lower class - “girls of that class” to dismiss them as an aggregate inferior group that all behave in the same way - classist attitudes apparent

ignorant and oblivious

“he’s only a boy” ACT 2

“well really! Alderman meggarty! we are really learning something tonight

• she operates under a sheilded worldview as she fails to see beyond the superficial boundaries of her class

• priestley employs dramatic irony as mrs birling absolves eric from his drunken behaviour - it seems he is far more than an innocent little boy

• oblivious and ignorant to her own children in capitalist maintenance of rep and conformity to class ideals - capitalism blinding

• in one sense this exposes how ignorant she is to what goes on around her - encapsulated within the contrived and artificil bubble she has created for herself

• could alsoshow her desperation to condemn and denounce others to distract from any of her own flaws and deny taking any responsibility

• her name is wholly ironic and would be noted by priestley’s contemporary audience who had a good understanding of plays. the name sybil is an allsuion to the sibyls of Greek mythology which were prophetesses that could see into the future

• priestley may be highlighting how her arrogance is so overt that she percieves herself in an almost supernaturally powerful light due to her class.

robust to accepting responsibility ACT 2

“gross impertinence” ACT 2

“i consider i did my duty”

• she is dishonest, claiming she did not recognise the girl in the photograph

• priestley later uses this to expose her as deceitful when it becomes appararent that she has in fact met eva smith before

• mrs birling is disgusted when eva uses her name, calling it a “gross impertinence”, demonstrating an amplified prejudice towards her which seems hyperbolic as eva merely used her name, showing how highlight mrs birling regards herself and how she believes that this is a great threat to her own status

• she considers it “her duty” - overarching arrogance

• ironic - juxaposes what is expected of someone in a philanthropic position

• noun duty - tool to explore the disparity in the perspectives of capitalists and socialists

• for capitalists, upholding the class system was paramount - as shown through mrs birling’s refusal to help, under the belief that it was her “duty”not to

• this idicates how her personal and a societal wide prejudice got in the way of actually helping eva, despite her position at the women’s charity

• critiques classism which penetrates every aspect of Edwardian life

• Priestley introduces audience to the social duty vs moral duty dichotomy - “duty” is a noun echoed by both Mr Birling and the Inspector also, challenging Mrs Birling’s understanding of it

• perhaps this hyperbolic response to eva’s plea for help is used to portray the attitudes shared by many of the upper class who believed that any association with people of a lower class could harm their high status

• through this, priestley might also be attempting to shed light on the performatively philanthropic actions of the upper class as well as exposing the corruption within supposedly charitable organisation which was enabled by capitalism

• need for a welfare state

“i won’t believe it”

• she is almost proud of her decision, even though it had negative repurcussions - incapable of addressing her own wrongdoing

rejection of responsibility

“he certainly didn’t make me confess” ACT 3

• overtly proud in her rejection of any responsibilty for eva’s death - feels it is necessary to publicly assert this

• verb “confess” - connotes crime - by not doing this, she suggests has not been unlawful in her actions - nothing to confess - implicitly dissolves responsibility

• imperative verb “make” - hints at another reason as to why she so actively rejects responsibility - inspector’s active efforts - way for her to secure her power in this power struggle

• lexis here insinuates that admiting responsibility would be conceding to the inspector which threatens her social role, thus she is reluctant to do so

• also attempts to propel events forawrdafter the inspctor leaves to dismiss the truth

• “in the morning, they’ll be as amused as we are”

• verb amused - not guilty or remorseful as she should be - therefore hints at detachment

• perhaps overcompensating - rejecting responsibilty by suggesting she is feeling the antithesiss of guilt

lack of conscience

speaking [triumphantly] ACT 3

• Mrs Birling, much like Mr Birling and Gerald, relishes in the idea that the inspector may be a fraud. they perceive it as a means through which to absolve themselves of any responsibility as they foolishly believe it would negate their wrongdoings

• boastful at the suggestion - stage directions connote the idea that she feels she has won a battle - blatantly disregards the loss of innocent life and is only enthused that her pristine reputation won’t be compromised

• on the surface, the metaphorical battle may be between her and the inspector who she deems “a trifle impertinent” in his behaviour. she quicly percieved him as a threat to her and quickly became defensive against him setting up this dynamic

• alternatively it could be a more microcosmic representation of the opposing socialist forces trying to change the capitalist society and the classist older generation’s rejection of it

unfair distribution of power

• mrs birling’s power within the play seems entirely undeserving yet she exercises it completely, not only in her immediate faily through scolding but also in the treatment of eva smith - “used her influence” to deny eva assistance

• “i was the only one who didn’t give it to him” - distorted perception of pride - boasts about a lack of moral senisitivity which seems corrupt and callous

• priestley critiques how it is the most insensitive echelons of society that conduct the most power

• morality play - liks her to the cardinal sin of pride which is extended throught the play. her continued pride in the fiinal act, despite the circumstances, confirms her static character - fails to navigate the wsorld outside of her egoism and pride

is she most to blame? ACT 3

• as Mrs Birling’s charity organisation was eva smith’s last resort, this might suggest it was her responsibility

• however the discretion must be made between her and the other perpetrators of eva’s demise

• she was not complicit in eva’s despair and merely failed to help

• rather than portraying her as actovely malicious, it seems priestley uses Mrs Birling as a tool to comment on the strongly distorted beliefs and perspectives of the upper class

• she is no more than a marionette of her own class, thus she could be considered absolved somewhat of responsibilty.

• through being born into an upper class family, she would have internalised those values, unknowingly stripping herself of any autonomy

• priestley might be trying to convey that her upholding of capitalist ideas is a result of her victimisation to it

• she explains that “the girl had begun by telling us a pack of lies” which is an arguable logical and valid reason to deny eva help

• unfortunately, this put what the audience come to know as a moral individual in a desperate situation in a moral predicament. she refused eric’s stolen money and so turned to legitimate sources of help with hope. these legitimate sources of aid turned against her like they did for many destitue women of the time.

• this also serves to highlight the flaws that were present with the lack of a welfare state and system in 1912

• she is a mouthpiece for preistley to express the necessity for this welfare system as charity oorganisations are rife with too much prejudice to be able to provide care