Mr Birling quotes

“[Heavy looking rather than portentous man]”

• Priestley’s audience in 1945 had just emerged from a period of rationing after WWII. So therefore, they would have associated a plump man with being synonymous with affluence

• Thus, from the beginning Priestley crafts Mr Birling in this way so the audience instantly have hatred towards him, his wealth and his priviledges

• Alternatively, Mr Birling could be depicted as hedonistic (committed to seeking sensual pleasure)

• Priestley wants to satirise (mock/ridicule) capitalism through mr Birling as he is the personification of capitalism

“There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did - it turned out unfortunately, that’s all”

• Noun “excuse” connotes a pathetic, worthless reason, suggesting Mr Birling is desperate to excuse himself of blame

• The words “unfortunately” and “that’s all” convey his heartlessness, implying the upper class trivialised and dismissed the lower classes’ hardships

• Eva’s death is merely an unforeseen tragedy, an inconvenience, and not worthy enough to make Mr Birling accept responsibility

“I’m talking as a hard-headed practical man of business”

• His priorities are not with people or family, but with how much wealth he can accumulate

• Mr Birling’s self-perception is entirely built upon how he sees himself in terms of money and work

• Priestley is deliberately using the language of the Labour Party manifesto, to turn it into a drama his audience can relate to

• An illusion to the language of Sir Stanley Baldwin (he was prime minister 3 times between 1912-1939 and accused the “hard-headed men of business” from profiting from the war). It is a more in-depth attack on capitalism

• Mr Birling treats Sheila’s marriage as a business

“You ought to like this port, Gerald…It’s exactly the same port your father gets”

• The uncertain verb “ought” reveals Mr Birling’s insecurity and wariness of not giving Gerald orders, as he would to those below him on the social hierarchy

• He deliberately brought the same port in order to present himself as a social equal and to mask the insecurity he feels

• Gerald’s mother disapproves of the marriage therefore Mr Birling attempts to compensate for his lower social status by suggesting there’s a “very good chance of a knighthood”

• The profound effect of the class system is revealed by Mr Birling’s great respect to Gerald, despite Mr Birling being considerably older

• Thus, Priestley actively demonstrates that respect is merely obtained through status

• Context: the middle class of 1912 could not become upwardly socially mobile without connections to respected families (e.g. wedlock)

“We may look forward to a time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together”

• Reveals the true motive behind Sheila’s marriage: for profit rather than love

• Often women’s marriages were more of a business transaction than a bond between two lovers. A father’s property was then given to become a husband’s property

• This comment would have been anathema (despised) to the socialist audience: they were instead working towards a much more egalitarian society predicated on welfare and civic responsibility

“A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own - and - “

• Imperative “has to” shows that Mr Birling believes this isn’t up for debate; it is non-negotiable

• Quote shows the dangers of capitalism - it makes you very individualistic

• Mr Birling says “and his own” as an afterthought as he remembers Eric and Gerald are related to him; he wants to appear as a nice man

• noun “man” shows that Mr Birling believes the rules for men and women are very different

• The doorbell rings, cutting Mr Birling off. His anti-community message has summoned the potentially supernatural being of Inspector Goole, who’s job is to correct this world view

• “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”

• “The Germans don’t want war”

• Symbolism: Titanic was a symbol of power and wealth (i.e. capitalism). It also illustrated the inequality of classes as the wealthy were the first to be evacuated onto lifeboats and the poor were left to die

• Repetition - Mr Birling truly believes capitalism will never sink (foreshadowing & irony - Inspector Goole drowns capitalism)

• Dramatic irony - the audience immediately lose trust in him as a character

• Exemplifies how Mr Birling is conceited and his refusal to accept any other alternative possibilities

“I can’t accept any responsibility”

• Mr Birling insists he’s innocent - he doesn’t want to be falsely and wrongly accused of making a mistake in his judgement, and doesn’t want to be burdened

• The modal verb “can’t” illustrates accepting blame goes against his nature

• Adverb “any” shows his lack of morality, as he believes sacking Eva Smith had no impact on her life

“Clothes mean something quite different to a woman”

• Clothes are a symbol of respect - the male characters are alluding to the belief that you must respect a woman based upon how she is dressed

• Shows the dangers of patriarchy: women are sexualised and objectified by men. They believed this was justified

• Foreshadows how all the men treat Eva Smith

Another interpretation

• There was lots of competition between women in 1912 (regardless of their class) as better treatment from men came as a result of what they saw. Priestley shows an example of this where Sheila's jealousy of Eva's looks with the dress causes her to use her power to what she thought would eliminate the competition

• The fact that clothes was the only element to a comfortable life meant that desperate people like Eva gave up their dignity by showing more skin to get attention

  
  

“As if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive - community and all that nonsense”

• Animalistic simile - Mr Birling views the lower classes as animalistic and looks at them through a dehumanising lens

• This exemplifies Mr Birling’s justification to exploit the working class, he sees them as less than human

• Bees are small animals, suggesting Mr Birling sees the working class as insignificant. This illuminates to the audience his deeply classist beliefs (prejudices and stereotypes) that have been ingrained into him

• Capitalism enables classism as it allows people to be treated unfairly

“Possibly, but you weren’t asked to come here to talk about my responsibilities”

• Exemplifies how capitalists tend to reject responsibility

• Syntax (order of words) of ”you” before “my” reflects that Mr Birling is the first to deflect responsibility and the last to accept it. This is further exacerbated by the fact that “responsibilities” is the last word of the sentence. This can be interpreted as it actually difficult for Mr Birling to even utter out the word “responsibility” as it is so far removed from his perception of the world

• The quote also reinforces that responsibility is his last priority, as his first priority is preserving his pristine public image and facade that he has created for himself

“Nothing much has happened, haven’t I already said there’ll be a public scandal…and who here will have to suffer from that more than I will?”

• “scandal” connnotes impropriety (a failure to adhere to the standard of being modest and honest)

• This is ironic as Mr Birling doesn’t recognise his impropriety and his immorality within context to this situation because he is so blindsided and fixated upon his public facade; he doesn’t realise his detrimental contribution to Eva’s death

• His priority is to preserve his self-image; he is not concerned with the physical and emotional damaged he’s caused upon others because he only acts in his own self interest (links to capitalism - looking after oneself before others)

• “who here” shows he places his own reputation above that of his family; demonstrates selfishness, capitalist view of every man for himself + he is unwilling to admit responsibility even for the good of the family

Mr Birling’s character development

• He is stagnant: he doesn’t progress nor regress (go backwards) but he remains the same

• He remains irresponsible. Priestley portrays Mr Birling as a stagnant character to show that capitalism stagnates a person - they don’t grow or progress. Therefore, this will in turn, stagnate a society

“Show him in here. Give us some more light”

• Edna changes the lighting of the Birlings’ dining room from “pink and intimate” to “brighter and harder”

• The “pink and intimate” lighting can be seen as indicative of the overly optimistic ‘rose tinted glasses’ through which the Birlings view their lives of middle class privilege

• Inspector Goole brings with him a harsher sort of light - a spotlight of interrogation that will illuminate the truth

• The fact the Edna is the one who escorts the Inspector to the Birlings and changes the lighting could be Priestley’s way of suggesting that it will be the working class who will deliver the truth to the middle and upper classes

• The two simple sentences are bluntly short and monosyllabic, showing no attempt at politeness towards Edna. The imperatives show Mr Birling expects his orders to be followed instantaneously