Mr Birling quotes

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

• Sums up capitalism

• Uses the words “has to”

• Anti community message has summoned inspector goole. He’s not just attacking the idea of business and capitalism he’s attacking the idea of community and socialism.

• Ironic as all their business gets exposed as they don’t mind their business and interfere with Eva smith’s life in one shape or another

• The order of this quote - Business, you, then other people - sums up capitalism. Creates a society where people are selfish and become obsessed with their own desires and becomes obsessed with helping others only if it is in their own interest. Mr Birling sacks Eva because it affects himself and his business. Sheila Birling sacks her because she hates the fact that Eva smith may have insulted her in some way. Mrs Birling can’t handle the fact that Eva is impersonating the name Mrs Birling. she thinks she’s so special in life that how can anyone else use their name. They have been raised that way. If anyone threatened them they kick them out

“The famous younger generation who know it all”

• Priestly is making a parallel between Eva and all the deaths in the First World War. Why the second phone call represents the Second World War. This happens as they don’t learn their lesson. Just as that generation didn’t learn the catastrophe from 1914-1918.

• Birling exists as a warning as to what went wrong in society. He is priestly’s proxy. 

• Priestly gives him great power as he is summoned almost supernaturally by Birling’s words

• The phrase reflects anxiety about who holds knowledge and authority in society. Traditionally, knowledge has been associated with age and experience. When the younger generation is perceived to "know it all," it threatens older systems of control and deference.

“Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”

• This dramatic irony undermines Birling’s authority. The Titanic sank in 1912, so the audience knows he is wrong.

• His confident tone (“absolutely”) is exposed as foolish, reflecting the dangers of arrogance and complacency.

• Priestley uses dramatic irony to critique Edwardian elites who were blind to change. The Titanic also symbolises the doomed rigidity of the upper class.

• use this to show how Priestley discredits Birling to undermine capitalist ideology.

"The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder." - Stage direction

• The shift in lighting symbolises the shift from comfort to interrogation. “Pink and intimate” reflects the Birlings' insulated world; “brighter and harder” suggests exposure, truth, and judgment.

• Priestley uses staging to reflect thematic ideas. The Inspector is almost supernatural — a bringer of truth or moral clarity - hence the harsh lighting reveals hidden guilt

• Use this to show knowledge of form - Priestley uses theatre techniques symbolically.