Mr birling

what si Mr birling shown as a direct a….

Priestley presents Mr Birling as the direct anthesis to social reformation

how is Mr birling used to discredit capitalism? and how is Sir STanely Baldwin play in?

as a ‘hard headed practical man of business’ Mr birling is used to discredit capitalism through political alusions his contemporary audience would understand.

Sir Stanely Baldwin, a prime minister between the two world wars accused ‘hard faced men’ of profiting out of the war. Mr Birling stands to represent those affuent businessmen who callously took advantage of the suffering of war for financial gain.

Wretched girl's suicide.

• Use of derogatory and impersonal language highlights the cruelty of the upper class and capitalism

• The adjective “wretched” has connotations of filth, mimicking the disgust the upper class have towards the lower class as well as how they deemed them as worthless

• Refuses to take responsibility = further suggested through the apostrophe in “girl’s” , implying that the suicide is in her responsibility thus mirroring Mr B’s belief in that he shouldn’t have responsibility whatsoever

If you don't come down sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth.

• Prejudice against the working class

• Hyperbole “asking for the earth “ to suggest that their demands are unreasonable and the working class are greedy when in reality they need to be cared for and helped. Ironic as Mr Birling is displayed as an extremely greedy person - desperate to increase profits and always striving for power

• The use of the adverb “sharply” creates the impression that the working class are wild animals that need to be tamed as well as reflect the harsh treatment the working class were subjected to during this time

• Ironic as Mr Birling is displayed as an extremely greedy person - desperate to increase profits and always striving for power • Priestley wanted to show that arrogance and prejudice existing in the older generations is what is stopping the community from being socially conscious of their actions as they are much too influenced by status. Sways the audience towards socialist ideas

stage directions: (terrified now) (thunderstruck) = when the Inspector implies that Eric is the father of the child

• emphasizes the control that the Inspector now has

• this indicates that his defiance and bravado have finally been shattered and so Priestley lets the audience see how weak capitalism is in comparison to socialism

• also highlights how the upper class have put themselves on a high pedestal and automatically think that the lower classes are criminals.

• Hypocrisy is so prominent the upper class don't recognize it themselves

how is mr birling myspgnitstoc to asset power with MRS birling

‘is there any reason my wife should answer questions from you Inspector?

the possesive pronoun ‘my’ is a means of establishing control to elevate himself. The use of the rhetorical paints Mr birling as patronising, he is in a power struggle with the inspector and immediately resorts to aggression and disrespect to win the social battle, painting him as undeserving of respect.

‘Whats the matter with that child

his language transitions from the possesive pronoun ‘my’ to the demonstrative pronoun ‘that’ which metaphorically expels himslef of the ownership over sheila once she begins demonsrating socialist ideologies. He refers to her as a ‘child’ to dismiss her beliefs as unimportant and immature.

(Imitating Inspector in his final speech.) You all helped to kill her.

• Shows disrespect to both the Inspector and to his children

• AO2 the mockery is symbolic of how Goole’s moral message is meaningless to Birling.

• Unpleasant to his children who are genuinely upset by events

• AO2+3 contrast to Sheila who ALSO quotes Goole at the end of the play (‘fire and blood and anguish’ but she quotes him out of respect and out of understanding of the moral message.