Mrs Birling – Quick-Revision Notes

Character Overview

  • Upper-class matriarch; wife to Mr Birling, mother to Sheila & Eric.
  • Stage directions: “about 50, a rather cold woman”; her husband’s “social superior”.
  • Serves as Priestley’s vehicle for exposing the hypocrisy and selfishness of the elite.

Symbolic Function

  • Personifies upper-class resistance to social change and collective responsibility (play set in 1912).
  • Embodies capitalist flaws: pride, greed, prejudice, abuse of institutional power.
  • Dramatic foil to the Inspector (social conscience) and to the progressive younger generation (Sheila, Eric).

Attitudes & Beliefs

  • Classism: dismisses Eva as “girls of that class”; views working people as inherently inferior.
  • Patriarchy: upholds male privilege; normalises male infidelity; tells Sheila to accept it.
  • Charity hypocrisy: “prominent” on Brumley Women’s Charity yet denies aid to Eva for “impertinence”.
  • Opposes suffrage; believes women’s role is purely moral & domestic.

Responsibility

  • Rejects blame for Eva’s death; assigns it to “the girl herself” and “the young man”.
  • Claims “I did my duty”—duty defined as protecting class privilege, not moral help.
  • Remains unchanged after the Inspector; static character highlights entrenched privilege.

Relationships

  • Marriage to Mr Birling is transactional (status ↔ wealth); ashamed of his lower origins.
  • Mother–daughter: tries to silence Sheila as “hysterical”; loses influence once Sheila accepts guilt.
  • Mother–son: indifferent to Eric’s welfare; demands harsh punishment until she learns he is the father, then denies truth.

Language & Behaviour

  • Formal, ornate vocabulary (“impertinent”, “deserving”) used to assert superiority.
  • Suppresses emotion: equates feeling with weakness; labels dissenting women “hysterical”.
  • Image-obsessed: anxious about family reputation; scolds husband for praising the chef (acknowledging servants).

Key Quotations

  • “Girls of that class.”
  • “A piece of gross impertinence.”
  • “I did nothing I’m ashamed of.”
  • “I did my duty.”
  • “First I blame the girl herself. Secondly, I blame the young man.”
  • “[With dignity] We’ve done a great deal of useful work helping deserving cases.”
  • “The rude way he spoke … it was quite extraordinary!”

Exam Pointers

  • Contrast Mrs Birling with Sheila & the Inspector to discuss generational and ideological divides.
  • Use her static nature to argue Priestley’s message: entrenched elites will not reform without systemic change.
  • Themes linked: class inequality, gender norms, responsibility, hypocrisy, power.