Mr and Mrs Birling

Mr and Mrs Birling

Mr and Mrs Birling, despite not being as aristocratic as their new son in law-to be, consider themselves as high class citizens of society. Mr Birling’s self-centred and ignorant personality is prominent when making a toast to his daughter’s new engagement, he describes himself and Gerald’s Father as “friendly rivals” and that “perhaps we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birling’s…are working together.” His tone shows us that he has doubts and is slightly insecure about his daughter’s marriage to Gerald in the fact that he wants Gerald’s approval of this statement. He is showing Liberalism by prioritizing his business over his daughter’s love.

Lies:

Lies:

Through out the play we uncover many lies that effect the families trust.

Before the inspector arrived shelia and Gerald were celebrating their engagement. The family were in a joyful and proud mood however this changes when the inspector announces the death of Eva smith.

In act three eric announces that he stole money from th3e office to keep Eva smith alive and well. This makes mr birling very conscious of his status as if it was to get out it would put Mr Birlings company under a huge amount of pressure.

The lies have formed the basis for their relatinships with others especially in the case of Shelia and Gerald.

In act two Gerald confesses how he wasn’t at work in the summer and was intstead being affectionate towards Eva smith.

Analysis of responsibility within An Inspector Calls

Analysis of responsibility within An Inspector Calls

The inspector, speaking “carefully, weightily and with a disconnecting habit”, aims to reveal an aspect of social responsibility within the Birling family and Gerald. This concept evokes a sense of reader understanding for the contemporary audience depicted by J.B priestly within his seminal play which in 1954 was turned into a film. Accepting no social responsibility, Mr and Mrs Birling are portrayed as arrogant and stubborn by J.B priestly, in contrast Sheila and Eric both accept social responsibility for what could have been their responsibility as complicit and culpable characters.

J.B priestly uses irony to depict Mr Birling’s absence of guilt and his stubborn nature “you don’t understand anything”. This use of guilt and stubbornness is used to present the views on capitalism which J.B Priestly has. J.B priestly believes that capitalism is wrong since people believe in use of different classes and there income, instead of socialism and the idea of working together as a community which J.B Priestly believes in.

By Harry, Dennis, Ben and Ellis

The different concepts seen throughout An inspector calls.

The different concepts seen throughout An inspector calls.

Time is an important factor in an inspector calls. He wrote the play for an audience coming out of the horrors of the Second World War, yet he set his play in 1912, two years before the start of the first world war. At the end of the play we are left with a sense that the events are going to start all over again. We wonder whether things will be different and how the characters will behave. The inspector has a mystical, almost unworldly, quality.

Dunne’s theory states the idea that you could be given the gist of seeing forward in time as well as looking back. This would mean that just as you can look back and see what actions led you to your present situation, you could also look forward to see the consequences of your actions. So if you wish, you could change those actions and so avoid the consequences. An inspector calls explicitly deals with the nature of time in its final twist: has the play. We might wonder, simply gone back in time? Is it all about to happen again? How does the inspector know of the “fire and blood and anguish”. Usually interpreted as a foreshadowing of the first and second world wars?

CLASS

Taking the play from a socialist perspective inevitably focuses on issues of social class. Class is a large factor, indirectly, in the events of the play and Eva smiths’ death. Mrs Birling, priestly notes, is her husband’s social superior, just a Gerald will be Sheila’s if they do get married. Priestly also subtly notes that Gerald’s mother, lady croft, disapproves of Gerald’s marrying Sheila for precisely this reason. Finally, everyone’s treatment of Eva might be put down to the fact that she is a girl, as Mrs Birling puts it, “of that class”. Priestly clearly was interested in the class system and how it determines the decisions that people make.

SOCIAL DUTY

Throughout the play, socialism is a key political concept and the inspector is the epitome of this. In act 3 the inspector says, “We’re all part of one body, we are all responsible for each other”

The use of parallelism here is used as a rhetorical feature, which persuades the birling’s and Gerald it is better to be socialist than a liberalist. The use of strong defiant tone here is used to make a lasting impression on the birling’s, that socialism the right belief to follow. “we do not live alone”, the inspector says in his final speech. This is perhaps the most important, central them of the entire play, that we have a duty to other people, regardless of social status, wealth, class, or anything else. There is, priestly observes, such a thing as society, and he argues that it is important that people be aware of the effects of their actions on others. The birling’s, of course, initially do not think at all about how they might have affected Eva smith, but they are forced to confront their likely responsibility over the course of the play.

Comparison of the generations

To portray the contrast of class consciousness, J.B Priestly uses the characters as a form of symbolism. This effective use of symbolism is used when J.B Priestly represents Mr Birling with various techniques, such as pompous jargon used in the play. Birling, regards himself as a ‘hard headed man of business’, in the play. This quote shows the class consciousness of Mr Birling, as he is putting himself above others, being narrow minded and single minded.

J.B Priestly uses interpersonal language and contrast effectively to depict Mr Birling’s lack of social skills as a ‘pretentious business man’, Arthur Birling is portrayed negatively by his absence of interpersonal language, however throughout the play Sheila refers to her parents as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ this contrast portrays an even larger contrast between the two characters social profiles. 

A family analysis of the Birlings

During the opening act of an inspector calls, Mr Birling presents himself as a strong hearted business man. With strong ambitions for growth in the economy. He uses jargon to ridicule the younger members and to try to switch the conversations from the engagement to his business ambitions. This links in with the tone used as it presents the family with uneasy tension. In Act one of the play, the family celebrates the engagements of Gerald and Sheila. Sheila is somewhat possessive over Gerald and here language expresses it. The language as a whole used throughout the play is quite square and plain; it is not free flowing like normal conversations. This gives a feeling of tension. The Birlings are modestly arrogant due to Mr Birlings opinions of the classes below him. The whole of the characters, apart from the inspector use the sociolect of middle class persona

Sheila analysis

Throughout the play we see a large development in the character of Shelia. At the start she is portrayed as egotistic similarly to her mother and father. Her interpersonal language with her family also changes from the naivety of a child “Mummy” and “Daddy”. To the more galvanised attitude of a socially aware adult. “You talk as if we are responsible.” This quote from the beginning of the play shows that at that time she feels no responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, although she does not know yet about her actions towards Eva Smith yet. As when she does find out, we see a drastic change in her attitude towards the lower class and other people. “You’re pretending that everything is just as it was before!” The tone of this is strong and emotional. From this we can see that the inspector has had a large effect on Shelia’s behaviour towards her family and her view. Although we see a change in Shelia we do not see a change in either or her parents or Gerald, who sees more set in their ways. Her behaviour shows a large contrast in the themes of the play such as liberalism and socialism.

An analysis of the inspector

In this extract we see how quickly the inspector makes his mark in the Birling’s secure, happy environment. Until his entrance, Mr birling has been in control.

In the initial scene directions precisely instructed that the lighting should become “brighter and harder” when the inspector arrives, which gives him a direct advantage, for the family can no longer hide behind the rosy glow.

The element of surprise is a form of control by the inspector. Initially he behaves like a typical policeman. Not drinking on duty and addressing birling as sir, which might bring Birling into a false sense of confidence. The inspector’s manor soon changes which is unsettling for birling. He answers his questions very briefly by saying ‘’quite so’’ and ‘’no Mr Birling’’.

The inspectors’ speech about Eva’s death provokes different reactions from the family. This gives the inspector an idea of how to deal with each character, due to their reaction on the speech.

Some people may think the inspector tries to make each character have a guilty conscience and create a tension within the birling household.  Others may interpret that he tries to intimidate the Birling’s because he wants to get specific answers out of each characters.

An analysis of Mr Birling

Mr. Birling's views on social responsibility are those of a self-made man who came from a relatively poor background and became a part of the social elite. His opinion is very every man for himself, and he judges poor people even though his was one of them. He often makes his views apparent throughout the play, as when he says that 'still I can't accept any responsibility'. His imperious attitude is also made apparent and keeps using industry jargon to make himself appear superior. (An example would be good.)