ipl-logo

How Does Priestley Present Mr Birling

1855 Words8 Pages

In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley fundamentally presents a class ridden society through the characters attitudes and behaviour's within the play. The Birling family is seen to be attentive towards their class in society, especially Mr and Mrs Birling. Priestley uses the Birling family and The Inspector to imply how an arrogant and conceited mindset can destroy the lives of the less privileged through actions and words.

Mr Birling is shown to be an extremely selfish, arrogant and stubborn character in the play. He claims himself to be a “hard-headed, practical man of business.” This shows how Mr Birling’s mindset is mainly focused on political issues. Priestley uses alliteration here to emphasise his views towards his class. The phrase …show more content…

Mr Birling states how it’s his "duty to keep the labor costs down," regardless of anyone else's emotions or needs. This implies Mr Birling’s selfish attitude and the way he tries to impress Gerald with his control. Additionally, this presents his lack of morals and his egotistic attitude to those of a lower class. Furthermore, the noun “duty” immediately presents the pride and arrogance he has for his business as he feels no one else could take on this job as he is the only ‘practical man’ out there. The language used here shows the audience how Mr Birling’s only route to wealth and success with his capitalistic views, is by condemning the poor workers lives. This gives the audience an insight to the behaviour and attitude to expect from Mr Birling later on in the …show more content…

Mrs Birling finds it hard to believe that "a girl of that sort" refused money. The phrase “a girl of that sort” displays her preconceptions about female employees and suggests they lack morals. This phrase also shows the audience how Mrs Birling perceives Eva to be morally inferior due to her lower class. Moreover, this gives the audience an insight to Mrs Birlings attitude towards those of a lower class, implying her lack of sympathy and respect for Eva. Mrs Birling shows her arrogant, hollow self when being questioned about her response to Eva seeking help from her organization. This shows the reader how impossible it was for Mrs Birling to look at the lower class as anything but

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Juxtaposition In Inspector Calls

    331 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Act 1 of ‘Inspector Calls, Priestley utilises juxtaposition to present Sheila Birling as an empathetic character who subverts the expectations of the bourgeoisie in Edwardian England. This can be seen when Sheila’s response juxtaposes with Birling’s “These girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people”. It is clearly evident to the audience that Sheila goes against Birling capitalist ideology; this highlights that Sheila is willing to change her ways and shows empathy by regretting her decision, unlike Birling because of his obstinate and hubristic attitude. While Mr Birling is a symbol of capitalist ignorance of the bourgeoisie, Sheila is a symbol of hope and change as the new generation who recognises the humanity of the proletariat. by recognising

    Read More

  • Mr Birling Quotes

    541 Words  | 3 Pages

    Employers believed that they were entitled to protect their own interests and profits, often at the expense of their workers. Mr Birling's views on socialism and capitalism reflect the class divide of his time. He is a staunch capitalist who believes in the free market and the pursuit of profit. He tells Sheila and Gerald "The way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else" implies that, through Mr Birling’s eyes, he believes that socialism is a dangerous and misguided ideology. Furthermore, The use of the word "cranks" suggests that he views those who believe in collectively looking after each other as strange and irrational, which further emphasises his opposition to socialism.

    Read More

  • How Is Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

    1785 Words  | 8 Pages

    An inspector calls, written by J.B Priestly, is a play based on a suicide of a young woman Mr birling was the most to blame as he started the chain of misfortunate events of Eva Smith’s life which eventually lead to her suicide. Mr Birling is an exalted as well as being a wealthy capitalist, he is also portrayed as being a rather portentous man. Moreover, Priestly presents him as a middle-class citizen and extremely proud of his company Birling and co While boastingly claiming that he has “a couple of hundred workers under” him “which keep changing.” Due to his higher status to Eva Smith he views the working class as cheap labour rather than humans.

    Read More

  • How Does Priestley Present Gerald In An Inspector Calls

    994 Words  | 4 Pages

    How does Priestley Present Gerald in An Inspector Calls In his didactic play ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley presents Gerald, and the upper class as a whole, to be extremely callous and unwilling to accept the opportunity for redemption. He explores themes and ideologies such as patriarchy in order to excoriate those for living protected in an ‘ivory tower’ of wealth, luxury and, most significantly, denial. The methods used by Priestley to do all of this encourages the audience in a contemporary society to look at themselves with an inverted eye and strive for equality.

    Read More

  • How Does Priestley Present Mccarthyism In An Inspector Calls

    1401 Words  | 6 Pages

    As a result of the Birlings'' for all intents and purposes capitalist viewpoint, Priestley clearly actually shows the disparity between the for all intents and purposes upper and definitely lower classes in An Inspector Calls, which basically leads to Eva Smith\'s very tragic suicide as a result of the Birlings\' kind of capitalist viewpoint on life in a subtle way. There specifically is no doubt that Priestley focused on the patriarchal nature of sort of British society at the time, doing so to emphasise the need for change to basically take place in Britain, especially for families like the Birlings, who mostly are represented by Priestley\'s work, which basically is quite significant. At the start of the play Priestley actually highlights

    Read More

  • J. B Priestley's Use Of The Inspector In The Crucible

    1359 Words  | 6 Pages

    Priestley demonstrates the theme of wealth, power and influence as Mr Birling acts callously towards the Inspector. However he is not affected by Mr Birling’s cruel disregard for the lower class and indifference towards the wellbeing of those he considers as inferior to himself, linking to the theme of class politics. For example, at the end of act 3, the Inspector delivers his final speech, telling the Birlings that “If men do not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”, which once again links to class politics. Priestley is essentially warning the audience of the consequences of capitalism, showing the audience that if the bourgeoisie do not change their ways and treat the lower class more fairly and equally, they will face endless adversity and destruction; fundamentally manipulating the audience into believing one has to either be socialistic or capitalistic. The metaphor “fire and blood and anguish” gives a compelling image that insinuates conflict and the words, “fire”, “blood” and “anguish” also hints at a religious evaluation, as if the Inspector was a messenger from god.

    Read More

  • Hyperbole In An Inspector Calls

    1522 Words  | 7 Pages

    J.B. Priestly's play, 'An Inspector Calls' explores the theme of responsibility using effective use of characterisation and dramatic structure. The play revolves around the upper-class Birling family and their involvement in the suicide of a young working-class woman. Through their actions, Priestly demonstrates that everybody has a responsibility to look out for each other and that we must consider the consequences of our actions. The play is set in 1912, just before the events of the first world war, in a small industrial town named Brumley.

    Read More

  • How Does Priestley Present Injustice In An Inspector Calls

    1425 Words  | 6 Pages

    In An Inspector calls, Priestley uses The Inspector to present injustice in society through his questioning of the Birling family and Gerald Croft. The Inspector gradually uncovers the selfish and unjust acts which the family enacts upon the lower classes through their abuse of their power and status over people, not showing the slightest bit of care for their wellbeing, barely treating their workers as individual beings with their own lives and emotions, just caring about the money they are making for them, and treating the lower class in general as lower beings in general, not being worth the time to understand or sympathise with. The Inspector exposes the acts of injustice by the upper class towards the lower classes through his questioning

    Read More

  • The Role Of Lighting In J. B Priestley's An Inspector Calls

    928 Words  | 4 Pages

    The characters entrances and exits all throughout the play are essential to show how the Inspector develops his interrogation and indicate its role in the play. The fact that the Inspector arrives for the first time in the perfect timing just after Mr. Birling says "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own" and then the door bell rings creating tension in the room tells that the Inspector 's visit is foreshadowing a big contradiction to what Mr. Birling is trying to imply and what the Inspector is going to show them. This also displays social responsibility and the different views of it; Mr.Birling is selfish and believes everyone is responsible for themselves and not for others and that foreshadows The Inspectors point of view that we don 't live

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In An Inspector Calls Essay

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    The repition of "I am a hard headed man of business" shows his arrogance and his capitalistic and emotionless mentality. "I say there isn't a chance of war" show his stubborn and arrogance. Priestly uses this dramatic irony to persuade the audience to side against Birling as they will think that he is foolish, unsympathetic and untrustworthy. As of portraying their stubborn and heard headed personality was not enough, Priestly makes it sure that the audience is able to clearly see mentality and coldness that capitalism brings to a human by making men emotionless and unsympathetic. "Well, we've several hundred young women there, y'know, and they keep changing.

    Read More

  • Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

    476 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the opening of the play the Inspector begins to question Mr Birling after dinner about a photo of a young girl. Mr Birling is shown to be narrow minded in the opening of an Inspector calls. He is displayed as this through his poor political understanding , his business minded views as well as this distancing him from people. Firstly, Mr Birling is shown as narrow minded through his poor political understanding.

    Read More

  • How Does Priestley Present The Inspector In An Inspector Calls

    1316 Words  | 6 Pages

    An Inspector Calls Explore how Priestley presents the character of the Inspector in this text. Priestley presents the Inspector as working class through the Inspector’s use of language. This can be seen on page 184 (Act One), where the Inspector says, ‘...never did anybody no harm.’ The Inspector’s use of a double negative implies he had a bad quality of education, something which was common among working class families in the early 20th century.

    Read More

  • Birling Is A Cruel And Insensitive Man Who Only Cares About His Public Image

    2070 Words  | 9 Pages

    Mr Birling, the family patriarch, symbolises the idea of capitalism. It is priestely's intention to portray him negatively as a cruel capitalist concerned only with his reputation and wealth however while Mr Birling's actions and beliefs demonstrate a lack of empathy and a focus on his public image, there are occasions when he expresses genuine concern for the well-being

    Read More

  • Morality And Double Standards In J. B Priestley's An Inspector Calls

    504 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play An Inspector Calls written by J.B Priestley, the use of morality and double standards gives us an insight into the society of the early 1900s; which remains relevant in social stratification, cultural and deviance aspects. Through the story of Arthur Birling, Mrs. Sybil Birling and their children Eric and Sheila. The upper-class family, with untouchable reputation, enjoy of an intimate party soiree in honour of Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft. Son of a well-known business man, Sir George Croft from Crofts Limited. When Inspector Goole pays a mood-changing visit, resulting in the systematic manipulation of the presumably respectable characters.

    Read More

  • Imagery In Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

    1128 Words  | 5 Pages

    She judges other people to make herself feel more superior and normal and to hide her true character. Later on as Miss Brill observes a young couple, “the hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father’s yacht” (p.188), she comes to the realization of who she truthfully is. This wholly destroys Miss Brill, causing her to change her typical plans and go home in grief, “But to-day she passed the baker’s by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room-her room like a cupboard… she unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying” (Mansfield 189). Terry White sums up the story of “Miss Brill” by writing, “Like the insidious illness that seems to be creeping to life inside her, Miss Brill is abruptly forced to confront the reality that her imagination seeks to escape”(White)

    Read More

More about How Does Priestley Present Mr Birling

Open Document