Notesale: Turn your study into money

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A​N​ I​NSPECTOR​ C​ALLS​ - C​HARACTERS​ ​AND​ ​THEMES
ARTHUR BIRLING
W​HAT​ I​ S​ T​ HIS​ ​CHARACTER​ ​LIKE​?
● Egotistical, Chauvinistic, Self-regarding, Disinclined, Capitalist, Intransigent,
Adamant, Avaricious, Mercenary, Rapacious, Sanctimonious, Polarised
● Mr Birling is Priestley’s socialist depiction of the vast majority of his class and
generation at the time and is a culmination of everything Priestley fought
against in society – the chauvinistic capitalists
...

● Arthur Birling’s significance is to represent the absurdity and shallowness of
capitalism and the evident need for revolutionary developments to be made to
society
...

● Priestley makes him the antithesis of the Inspector through the use of his
dictation and authority - Birling has artificial authority based on money and
social prestige, whereas the Inspector has authority deriving from morality and
justice and has the power to influence the mindset of many people
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● ‘You ought to like this port, Gerald
...
Finchley told me
it's the same port your father gets from him’​ - socially insecure as Gerald
exceeds him in terms of social status, Priestley is using the port as a symbol to
reveal that Mr Birling is a materialistic character who cares about his status
and reputation above all else, uses it to ingratiate himself to his prospective
son-in-law
...
And after all I don’t often
make speeches at you-' ​– highlights his attempts to indoctrinate Sheila with
capitalist propaganda, the direct address to Sheila exhibits that Mr Birling
wants Shelia’s utmost attention as he expresses his materialistic ideologies
such, presenting Birling as manipulative and calculated
...

‘Clothes mean something quite different to a woman

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