Notesale: Turn your study into money

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Character/Theme: Birling
General: Birling is the tool used by Priestley, a socialist, to convey all he thought was wrong with society
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He is Priestley’s face of Capitalism and its faults
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Quote

Explanation

Birling’s speech:
‘Lots of wild talk about labour trouble’
‘Russia will always be behind, naturally’

Birling, as a capitalist, represents all the characteristics Priestley seeks to ridicule
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The lexis of ‘wild’ here shows how little chance Birling thought there was of
any ‘trouble’, however in May 1926 the General Strike occurred, where over 1
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Russia also rose up to
become a world superpower due to the rising up of the proletariat, something Priestley would have looked favourably on, especially
since the play was premiered in Moscow, ‘always’ shows how deeply wrong Birling was as Russia’s rise only took around 30 years
from one of the weaker countries to an international player
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‘Child’ shows the absurd nature of this attitude as Sheila is engaged to be married, and in her early twenties far
from a child and Birling attitude towards her is very demeaning by treating all her views as those of a child
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However this use of
alliteration gives a natural image, as though Priestley is highlighting the naturalness of people mixing regardless of class, thereby
ridiculing Birling, as though he is going against what nature intended
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‘Streets’ and the fact he poses it as a shows how pitiful and dreadful
her situation was, as how he believed she deserved it
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He
feels women are too weak to be able to stomach such heavy conversation, as he hold a stereotypical view of women as a whole, less
as individuals, seeing them all having the same thoughts and ideas, patronisingly saying women hold their clothes as a ‘token of selfrespect’, suggesting women’s minds were only capable of thinking about clothes and appearance
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‘Thousands’ shows how the only thing which is more important to him than money is social
prestige
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Birling says this to Eric, trying to shift responsibility even when it was equally as much his fault as Eric’s
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It shows Birling, as
a member of the older capitalist generation has not learnt at all from the inspector’s visit and his ideas of social responsibility
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He is
trying to emulate Sir Croft here, almost desperately ‘exactly’
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‘Always’ shows how this was planned and by no means a marriage of chance

‘Upsetting the child’

‘Like bees in a hive’

‘Go on the streets?’

‘Sheila, take your mother along to the
drawing room’

‘I’d give thousands…’

‘You’re the one I blame’

‘Exactly the same port’
‘kind of son in law I always wanted’

‘There’ll be a public scandal’

Birling recognises what has happened as a tragedy, but not in the right way
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This
shows Birling is not truly sorry for the part he played in Eva’s death, but how he will be viewed by others for it

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