Mr birling

The character Mr Birling in ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B Priestley is a greedy, arrogant and selfish ‘hardheaded businessman’, father of two, Sheila Birling and Eric Birling. Through Mr Birling Priestley shows what upper middle-class men were like in 1912. I believe Priestley set the play in 1912 and first performed it in 1946 because this date represented an era where everything was different. In 1912 there was a strict class system and gender roles, Priestley took the chance the end of the war had

"I've done nothing wrong - and you know it!" Mrs Birling exclaims, refusing to take responsibility for her actions, which is just one of the reasons why the audience may not see Mrs Birling as a very likable character. This essay is going to explore how J.B. Priestley creates such a disagreeable character and why the audience feels this way about her. Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the

author uses the Mrs. Birling character to underline how egotistical the upper class is. In Act 3, Mrs birling talks about how “I told him quite plainly...I had done no more than my duty”. This highlights how Mrs. Birling thinks that although she is the one to blame for the death of Eva she refuses to acknowledge it to avoid any possible scandal that could ruin her family reputation. Also, the way the personal pronouns are used in the play further shows to the reader that Mrs. Birling only cares about

“An Inspector Calls” is originally a play by J B Priestley in 1945, and has been represented in a variety of diverse ways, as a book, a play and many films. In every production, Mr Arthur Birling is presented as a key and significant character. He represents the older generation. He shows how they don’t seem to change throughout the play, or learn from their mistakes, which certainly differs for the younger generation in the family. Priestley’s detailed stage directions include the staging of

Calls by J.B.PRIESTLY compares the different generations. The young are Eric and Sheila Birling , the old being Arthur and Sybil Birling while Gerald lies in between the two.They all react differently to the Inspectors presence.At the time capitalism was ruling the country exploitatively .The setting of the play had a significant role in the play as it allowed the use of dramatic irony,mainly when Mr Birling speaks about the future,”were in a time for a time of steadily increasing prosperity”.The

Inspector Calls, the character of Mr and Mrs Birling are presented in a peculiar yet fascinating way. Priestly shows use the way these two react to the killing of Eva Smith however, perhaps Priestly has constructed these two characters to portray the middle class during the time period and their reactions to social responsibility. In this essay I will illustrate the techniques that Priestly uses to portray the similarities and differences between Mr and Mrs Birling. At first glance, we automatically

Inspector and Mr Birling due to their contrasting ideas. They are both extremely powerful figures clashing for dominance and status in the household. A major point hidden by Priestley is their political views, Birling represents a capitalists view point whereas the Inspector is a shadow figure of Priestley's ideas and represents a socialist. They are symbols of the global struggle between Capitalism and Socialism in the 40s. The Inspector is prominent to show his power when Birling attemps to interrogate

Mrs. Birling, in the opening stage directions by Priestley is introduced as a “rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior”. This is important since readers realise early on in the story that Mrs. Birling is a representative of the aristocracy and her cold nature would be reflective of her pride on that fact. She is portrayed to be very conscious about her social status and extremely authoritative. She clearly likes being in control of things and demonstrates this trait repeatedly in the

the unsuspecting Birling family are visited by the mysterious Inspector Goole. Priestley uses a variety of different techniques, especially language and quotations, to contrast and elicit differing responses to Mr Birling and Inspector Goole. Mr Birling and Inspector Goole are two opposite characters. Both characters have a similar age and are both male, but have a very different presence on stage. Mr Birling is described at the start as "heavy-looking, rather portentous

The passage, however, also reveals many things about the different characters currently involved – the first of which is Mr. Arthur Birling. The husband to Mrs. Birling, and the father of Sheila and Eric Birling, he is described by Priestly as “a heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties.” Over the course of the play, he represents the capitalist ruling class of the time, describing himself as a “hard-headed businessman,” and, as the tone suggests, he is the main subject of Priestley’s