Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Arthur Birling
- A successful
businessman
- Well respected
- Owns a factory
- Head of the Birling family
- Only bothered about money and
power and can't think about
anything or anybody else
- Ambitious: "there's a very
good chance of a
knighthood"
- Selfish: "a man
has to make his
own way"
- Business-minded:
"a hard-headed,
practical man of
business"
- Anxious: "there'll be a
public scandal - unless
we're lucky"
- Won't accept
responsibility for
the death of Eva
smith
- Theme of social
responsibility
- Sees other people
as "cheap labour"
- Obsessed with
his status
- When his good
name is
threatened he's
terrified
- Would "give thousands" (a
bribe) to avoid scandal
- He is a public
figure in Brumley
- Isn't used to
being challenged
- The Inspector barely says
twenty words before Birling
shows "a touch of
impatience"
- "Silly little war scares"
- Priestley uses dramatic
irony to make his
optimism seem foolish
- Undermines his
authority
- Underneath it all,
Birling is an
anxious man
- Desperately tries
to win the Croft's
approval
- Tries to make himself seem
important by drawing attention to
his connections with influential
people
- Uses authoritative
language to be in
control
- Priestley writes that Birling should be "provinvial
in his speech", which means he has a regional
accent
- Accent and social
class were closely
linked
- Makes it clear that he is
a middle-class
businessman, rather
than upper-class
- Has the most
continuous speech in
the play
- "just let me finish, Eric"
- Repeatedly shouts
"Rubbish!" to dismiss what
other people have said