Characters

Characters

Mr Birling
1. Presented as greedy
  1. "Arthur Birling is a heavy-looking... man" (Page 1)
    1. Using "heavy-looking" to describe Mr Birling gives us a visual representation of his greed
    2. This quote is mentioned in the first page, representing Mr Birling as selfish from the beginning
2. Says rather ridiculous statements (which could also be presented as confident but I believe that they are ridiculous)
  1. Birling: "I say there isn't a chance of war... the Titanic - she sails next week... unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable." (Page 6/7)
    1. The piece was set in Spring 1912, just before the Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage. Additionally, this play was first performed in 1946, a year after the second World War finished. Saying that there "isn't a chance of war" and describing the Titanic as "unsinkable" may indicate that Mr Birling's opinions, that are stated as facts, aren't right.
    2. Mr Birling is the character who represents the view of capitalism, so when J.B. Priestley uses dramatic irony to prove how incorrect he is, the idea of capitalism is presented as wrong.
3. Doesn't feel any sympathy for Eva Smith; only cares about money/social status
  1. Birling: "I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours list... Haven't I already said there'll be a public scandal" (page 57/58)
    1. Knowing that Birling had "already" mentioned the social consequences of his family's actions reveals how concerned he is about being involved in a "public scandal". He mainly focuses on how Eva's death will affect him, rather than how he has affected her.
    2. Birling seems to express upset emotion about this, but possibly hasn't considered how much he hurt Eva's feelings. Therefore, suffering from this consequence may teach him to be more aware of how he affects others,
      1. This occurrence is a punishment for Mr Birling's capitalist views, therefore, Priestley is suggesting that having a capitalist attitude towards others will cause terrible consequences
Mrs Birling
1. Appears to be more rational than Mr Birling when discussing topics of conversation and doesn't support capitalism as much as Mr Birling does
  1. Mr Birling: "you allowed yourselves to be bluffed. Yes - bluffed." Mrs Birling: "(protesting) Now really - Arthur." (Page 60)
    1. Mr Birling was repeatedly stating that the Inspector was lying to the family, saying that his words that opposed capitalism were "bluffed". The fact that even his own wife interrupted him shows that what he is saying seems to be flawed
    2. Knowing that Mrs Birling was "(protesting)" informs us that she may slightly disagree with Mr Birling's statements, where he says that what the Inspector said about socialism is a lie. Therefore, this means that she is not as biased towards capitalism as Mr Birling is.
2. When addressing moments where she feels distressed, Mrs Birling seems to bring out her feelings on other people.
  1. Mrs Birling: "First, she (Eva Smith) called herself Mrs Birling... that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case." (Page 43)
    1. By using her name , Eva annoyed Mrs Birling. It seemed that by naming herself after such a rich person, Eva was trying to imitate Mrs Birling's financially stable situation. Mrs Birling probably had this negative impression of Eva Smith and therefore refused to make her happier as she was angered by the mockery and wanted to give her revenge.
3. Presents herself as aware of responsibility only when the consequences aren't related to her.
  1. Mrs Birling: "if you'd take some steps to find this young man (The father of Eva Smith's baby) and then make sure that he's compelled to confess in public his responsibility... you really would be doing your duty
    1. It is later revealed that Eric is the father of Eva Smith's late child, which presents Dramatic Irony. Mrs Birling expects the father to take responsibility instead of her family, even though she now has a relation to Eva Smith since her son got Eva pregnant.
Gerald Croft
1. Was a younger character who agreed with the capitalist view
  1. Sheila: "we drove that girl to commit suicide." Gerald: "Did we?... I say - there's no more real evidence we did than there was that that chap was a police inspector." (Page 66)
    1. Doubting how legitimate Eva's death was by saying there's "no more real evidence" implies that Gerald is denying that he had responsibility over the situation, making him more of a capitalist.
    2. Asking a rhetorical question suggests that Gerald cannot believe that he has anything to do with Eva Smith's death and therefore expresses wonder to how he's has any relation to the event.
    3. He only expresses these views after the Inspector leaves, which could reveal how cowardly he is since he couldn't talk about his opposing view directly to the inspector
  2. Shows that even though most of the younger generation have learned more than their elders, not every youthful person should be idolised as some still have negative, old-fashioned attitudes
2. Even though Gerald was unfaithful to Sheila, Birling still wanted them to get married
  1. Birling: "Look, you better ask Gerald for that ring you gave back to him" (Page 71)
    1. Using the connotation "better" when demanding Sheila to recover her engagement with Gerald could refer to how Birling's social/financial status will benefit because of their marriage. Therefore, he wants Sheila to wed Gerald instead of her ending their relationship.
    2. Mr Birling wanted Gerald to marry his daughter so badly that he ordered his own child, Sheila, to change her attitude towards the fact that Gerald committed adultery. This illustrates how much more important Gerald was than Sheila to Mr Birling.
3. Even though Gerald was engaged to Sheila, they realised later that they didn't know each other very well
  1. Sheila: "(She hands him the ring)... You and I aren't the same people who sat down to dinner here." (Page 40)
    1. Knowing that they're not "the same" suggests that there were some ways that Sheila had viewed Gerald, which now cease to exist. She realises that he is a lot more different than she expected, informing us that she didn't know him very well.
    2. By returning the engagement ring, Sheila is showing how differently she sees Gerald. He isn't the person she originally fell in love with so she has decided to end their engagement since her feelings about him have changed.
Inspector Goole
Sheila Birling
Eric Birling
Eva Smith
1. Lived an extremely terrible life
  1. Inspector: “(Eva Smith) said there (in her diary) that she had to go away… ‘just to make it last longer’. She felt there’d never be anything as good again for her" (Page 39)
    1. Using "good" to describe her last decent moment suggests that the quality of her life was mediocre, especially during this time. Knowing that it wouldn't happen "again" suggests that her life is only going to get worse.
    2. This point is only extracted from Eva Smith's diary, which could mean that this is just a small aspect of her dreadful situation
Edna

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