Mr Arthur Birling

Arrogant
1. "And I say..." pg 6
2. "I might find my way onto the next Honours Lists" pg 8
  1. "Just a Knighthood, of course" pg 8
    1. Condescending
    2. Trying to be modest, but really boasting.
3. Dramatic Irony
  1. "Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" pg 7
  2. "There isn't a chance of war" pg 6
  3. "The world's developing so fast it'll make war impossible." pg 7
4. Always keen to talk about his responsibilities
  1. " I was alderman for years - and Lord Mayor two years ago - and I'm still on the Bench" pg 11
    1. Desperate to impress Inspector and others around him
      1. Had to work his way up
        Constantly feels he has to prove himself?
        Insecure
        "Yes well we needn't go into all that." pg 14
        Nervous around people who openly or obviously oppose him
        "I was quite justified" pg 17
        Trying to reassure himself
  2. Tries to use his status to scare the Inspector
    1. "Perhaps I ought to warn you that he's an old friend of mine," pg 16
5. "(surprised) Did you say why?" pg 14
  1. People obviously don't question him often
  2. Believes he is always right
6. "Then look the way he talked to me. Telling me to shut up - and so on" pg 59
  1. Only thinks the Inspector isn't real because he didn't respect Mr Birling
7. "I was a fool not to have insisted on seeing him alone" pg 60
  1. Thinks that only he could have persuaded the Inspector to leave
Capitalist
1. "A man has to make his own way" pg 9
2. "A man has to mind his own business" pg 10
3. "Still, I can't accept any responisibility" pg 14
Prejudiced
1. "Except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally" pg 7
2. "Get into trouble? Go on the streets?" pg 16
  1. Thinks the worst of the working class
Ingratiating
1. Once he realises the Inspector isn't there to just question him, he tries to clear up the matter before the Inspector implicates his children.
  1. "(with a marked change of tone)" pg 18
  2. Now, Inspector, perhaps you and I had better go and talk this over quietly in a corner -" pg 18
    1. Trying to protect his children
    2. Trying to cover up a public scandal that might ensue
      1. Doesn't want to jeopardise his chance of a Knighthood
        Selfish
Socially conscious
1. "when this comes out at the inquest, it isn't going to do us much good." pg 45
  1. Only cares about social status
  2. Feels no remorse for Eva's death
2. "I've got to cover this up as soon as I can" pg 54
3. "Most of this is bound to come out. There'll be a public scandal" pg 57
Unwilling to accept any responsibility
1. "You're the one I blame for this" pg 57
2. "There's every excuse for what both your mother and I did - it turned out unfortunately that's all -" pg 57

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Mr Arthur Birling

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	Created by Abbie Fisher almost 11 years ago