Birling: "I speak as a hard-headed business-man, who has to take risks and knows what’s he about …"
In what ways is Mr Arthur Birling important throughout the play?
'An Inspector Calls'
Use the arrows to navigate your way through this resource
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Mr Birling is a very confident character throughout the play. He sees himself as a ‘hard-headed businessman’ and in the opening stage directions he is sat at the head of the table to emphasise his importance and control. In act 1 he confidently declares that Britain will not go to war with Germany and that the Titanic is ‘unsinkable’. The audience in 1945 (whom would have just lived through the second world war) would have known that both of his predictions were false, which is dramatic irony, and this powerfully emphasises the arrogance and ignorance of Mr Birling. He also says, ‘a man has to look after himself - and his family’. This shows his capitalist views as he puts ‘himself’ over the rest of the community to show his individual, self-serving views and the fact he took a pause before he included his family shows that it may have been more of an after-thought. Throughout this speech (and the whole play) he uses a lot of broken speech to show his lack of logic and suggests he may be intellectually weak, and this stumbling manner of speech is later juxtaposed with the fluency of the Inspector.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Priestly would have written Mr Birling in this negative way to echo his own political and socialist views (he believed that everyone should be equal), and to mock the higher classes for showing little to no mercy to the lower classes as they mistreat them, and he tries to show the audience that the middle and upper class are often stupid and wrong. This negative view of capitalism would have been well received by a 1945 audience as the world began to change and become more of a communist country, for example, the introduction of free healthcare (the NHS) after the Labour party came in charge. When the Inspector arrives, he seems to feel the need to show his power and authority to the Inspector, as he tells him that he was ‘Lord Mayor for 2 years’ and ‘Alderman for years’. This further conveys his arrogance and his need to be above everyone else. We see more examples of Mr Birling’s thoughts of the working class while the Inspector interrogates him. He reveals that Eva Smith lost her job for going on strike for higher wages. Eva Smith was written by Priestley to represent the ‘thousands’ of other working-class people at the time, and to emphasise that this was a normal person. He believed that you must ‘come down sharply’ on them. The adverb ‘sharply’ emphasises his arrogance and intolerance to the working class, who only ask for a small increase of ’25 shillings a week’ and re-enforces the audience’s views that he is heartless, ruthless and has a self-serving desire.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
We see that Mr Birling has a poor relationship with his family, and this becomes clear in the third act. Eric becomes very confrontational to Mr Birling, and Mr Birling questions why Eric wouldn’t tell him about his troubles and asked for money instead of stealing it. Mr Birlings anger seems appropriate to begin with, but when he reveals the real reason for his anger, and how difficult it will be to ‘cover this up’. Eric replies, saying that Mr Birling was ‘not the kind of father a chap could go to when he is in trouble – that’s why!’. The exclamation mark shows Eric’s anger towards his father and this outburst shows that Mr Birling has failed to be a supportive father and highlights a key theme in the play; the division of the young and old generations. Priestly believed that it was the older generation which held back the society and made it dysfunctional for the working class, so that is why this would have been included.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
He is happy that Sheila and Gerald Croft are getting engaged, and when he speaks about their engagement, he says that it is ‘one of the happiest nights of my life’. We soon see though that he is so happy about the engagement as it will mean that the Crofts business (who were a rival business to the Birlings business) would be able to join together for ‘lower costs and higher prices’. This again explicitly shows that he cares about his wealth and image, rather than the joy and happiness of Sheila and Gerald, and this would have been his reason for being so excited and happy about their engagement. In this speech we also see him hesitate when he refers to Gerald’s parents ‘Sir George and – er – Lady Croft’. This suggests that he is jealous of the Croft family as they are a higher class than him. We also see his jealousy of the upper class when he tells Gerald that he brought ‘exactly the same port’ as the Crofts did. It shows that he wants more than what he has now, but also his insecurity as he feels that he needs to do things like the upper class does to gain their respect. Overall, this reveals that, lurking beneath the celebratory dinner, is Mr Birling’s continued greed and self-interest.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
He believes his public image is the most important thing, and we learn that he is ‘almost certain for a knighthood’ so he says that he needs to make sure that nobody finds out about the scandal and he needs to ‘cover this up’ so that it doesn’t ruin his reputation, social status or chance of a knighthood. This further conveys to the audience that he doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions on others; only on what might affect him.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Overall, Mr Birling is presented as a typical middle-class businessman in 1912 who only believes in self-importance and has no care for others: ‘every man for himself’. He is written to be extremely unlikable and this is important because Priestly wanted to show the audience that everyone should be equal and cared for, like the Inspector’s socialist beliefs showed, rather that the ridiculousness of Mr Birling’s capitalist views. Unfortunately, Mr Birling’s views don’t change at all throughout the play and he shows no remorse for his impact on Eva Smith’s life and death ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ to powerfully emphasise his arrogance and ignorance.
'An Inspector Calls'
Back to the start
Examiner's comment There is relevant context with critical comment and an understanding of the relationship between text and context. Critical style is evident with relevant supporting quotations. Consider developing critical comment without re-telling the plot and consider the how the audience may interpret words/phrases in different ways. Consider more sustained comment on context and use key terms such as patriarchy. Level 4 Clear
Lit408 - Model Answer - AIC - Mr Birling
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Transcript
Birling: "I speak as a hard-headed business-man, who has to take risks and knows what’s he about …" In what ways is Mr Arthur Birling important throughout the play?
'An Inspector Calls'
Use the arrows to navigate your way through this resource
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Mr Birling is a very confident character throughout the play. He sees himself as a ‘hard-headed businessman’ and in the opening stage directions he is sat at the head of the table to emphasise his importance and control. In act 1 he confidently declares that Britain will not go to war with Germany and that the Titanic is ‘unsinkable’. The audience in 1945 (whom would have just lived through the second world war) would have known that both of his predictions were false, which is dramatic irony, and this powerfully emphasises the arrogance and ignorance of Mr Birling. He also says, ‘a man has to look after himself - and his family’. This shows his capitalist views as he puts ‘himself’ over the rest of the community to show his individual, self-serving views and the fact he took a pause before he included his family shows that it may have been more of an after-thought. Throughout this speech (and the whole play) he uses a lot of broken speech to show his lack of logic and suggests he may be intellectually weak, and this stumbling manner of speech is later juxtaposed with the fluency of the Inspector.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Priestly would have written Mr Birling in this negative way to echo his own political and socialist views (he believed that everyone should be equal), and to mock the higher classes for showing little to no mercy to the lower classes as they mistreat them, and he tries to show the audience that the middle and upper class are often stupid and wrong. This negative view of capitalism would have been well received by a 1945 audience as the world began to change and become more of a communist country, for example, the introduction of free healthcare (the NHS) after the Labour party came in charge. When the Inspector arrives, he seems to feel the need to show his power and authority to the Inspector, as he tells him that he was ‘Lord Mayor for 2 years’ and ‘Alderman for years’. This further conveys his arrogance and his need to be above everyone else. We see more examples of Mr Birling’s thoughts of the working class while the Inspector interrogates him. He reveals that Eva Smith lost her job for going on strike for higher wages. Eva Smith was written by Priestley to represent the ‘thousands’ of other working-class people at the time, and to emphasise that this was a normal person. He believed that you must ‘come down sharply’ on them. The adverb ‘sharply’ emphasises his arrogance and intolerance to the working class, who only ask for a small increase of ’25 shillings a week’ and re-enforces the audience’s views that he is heartless, ruthless and has a self-serving desire.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
We see that Mr Birling has a poor relationship with his family, and this becomes clear in the third act. Eric becomes very confrontational to Mr Birling, and Mr Birling questions why Eric wouldn’t tell him about his troubles and asked for money instead of stealing it. Mr Birlings anger seems appropriate to begin with, but when he reveals the real reason for his anger, and how difficult it will be to ‘cover this up’. Eric replies, saying that Mr Birling was ‘not the kind of father a chap could go to when he is in trouble – that’s why!’. The exclamation mark shows Eric’s anger towards his father and this outburst shows that Mr Birling has failed to be a supportive father and highlights a key theme in the play; the division of the young and old generations. Priestly believed that it was the older generation which held back the society and made it dysfunctional for the working class, so that is why this would have been included.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
He is happy that Sheila and Gerald Croft are getting engaged, and when he speaks about their engagement, he says that it is ‘one of the happiest nights of my life’. We soon see though that he is so happy about the engagement as it will mean that the Crofts business (who were a rival business to the Birlings business) would be able to join together for ‘lower costs and higher prices’. This again explicitly shows that he cares about his wealth and image, rather than the joy and happiness of Sheila and Gerald, and this would have been his reason for being so excited and happy about their engagement. In this speech we also see him hesitate when he refers to Gerald’s parents ‘Sir George and – er – Lady Croft’. This suggests that he is jealous of the Croft family as they are a higher class than him. We also see his jealousy of the upper class when he tells Gerald that he brought ‘exactly the same port’ as the Crofts did. It shows that he wants more than what he has now, but also his insecurity as he feels that he needs to do things like the upper class does to gain their respect. Overall, this reveals that, lurking beneath the celebratory dinner, is Mr Birling’s continued greed and self-interest.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
He believes his public image is the most important thing, and we learn that he is ‘almost certain for a knighthood’ so he says that he needs to make sure that nobody finds out about the scandal and he needs to ‘cover this up’ so that it doesn’t ruin his reputation, social status or chance of a knighthood. This further conveys to the audience that he doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions on others; only on what might affect him.
'An Inspector Calls'
How is Mr Birling important in the play?
Overall, Mr Birling is presented as a typical middle-class businessman in 1912 who only believes in self-importance and has no care for others: ‘every man for himself’. He is written to be extremely unlikable and this is important because Priestly wanted to show the audience that everyone should be equal and cared for, like the Inspector’s socialist beliefs showed, rather that the ridiculousness of Mr Birling’s capitalist views. Unfortunately, Mr Birling’s views don’t change at all throughout the play and he shows no remorse for his impact on Eva Smith’s life and death ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ to powerfully emphasise his arrogance and ignorance.
'An Inspector Calls'
Back to the start
Examiner's comment There is relevant context with critical comment and an understanding of the relationship between text and context. Critical style is evident with relevant supporting quotations. Consider developing critical comment without re-telling the plot and consider the how the audience may interpret words/phrases in different ways. Consider more sustained comment on context and use key terms such as patriarchy. Level 4 Clear