mr birling quotes

• "if you don't come down sharply enough on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth"


  sense of superiority and greater power than others
• "hard-headed practical man of business"


  narcissistic
• "wretched girl's suicide"


  lack of sympathy because he views her as inferior, wrong morals
• "there isn't a chance of war... impossible!"


  complete arrogance and disinterest in current affairs
• "silly little war scares" "the Germans don't want war"


  dramatic irony of WW1
• "the Titanic... absolutely unsinkable!"


  dramatic irony/foreshadowing, shows ignorance and false comfort
• "Finchely tells me it's exactly the same port your father gets for him"

  keen to impress the Crofts for business affairs
• "perhaps we may look forward to the time when the Crofts and Birlings are no longer competitors, but are working together"


  currying favour with Gerald, blatantly obvious intentions of celebration
• "when this comes out at the enquires, it isn't going to do us much good" "there'll be a public scandal"


  main concern is reputation
• "i've got to cover this up as soon as I can"


  doesn't mind being fake/wrong morally
• "we were having a nice little family celebration tonight. and a nasty mess you've made out of it now"


  unsympathetic, pushing aside the issue at hand
• "i can't accept any responsibility"


  doesn't want to accept the consequences of his actions
• "look inspector - i'd give thousands - yes thousands"


  capitalist view that money can fix everything, yet couldn't give Eva a few more shillings
• "more money to spend and time to spare than I had when I was Eric's age"


  clearly setting out that he's from a different generation
• "a man has to look after himself - and his family"


  has responsibilities when it suits his argument, purposeful break between himself and family, adopts old fashioned capitalist views