mrs birling and class

• Who is Mrs Birling married to?

  Mr Birling
• Who are the children of Mrs Birling?

  Eric and Sheila
• What public role does Mrs Birling hold?

  She sits on the council for charity organisations
• How does Priestley use Mrs Birling as a symbol?

  To represent the hypocrisy of the upper classes
• What does Priestley reveal about Mrs Birling's nature through stage directions?

  She is described as "about fifty, a rather cold woman"
• What does Mrs Birling's character represent about the upper classes?

  She represents their selfish nature, privileges, and prejudices
• How does Mrs Birling perceive the working classes?

  As inferior
• What does Priestley depict about domestic life in the early 20th Century through Mrs Birling?

  He shows the inequality between men and women
• What convention does Mrs Birling adhere to after dinner?

  She goes to the drawing room while men discuss politics
• Who initiates the exit from the dining room?

  Mrs Birling announces it is time for her and Sheila to leave
• What does Mrs Birling's commitment to the patriarchal status quo lead to?

  Her complicity in her own oppression
• How does Mrs Birling view marriage?

  As a means to secure financial security and social status
• How does Mrs Birling react to Gerald's affair?

  She shows indifference to it
• What does Priestley imply about Mrs Birling's cold nature?

  It is irrational and unnatural
• How does Mrs Birling respond to Sheila's distress about Eva's suicide?

  She is unsympathetic
• What does Mrs Birling believe about the nature of marriage?

  It is a transaction rather than centered around love
• How does Gerald cover up his affair?

  By telling Sheila he’s “busy at the works”
• How does Mrs Birling view men's sexual desires?

  She believes they should be accepted and satisfied by submissive women
• How does Mrs Birling perceive Eva's suicide?

  As Eva's own fault
• What is Mrs Birling's view on the Inspector's message of collective responsibility?

  She rejects it and denies her role in Eva's death
• What does Mrs Birling believe about class inequalities?

  That they did not cause Eva’s death
• How does Mrs Birling view displays of emotion?

  As a sign of weakness
• How does Mrs Birling attempt to silence Sheila?

  By telling her she’s behaving like a hysterical child
• What does Priestley suggest about the use of hysteria in the play?

  It is used to control women and prevent them from gaining power
• How does Mrs Birling view the suffrage movement?

  As undermining traditional gender roles
• What does Mrs Birling believe about women's roles in society?

  They should be moral and domestic, excluding themselves from politics
• Why does Mrs Birling resist societal change?

  Because she is privileged and her lifestyle is threatened
• How does Priestley depict the marriage between Mr and Mrs Birling?

  As a transaction rather than based on love
• What does Mrs Birling's criticism of Mr Birling reveal?

  Her shame of his lower-class origins
• How does Priestley describe the Birling household?

  As "heavily comfortable" but not "cosy or homelike"
• What does Mrs Birling's avarice demonstrate?

  Her greed for wealth
• How does Mr Birling's cupidity manifest?

  In his proclamation that Sheila's marriage to Gerald is "one of the happiest nights of my life"
• What does Priestley suggest about the upper class's happiness?

  That wealth does not bring them happiness
• How does Mrs Birling justify denying Eva Smith financial aid?

  By claiming she did her duty
• What does the Inspector's role contrast with Mrs Birling's view of duty?

  He believes his duty is to ask questions about morality
• How does Mrs Birling's character remain static throughout the play?

  She remains ideologically the same
• What does Mrs Birling's stubbornness reveal about her character?

  Her confidence in her own superiority
• How does Mrs Birling view her actions towards Eva Smith?

  She convinces herself she has no reason to be responsible
• What does Priestley use Mrs Birling to symbolize?

  The upper classes' resistance to change
• What challenge does the Birling family's comfortable lifestyle face?

  Socialist change and greater social responsibility