Mrs Birling

• Mrs Birling, or Sybil Birling, is married to Mr Birling and is mother to Eric and Sheila.
• Mrs Birling has some public influence as she sits on the council for charity organisations and is married to Mr Birling, who was Lord Mayor, and is a business owner.
• Priestley uses Mrs Birling as a symbol for the hypocrisy of the upper-classes and as a demonstration of the need for a welfare state.
• Contemporary women were shunned if they did not abstain from sex outside marriage, while men were not condemned for doing so.
• Mrs Birling upholds patriarchal norms by telling Sheila to "get used to that" feeling.
• Mrs Birling provides no comfort to her daughter, Sheila, when she feels insecure.
• Mrs Birling perceives the working class as being less human, with less complex emotions, and feels that it is inappropriate for Eva to behave in a way that doesn’t conform to her expectations of her class.
• Priestley dictates in the stage directions that Mrs Birling is “ about fifty, a rather cold woman ” and thus reveals her unsympathetic and individualistic nature.
• Mrs Birling is her husband's “ social superior ” and therefore belongs to an upper class family.
• Mrs Birling represents the selfish nature of the upper classes, their privileges, and their prejudices.
• Mr Birling’s greed cost Eva her job as he refused to grant her and the other workers a relatively small pay rise.
• In contrast to Mrs Birling, Eva is a symbol of morality within the play: she refused to take the stolen money and “ didn’t blame [Gerald] at all ”.
• Mrs Birling is symbolic of maintaining the traditional class system, upholding divisions, and maintaining the status quo.
• Mrs Birling is hypocritical of her prejudice towards the poor through her role as a “ prominent member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation ”.
• The exploitation of the lower classes is the reason why the poor are reliant on aid and charity.
• Mrs Birling is strongly in favor of the class division and is critical of Gerald’s affair as a “ wretched business ”, mainly because it was an inter-class affair, rather than the fact that it was a betrayal of Sheila.
• She wouldn’t marry Eric because she “ said [Eric] didn’t love her ”.
• They can’t help themselves as they have no power or influence.
• Mrs Birling is portrayed, throughout, as “ cold ”, having no “ fine feelings ”, and is oblivious to her wrongdoings and flaws.
• Mrs Birling emphasizes that Eric “ didn’t belong to [Eva’s] class ”, demonstrating her firm belief in the fixed nature of the class system.
• Mrs Birling is uninterested in the reality of the suffering of the poor, instead accepting convenient truths, which benefit her perception of how society should function.
• Priestley’s use of the verb “ belong ” demonstrates Mrs Birling’s belief that once born into a class, there should be no social mobility; where you are born is God’s will and this is where you should stay.
• Mrs Birling is oblivious to the lives, struggles, and suffering of others.
• Mrs Birling acknowledges her own prejudice against Eva’s “ impertinence ” in claiming to be “ Mrs Birling ”.
• The avarice (greedy) desire of the upper classes is much stronger than the lower classes, who merely try to survive.
• Mrs Birling refused to help Eva and thus Eva’s moral predicament becomes apparent - when the legitimate sources of aid are prejudiced against them, the poor cannot afford to choose where their money comes from.
• This initial capitalist greed sparked a chain reaction that ultimately ended in her suicide.
• Those living in poverty have no way to escape it as they cannot challenge their exploitation; Eva’s attempt to strike saw her fired; the institutes meant to help them are prejudiced against them.
• Mrs Birling’s joy in playing God in these young women’s lives, deciding whether they receive aid and benefit or are refused and suffer, is a reflection of the power of the upper classes.
• Mrs Birling is critical of Gerald’s “ disgusting affair ” as a result of its inter-class nature, rather than because of his disloyalty to Sheila.
• Sheila is representative of the younger generation who embrace radical change and the need for socialism.
• The determiner ‘that’ demonstrates contempt of the working class and is further evidence of how deep-rooted the class divide was in 20th century Britain.
• Mrs Birling’s rejection of Eva’s case was purely based on prejudice, shown by Mrs Birling’s generalisation “ girls of that class ”.
• Mrs Birling attempts to convey a demand of respect through her formal and complex vocabulary, evidenced by her accusing the Inspector as being “ a trifle impertinent ”.
• Mrs Birling admonishes Mr Birling when he compliments his own chef, accidentally betraying that he is not from the same class as his wife, who tells him that he isn’t “ supposed to say such things ”.
• Mrs Birling sees her treatment of Eva as valid, unashamedly declaring that Eva’s “ impertinence ” in claiming to be “ Mrs Birling ” as “ one of the things that prejudiced me against her ”.
• Mrs Birling desires to maintain an image of not associating with, and almost ignoring the existence of, lower-class people.
• Mrs Birling’s upper class social etiquette and mannerisms are not natural to Mr Birling, causing embarrassment to Mrs Birling.
• Mrs Birling is a prominent member of the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation, implying that her role is not held out of care or compassion for the poor, but as a way to gain influence and status due to her self-professed “prominent” status.
• Priestley’s use of the adjective “ rude ” reveals Mrs Birling’s perception of the Inspector as disrespectful, causing her to attempt to undermine his authority and devalidate his argument, meaning that they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions.