MR BIRLING

• Mr birling

  Mr birling is an upper class social elite of pre - bellum england in a static society. Filled with insecurity from his lower class origins and provincial speech, he endavours into the hands of portentous attitude for approval of upper echelons of society like the crofts. These capitalistic idealogies have influenced him to the point of viewing his own family as nothing more than objectified profiteers for his financial game to feed an ego. He openly follows a patriarchal value of traditional oppression in his family - indifference to sheila and Ms Birl but in the Ms Birl character
• SHEILA

  He objectifies sheila in her engagement to Gerald and later follows with patriarchal dismissal of her feelings at Gerald's affair. He uses sheila as a tool to make connections with bigger and superior echelons like the "older and bigger" business of the crofts, he cant maintain his excitement for the boost in financial gain this alliance would bring him, his ego can barely resist from making the toast of the engagement itself a reflection of his egotistical money hungry capitalism, "lower costs and higher prices"
• GERALD

  As geralds social superiority in his household name of nobility, mr birling largely feels a sense of inferiority as part of the Nouveau Riche of 1912 society, unaccepted and a social imposter to the generational stances of old money, he stands to desperately climb to aristocracy in able to have a chance at securing a place and name to his wealth, he urges to Gerald he has a "very good chance of knighthood", without much congratulation on the intention of heartwarming engagement between sheila and gerald, he cant hold in the egotistical confidence and triumphant flex of his rising power
• BIRLING

  Its understandable a lot of Mr Birling's lack of empathy comes directly from his status as Nouveau riche, the idea that he paved his own way to the upper middle/upper class of society in such a rare circumstance considering working and wage conditions of 1912 society, who had barely introduced a minimum wage with no welfare system governmentally regulated, allowed him to develop the idea that anyone could do what he did, that the lower class are simply too lazy or not worthy enough of his rank, "a man has to make his own way - has to look after himself"
• BIRLONG

  this is even contrasted in the figure of speech both the inspector and birling use, the inspector speaks "carefully, weight fully" the perception of a logical structured stream of argument, calmly presented and able to withstand the logical fallacies in mr birling's jumbled and egotistical prejudices, his speech is diluted in dashes and hesitations, even being interrupted by the inspector from the very beginning. his arguments are proven invalid to an audience " unsinkable' 'the germans don't want war'