Arthur Birling

• Arthur birling is a wealthy factory owner, at the beginning, he is excited about his daughter’s engagement, and it will give him connections to other businesses that he can join with a make a bigger profit. When the Inspector arrives, he tries to use his power to get himself out of the situation.
• Arthur is questioned first about Eva Smith and admits to firing her because she asked for a pay rise. He is worried about a public scandal and thinks that this will reflect badly on him and affect his expected knighthood. At the end of the play, he calls the police to ask about Inspector Goole and finds out that he wasn’t a real inspector at along, this pleases him as he can try to cover up what happened, so it won’t affect his reputation. He then gets a call from the police saying a girl has just died and an inspector will be sent over for questioning.

   
• "Its my duty to keep labour costs down"
• "hard-headed business man"
• Arthur Birling is a capitalist which opposes Priestley's socialist views.
• "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable"