Eric Birling quotes analysis

• "you killed her...

  Priestley encourages the audience to sympathise with Eric. Despite the Inspector's attempts to enlighten the Birling family that they are all jointly responsible, Eric's accusation of blame upon his mother is tantamount to Mrs Birling's blame on the 'father'. By merely placing all the blame upon his mother, with 'you killed her', Eric attempts to absolve himself from any blame
• 'You don't understand...

  Eric continues to undermine himself as he berates his mother, 'you don't understand anything. You never did. You never even tried'. Priestley's use of repetition and hyperbole creates a parody of the sweeping statements we might expect a teenager to use in an argument with their parents.
• "I hate these fat...

  Eric's proclamation of 'I hate these fat old tarts' reveals his disgust at his own hypocrisy in frequenting the palace bar, looking for sex. Priestley implies, through Eric, that for all men it is a social normality to pay for sex. The upper class use of prostitution is symbolic of their exploitation of the female lower class, who are the prostitutes that are abused by high class men
• '(involuntary)...

  Eric's emotional response to the news of Eva's death as Priestley demonstrates his innate rectitude through stage directions. Priestley's use of the adverb 'involuntary' demonstrates the moral nature of Eric as he could not suppress his emotional reaction; it is 'involuntary'. Eric would not choose to reveal his emotions, within a patriarchal society which condemns feminine traits, such as excessive emotion
• 'In that state...

  Priestley demonstrates Eric's subconscious attempts to distance himself from his actions by switching from first person to third person as he refers to himself as 'a chap' rather than 'I'. Eric's trivialisation of such violence of a possible rape, through colloquial use of 'chap' is an attempt by Eric to soften the harshness of his actions.