Mrs Birling quote analysis

• 'What business is it...

  Priestley's use of this rhetorical question evidences the arrogance of Mrs Birling and her sense of superiority. This is clear as the Inspector's job is to 'ask questions' and therefore anything related to the death of Eva Smith is the Inspector's 'business'
• "You'll have to get..

  Mrs Birling provides no comfort to her daughter, Shelia when she feels insecure about Gerald's absence and potential affair, instead upholding patriarchal normalities by telling her to 'get used to that' feeling. This is a demonstration of a societal double standard; contemporary women are shunned if they did not abstain from sex outside of marriage, while men were not condemned for doing so.
• "Her husbands...

  Mrs Birling is, as Priestley describes her in the stage directions as her husbands 'social superior'. Therefore, her upper class social etiquette and mannerisms are not natural to Mr Birling and we see that this causes embarrassment to Mrs Birling. Image, the way they perceived by others, is everything.
• "Don't contradict me...

  Priestley presents Mrs Birling as symbolic of conservatism and resistant to change. By contrast, Shelia is representative of the younger generation who embrace radical change and need for socialism
• "I did my duty...

  Priestley's use of the noun 'duty' is used to expose Mrs Birling's perception of duty as limited to a capitalist social duty of keeping rich people rich and poor people poor. In doing so, she neglects her moral duty to provide assistance to those most in need.