Mrs Birling

• "Sheila! What an expression! Really the things you girls pick up these days"

  Act 1


  -she scolds her daughter - her superficiality driven codes of conduct are exposed as she cares more about speech and etiquette than morality

  -noun "girl"- belittles sheila in order to dismiss her behaviour and portrays it as foolish or uncouth

  -reinforces seperation between older generation who are robust to these newer ways of thinking and the younger ones that seem vulnerable to "pick[ing]" them up as if they were a disease
• "He's only a boy"

  "Well really! Alderman and Meggarty! We really are learning something tonight"

  Act 2


  -Priestley uses dramatic irony- Mrs B absolves Erics behaviour whilst drinking- Eric is clearly not as innocent as she thinks - exposes her ignorance and oblivion to her children

  -Exposes how ignorant she is to what happens around her- encapsulated within an artificial bubble she has made for herself

  -could show her desperation to condemn and denounce others to distract from any of her flaws and deny taking responsibility
• "Gross impertinence"

  "I consider it did my duty"

  Act 2


  -"gross impertinence" - prejudice and egotism amplified at her disgust towards Eva - hyperbolic as she merely used her name, shows how highly Mrs B regards herself that she believes it is a great misconduct to insult her status

  -"i consider it did my duty" - her arrogance is overarching - irony as she juxtaposes what someone in a philanthropic position should do

  -noun "duty"- could be used to explore the disparity in the perspectives of capitalists and socialists - Mrs Bs duty may be to uphold the class gap refusing Eva help
• "No-Eric-please-i didn't know- I didn't understand"

  Act 3


  -Mouthpiece for Priestley to explain why it is necessary as charity organisations are rife with too much prejudice to be able to provide care for all those who need it

  -closest to remorse we see Mrs Birling - staccato and fragmented speech depicts her inability to communicate regarding these unfamiliar matters - disrupted speech could emulate how she is trying to be calculative in her response as she is preoccupied with the maintenance of her pristine reputation
• "I was the only one who didn't give in to him"

  Act 3


  -portrays her distorted perception of pride, she boasts about a lack of moral sensitivity which seems corrupt and callous

  -Priestley critiques how it is the insensitive echelons of society that conduct the most power

  -continued pride in final act - confirms her static character development- fails to navigate the world outside of her egotism and pride

  -Mrs Birling power within the play seems entirely undeserving yet she exercises it consequently