Capitalist personified, as he stands to represent typical upper class men
Birling
Heavy looking rather portentous man in his middle fifties
Held weight for priestlycontemporary audience as a generation emerging from rationing and war
His heaviness is deeply metaphorical both physicallytheoretical it is a physical assertion of the solidity of his status whilst also standing to represent his undisciplinedtendencies
Portentous
Adjective used to expose the superficiality of capitalist
It highlights how desperate Birling is to assert and justify his status showing he can only see value in wealth and status
Priestly advertises capitalism as an ostentatious affair in order to satirise it
Birling's household
Substantial and heavily comfortable but not cosy or homelike
Leads the reader to pity the cosmetic nature of Birling's wealth
