mr birling - AIC

• MR Birling


  • Themes:
  • Social Class
  • Responsibility
  • Capitalism vs Socialism
• MR Birling: 'as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive - community and all that nonsense - intertwinning unimportant'
• Zoomorphism


  Describing people as bees - belittling and degrading the lower class
• MR Birling feels


  The responsibility should be left to the "animals" (lower class)
• MR Birling has a physical repulsion - can't bring himself to say the word "community"
• MR Birling is a stagnant character - refuses to adapt or grow
• Inspector


  • Themes:
  • Capitalism vs Socialism
  • Responsibilities
• Inspector: 'public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges'
• Syntax


  Inspector's fragmented sentences break down the lack of accountability and responsibility in MR Birling
• Inspector emphasises importance of responsibilities

  MR Birling portrays his priorities as his privileges and materialistic gains
• The Inspector is a plot device to make people in 1945 blame people like MR Birling for wars
• MR Birling


  • Themes:
  • Old vs Young
  • Guilt
• MR Birling: 'The famous younger generation who know it all and now they can't even take a joke'
• MR Birling mockingly labels the younger generation, showing his irony and callous dismissal of the suicide as a mere joke
• Priestley set the play in 1912 to criticise behaviours that people in 1945 should no longer take
• MR Birling


  • Themes:
  • Old vs Young
  • Guilt
  • Social Class
• MR Birling: 'There'll be a DIVINE RETRIBUTION - public scandal'
• MR Birling uses euphemistic language to downplay the seriousness of his actions, showing his stubbornness and refusal to acknowledge the truth
• MR Birling shows no remorse for his exploitation and neglects his individual duties, fearing his crafted facade might be destroyed
• His arrogance leads him to dismiss any criticism as "nonsense" and refuse to listen to other perspectives.
• Mr Birling's attitude towards social class reflects the values of the upper middle class during the time period.
• He believes that his wealth gives him power over others and expects to be treated with respect by everyone around him.