Mr Birling

• "Titanic [...] unsinkable" and "silly little war scares" Act 1

  • Dramatic irony - The audience already knows that the Titanic sank in 1912 and that there will be a great war in 1014 but the play was set before these events when he says this. --> makes him seem untrustworthy and this already reflects on his character
• "A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own"

  • Reflects on Birling's capitalist views --> selfish
  • double meaning of "business" - could mean work but also personal life, it's ironic because his 'business' gets exposed a bit later
• "If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody [...] it would be very awkward, wouldn't it?"

  • Foreshadowing - The family doesn't expect responsibility but later on in the play they would have to
• "Clothes mean something quite different to a woman"

  • Women were judged primarily on their appearance which dictated how they were treated
• “as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense”

  • Simile - bees in a hive all have equal roles apart from the queen, Birling doesn't want equality and he tries to trivialise the concept of socialism by saying it's "nonsense"
• "Perhaps we may look forward to a time when the Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together"

  • Uses Sheila's marriage to Gerald as a ticket to move up a class
  • talks about his business --> capitalist and greedy for money