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An Inspector Calls Essay answering the question: How far does Priestley present Mr Birling as an unlikeable character? Marked as a 30/30 essay
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How far does Priestley present Mr Birling as an unlikeable character?To be an unlikeable character within society reflects the neglection of your collective
responsibilities, acting as an individual, refusing to bear the consequences of your actions
and hence remaining ignorant to the thoughts and situations in life that highlight the truth
of your shadow, the flaws within your true self. The ‘rather portentous man’ of Mr Birling,
the antagonist of ‘An Inspector Calls,’ can be seen as somewhat unlikeable, too self-
absorbed within his ‘pink and intimate lighting’ to comprehend the flaws in his morality,
that indeed ‘we are all members of one body’ and his responsibility is to not only ‘look after
himself and his own’ but that ‘we are responsible for each other.’
As the physical embodiment of a capitalist, upper class businessman in Edwardian society
Mr Birling’s character and morals clearly juxtapose those of the Inspector’s. We see that as
Priestley’s mouthpiece, the Inspector, symbolises socialism: working together with a sense
of ‘community’ as all ‘members of one body’ and hence to the post-war Edwardian audience
he would be seen as morally superior, presenting Mr Birling to be unlikeable because of his
capitalist attitudes. A post-war Edwardian audience would have understood the value of
working together, that the war effort consisted of working together as a ‘community’ like
‘bees in a hive.’ They understood that each and every member of their society mattered and
regardless of social status, they had the same purpose to fulfil and thus are of the equal
importance. That Eva Smith and himself are no better than each other, but equal. Mr Birling
is a representation of the attitudes upper-class of Edwardian England before the war, and
they have the same hope that Mr Birling will accept his shadow the way they did with the
Divine Intervention of the Inspector.
At the start of the play, Mr Birling asks for ‘more light’ making it ‘brighter and harder’ than
the current ‘pink and intimate lighting.’ The shift from making the ‘pink and intimate
lighting’ ‘brighter and harder’ almost mimics a journey of redemption, to reach
enlightenment. Foreshadowing Mr Birling’s potential journey to enlightenment, breaking his
cycle, oupensky’s theory of eternal recurrence taking the opportunity he is given by the
Inspector to learn from his mistakes and break out of his ‘pink and intimate lighting’ to see
his true self. To see beyond what he perceives himself to be, a ‘hard-headed practical man
of business,’ because the ‘pink and intimate lighting’ although it provides a metaphorical
blanket of comfort, that he is an upper-class businessman and not his reality, Mrs Birling’s
social inferior. It shrouds his true self, his ‘fairly easy manners’ and the fact that he was once
similar to Eva Smith, but worked his way up in social status, hence marrying Mrs Birling. By
asking for ‘more light’ he is essentially asking for change, to reveal his true self that is hidden
in the façade of his ‘pink and intimate lighting.’ But we question whether Mr Birling does
this knowingly.
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