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Grade 9 An Inspector Calls essay on Mr Birling
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This is a Grade 9 essay which focuses on Mr Birling, helping me to achieve a Grade 9 in English literature.
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Mr Birling, the middle-aged patriarch of the Birling family, is used by Priestley to represent thenarrow-minded, capitalist older generation in the upper middle classes during the Edwardian era. He
is a construct to show the negative aspects of Capitalism in order for Priestley to voice his own anti-
capitalist beliefs.
In his first appearance, Priestley establishes Birling’s position in society. In the stage directions he is
introduced as being “rather provincial in his speech” and that his wife is his “social superior” which
implies that he has accumulated his wealth throughout his lifetime thus becoming an example of
social mobility. Moreover the adjective “provincial” has connotations of unsophistication and
unwilling nature to accept new ideas and change which could have been foreshadowing his
behaviour in future events and that he would not change. However Priestley also describes his
house as a “large suburban house” with “good solid furniture” which brings about the idea of
materialism and greediness giving him a negative impression. As The Inspector Calls is an allegory
Priestley gives Mr Birling (who represents Capitalism and the Conservatives) a negative impression
to reflect his own personal negative views on capitalism and create the notion that all capitalist men
were all greedy for wealth and power. Therefore Priestley presents Mr Birling as a typical upper
middle class man.
Priestley also uses Mr Birling to create a disparity between the working class and the upper and
middle classes. Mr Birling repeatedly refers to himself as a “hard headed business man.” The
metaphor outlines his arrogance and self-importance and also reinforces the idea that Birling is a
Conservative and so thinks that people should make their own way into the world, and that if
business did well, everyone would do well. The adjective “hard headed” also has connotations of
something unsentimental. This could be a reference to the wars where owners of business, like Mr
Birling, would have made profit from the country’s losses as they provided essentials for soldiers
such as clothing. Therefore Priestley could be implying that Capitalists did not show concern for the
country’s people and exploited them for money portraying them in a negative light. In addition to
this the adjective could foreshadow Mr Birling’s inability to take responsibility for Eva’s death and
understand the Inspector’s moral message. This is significant as due to the irresponsibility of
Capitalists such as Mr Birling difficulties such as the Wall Street Crash and the economic depression
has occurred. The post-war audience would have endured these difficulties thus evoking a negative
response to his behaviour. It is also an allusion to the “hard headed man of business,” a phrase used
by the prime minister Sir Stanley Baldwin between the wars who was a member of the Conservative
party and an upper class member of society which was most likely well known by the audience in
1946. Therefore Priestley could be attacking Capitalism through this by suggesting that Capitalists
did not learn their lesson from the First World War which was believed to be the “war to end all
wars” and so another one occurred due to the Conservative government and their misconceptions.
His ideas on capitalism are further emphasised when he dismisses famous socialist writers such as
HG Wells and Bernard Shaw describing a “community” as “nonsense” where the noun “nonsense”
shows that Birling not only disagreeing with socialist views, but that he is not even capable of
understanding them. Moreover the noun “community” brings about a sense of togetherness.
Priestley believed that it was the responsibility of those who have to help those who have nothing
and so Mr Birling’s dismissal of this goes against Priestley’s own socialist ideas perhaps to showcase
the selfish attitudes of the upper class. Moreover working conditions were much harder for most
people than today; workers had very few rights or protection and women’s wages were on average
half that of men’s. Mr Birling was dismissive towards the struggle Eva was going through as when
she asked him to raise her salary he “refused, of course”. The phrase “of course” is used to say
something that is obvious or already known which depicts his derogatory behaviour giving himself a
negative impression. Perhaps it also implies that it was common to dismiss the working class which
further adds to his negative attributes and as a result capitalism as a whole is discredited. Priestley
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