GRADE 9 GCSE An Inspector Calls - Arthur Birling Essay.
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This is an exemplar essay, including Grade 9 terminology and techniques. This essay fits the AQA GCSE English Literature curriculum. It includes ambitious vocabulary, judiciously picked quotes and so much more. This is an amazing resource to revise from and will provide amazing structure for future...
Mr Birling is used as a ridicule of the capitalist bourgeoisie in the early 20th century. His
obstinance and heedlessness defines all of his exchanges, whether with his family, Eva
Smith or the Inspector, and his negligence to accept responsibility and for his actions acts as
a reprimand from Priestley and an alert of the need for social responsibility and sensitivity.
Along the duration of the play we discover the orientation of this ‘hard-headed business
man.’Through Arthur Birling’s character, Priestley not only challenges the capitalist viewpoint
that dominates society but also criticises the irresponsibility of the wealthy, older generation.
In the beginning of act 1 we immediately are introduced to the selfish nature of Mr
Birling. Our initial establishment as an audience of Mr Birling is hearing his notorious
speech about society and his confident declaration of the Titanic being ‘unsinkable,
absolutely unsinkable.’ This use of dramatic irony in this quote confirms all we need to know
about Mr Birlings attitude. Priestley shows the audience that these, one of many views that
Birling obtains, are foolish and arrogant because as an audience we know that the Titanic
did sink. Perhaps Priestley wanted to instantly convey that Birling is foolish and wrong so the
audience learns not to trust his views from the beginning. Soon after Birling begins to boast
that a ‘man has to mind his own business, look after himself and his own’. As a conceited
magnate, Arthur believes that a man should work hard to be prosperous in life and has no
desire in assisting his workers or the wider community that he holds power over. Priestley’s
use of the pronouns ‘himself’ and ‘his’ indicates that Birling is only interested in himself and
supports the capitalist view that a man should only care about himself. By structuring
Birling’s speech in this order, Priestley has brilliantly disclosed to the audience Birling is
wrong so that they do not trust the capitalist views he proudly shares with Gerald and Eric.
Additionally, Priestley has the Inspector enter at this moment to demonstrate that Arthur’s
views are foolish and deserve to be interrupted.
Whilst the Inspector begins to gradually expose the faults of this affluent family, Priestley
presents Mr Birling as irresponsible. He selfishly admits that he ‘refused’ to give his
workers higher wages ‘of course’. Rather than choosing to take accountability as an
employer and giving his workers a raise that he could easily afford, Arthur Birling proudly
refuses to give his workers any more money. Priestley uses the words ‘of course’ to illustrate
that Birling believes he was correct in refusing his workers any more money and that it was
the conspicuous decision to make. By proposing that Birling thinks this was obvious,
Priestley implies many wealthy businessmen adopted the selfish model of paying their
workers a minimum amount of money so that they could benefit from a higher profit. He
refuses to accept any responsibility for his role in Eva’s suicide, stating immediately that
there is nothing “mysterious - or scandalous - in this business.” Priestley’s use of dashes
here emphasises the word “scandalous”, emphasising Mr Birling’s concern with his own
public reputation rather than the ethics of how he treats his workers. Not only does Birling
fail to fulfil his duty of looking after his workers, he also refuses to admit that he played a role
in Eva Smith’s death. As the Inspector continues to interrogate him, Arthur Birling admits that
he ‘cannot take any responsibility’ for Eva’s death. Despite knowing that by firing Eva could
have contributed to her death, he chooses not to acknowledge this. Priestley’s use of the
word ‘any’ could be used to imply that Birling is unwilling to take even a small part of
responsibility in her death which shows he is unsympathetic of the difficulties faced by the
working class. Not only does Priestley use Birling to criticise the wealthy businessmen who
did not take responsibility for their workers, he also criticises the way in which the older
generation were too stubborn to learn from their mistakes. Perhaps Priestley wanted to
encourage his audience to see the consequences of selfish behaviour in order to encourage
them to take more responsibility.
As the Inspector prepares to leave, Priestley demonstrates that Arthur Birling is
unwilling to learn in order to challenge the stubborn nature of the older generation.
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