A detailed, wonderful sample grade 9 essay for ‘An Inspector Calls’ for the essay ‘How does Priestley present Mrs Birling as a powerful character?’
Includes 5 paragraphs, feedback of the essay and a detailed in depth breakdown of the character ‘Mrs Birling’
How does Priestley present Mrs Birling as a powerful character?
Write about:
what Mrs Birling says and does in the play which shows her power
how Priestley presents Mrs Birling by the ways he writes.
[30 marks]
AO4 [4 marks]
Sample Answer
Priestley uses the character of Mrs Birling to represent the corrosive influence of power in
the hands of unfeeling authority. Mrs Birling enjoys a great deal of power because of her
social position and has the ability to destroy the life of both Eva and ironically, her own
grandchild. This horrific event serves as an emblem for the way in which power, when used
unfairly, not only affects others, but also has repercussions for the whole of society. Mrs
Birling enjoys power as the wife of a wealthy man, but is also clearly born into a wealthy
family. She enjoys relative power in her own house and also in public life, as seen in her role
in the charity organisation which refuses help to Eva.
The audience’s first impression of Mrs Birling is as a powerful but unsympathetic character.
Priestly presents her as ‘a cold woman’ as an unlikeable character through her speech,
views and interactions with other characters. Mrs Birling’s power allows her to act in a
patronising manner to everyone around her. She is described to be her ‘husband’s social
superior’ showing how she was of a higher class and had married down. She often scolds
him as if he is a child and when he behaves in a way that is not viewed as acceptable by the
higher classes she tells him he ‘mustn’t do that’. This is illustrating to an audience how she is
controlling and the word ‘mustn’t’ makes her speech sound like a command, further
emphasising this point. However, she also acts in a similar way towards her children. When
Sheila begins to speak out and take responsibility Mrs Birling quickly shuts her down and
tells her that she is behaving ‘like a hysterical child’. The patronising tone of her voice
insinuates her superiority. The words ‘hysterical child’ shows the view she has about
children, she thinks that Shelia is behaving in a ‘childish manner’. This is ironic because
Shelia is the one who is acting more maturely – more like an adult, but as she is speaking
out, Mrs Birling is quick to scold her.
Priestley also portrays Mrs Birling’s power as a by-product of the class system. She looks
down on the lower classes, and Priestley clearly illustrates this through her opinion of Eva.
She constantly refers to her as a girl of ‘that class’ as if she is not worthy of respect. When
Eva comes to Mrs Birling ‘friendless and penniless’, she refuses to help her and claims that
she is lying about rejecting money by explaining that ‘a girl of that sort would never refuse
money’. This dismissive tone shows that she does not care for the girl’s problems. She
shows no remorse or regret as she believes that this view of the class system is justified.
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