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An Inspector Calls Themes Essay Plans
A compilation of essay plans (including points to make, context, and quotations) to respond to questions on each theme in the play.
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Mr Birling: How does Priestley present the character of Mr Birling in AIC?Essay Points
1. Mr Birling is portrayed as an arrogant individual who feels as though it is his duty to lecture the ‘young ones’ about social
issues
2. Mr Birling displays patronizing views about women and appears somewhat possessive over his wife and daughter
3. Mr Birling’s main concern is making money and gaining power/status
Quotes
‘And I’m talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business. And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The world’s developing so fast
that it’ll make war impossible’
‘… Clothes mean something quite different to a woman. Not just something to wear- and not only something to make ‘em look
prettier- but- well, a sort of sign or token of their self-respect’
‘We may look forward to a time when the Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together- for lower costs
and higher prices’
‘Is there any reason why my wife should answer questions from you, Inspector?’
‘I don’t want to lecture you too young fellows again’
‘Just keep quiet Eric, and don’t get excited’
‘Nothing to do with you Sheila. Run along’
To Sheila later: ‘If you’d had any sense of loyalty’
‘If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth’
‘Look at the way he talked to me’
Mr Birling (about Police Chief): ‘perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently’
‘She had a lot to say- far too much- so she had to go’
‘If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward
wouldn’t it?’
‘A man has to make his own way- had to look after himself- and his family too’
‘The way some of these cranks talk… you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together
like bees in a hive- community and all that nonsense’
‘You’re not the kind of father a chap can go to when he’s in trouble’
Context
Capitalism vs socialism: Priestley used Mr Birling to illustrate his views on the incompetence of capitalists (when Mr Birling
claims the titanic is ‘unsinkable’
Play first performed in 1946 but set in 1912: dramatic irony (where there is a disparity between what various characters know or
(in this case) between what the audience known compared to the characters
Mr Birling as a greedy, capitalist individual who only cares for himself- results in individuals like Eva Smith suffering
Audience mostly of similar middle-upper class: Eva Smith’s of the world will continue to suffer without change (it is the
responsibility of those in positions of power)
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