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Summary How does Priestley present Mr Birling in Act 1?
A summary essay of how Priestley presents Mr Birling in Act 1
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How does Priestley present Birling at the start of ‘An Inspector Calls’Priestley presents Birling as a proud and self-interested man. In Act 1, when Birling and
Gerald are in the dining room Birling talks about how he ‘might find [his] way into the next
Honours List’ and continues to talk about how there’s a ‘very good chance of knighthood’
for Birling. Also, in the stage directions, Birling responds to Gerald ‘confidently’ which
further implies how proud Birling is of himself. Furthermore, in the stage directions, after
Birling’s speech it states that the actor must laugh ‘complacently’ which emphasises how
proud Birling is as he is almost smug at telling Gerald about his possible knighthood. In
addition to that, in the play, the family are celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald; so the
fact that Birling talks about his business with Croft and how it will bring ‘lower costs and
higher prices’ shows that Birling is not really interested in their engagement and sees it
more of a business opportunity which emphasises the point that Gerald is a self-interested
man.
Priestley also ensures that the audience sees Birling as pompous and foolish. In the first act
during one of Birling’s speeches, Birling states that the Titanic is ‘absolutely unsinkable’. The
dramatic irony used here makes the audience suspect that Birling is foolish as the first time
this play was performed in London was in 1946 meaning the whole audience would know
that the Titanic did sink so to the 1946 audience, Birling’s opinions would be considered
foolish. Furthermore, Birling also talks about how ‘the German’s don’t want war’ which is
ironic to the 1946 audience as they have just come out of World War II. He is also
presented as pompous to the audience as he talks to Gerald about how he is a ‘hard-
headed, practical man of business’ which emphasises to the audience that Birling is quite
self-important as he talks continuously about the prosper of his business and how his
business will benefit from Gerald and Sheila’s engagement rather than congratulating the
couple.
Priestley also presents Birling as a social-climber at the start of ‘An Inspector Calls’. Birling is
described as a ‘heavy looking, rather portentous man’ who is rather ‘provincial in speech’
implying that Birling is originally from the countryside. Birling repeatedly tries to solidify the
fact that he is now wealthy and has a high social status by trying to imply to Gerald that he
knows about port and how he ‘doesn’t pretend to know much about it’. This implies to the
audience that Birling is trying to present himself as someone who was born into and brought
up in a high social status by pretending to know about subjects which wealthy people would
know about such as port.
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