AN INSPECTOR CALLS - CHARACTERS AND THEMES
ARTHUR BIRLING
WHAT IS THIS CHARACTER LIKE?
● Egotistical, Chauvinistic, Self-regarding, Disinclined, Capitalist, Intransigent,
Adamant, Avaricious, Mercenary, Rapacious, Sanctimonious, Polarised
● Mr Birling is Priestley’s socialist depiction of the vast majority of his class and
generation at the time and is a culmination of everything Priestley fought
against in society – the chauvinistic capitalists. As co-founder of the socialist
party it is evident that Mr Birling represents that capitalist sentiments that
Priestly detests.
● Arthur Birling’s significance is to represent the absurdity and shallowness of
capitalism and the evident need for revolutionary developments to be made to
society.
● He is archetypal of the bourgeoisie, capital class.
● Priestley makes him the antithesis of the Inspector through the use of his
dictation and authority - Birling has artificial authority based on money and
social prestige, whereas the Inspector has authority deriving from morality and
justice and has the power to influence the mindset of many people.
KEY QUOTES AND EXPLANATION
● [Act 1] ‘(Rather provincial in his speech)’ –newly rich and has worked his
way to bourgeoisie, ‘provincial’ connotes that Arthur’s language is basic, with
limited vocabulary
● ‘Sir George and – er – Lady Croft’ - Priestley uses Birling’s style of speech to
undermine the audience’s approbation for him - he speaks often with
interrupted diction and numerous hiatuses as the use of the hyphen generates
truncated sentences, intellectual uncertainty, lacks the acumen that a more
precise diction would imply, his stumbling manner of speaking is juxtaposed
with the confident fluency of the Inspector, who seems all the more
trustworthy in comparison, Priestley has done this to further emblazon his
capitalist ideologists on the post-war audience.
● ‘You ought to like this port, Gerald. As a matter of fact. Finchley told me
it's the same port your father gets from him’ - socially insecure as Gerald
exceeds him in terms of social status, Priestley is using the port as a symbol to
reveal that Mr Birling is a materialistic character who cares about his status
and reputation above all else, uses it to ingratiate himself to his prospective
son-in-law.
,● ‘Are you listening, Sheila? This concerns you too. And after all I don’t
often make speeches at you-' – highlights his attempts to indoctrinate Sheila
with capitalist propaganda, the direct address to Sheila exhibits that Mr Birling
wants Shelia’s utmost attention as he expresses his materialistic ideologies
such, presenting Birling as manipulative and calculated.
● ‘Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together –
for lower costs and higher prices’ - explicit focus on the mundane matter of
money makes it clear that this is the underlying and prime reason for Birling’s
excitement, transition from love to money is bathetic and reveals his hidden
agenda of greed and self-interest, sees the marriage as an opportunity to climb
the social ladder into a higher state of authority and an entrepreneurial
opportunity to expand his material gain and profits, the adverbial phrase
‘working together’ evokes the idea of collectiveness, harmony and has altruistic
connotations and follows the socialist ideology, however the two companies
are not cooperating to better humanity and it is implicitly a business tactic to
monopolise and to gain considerable wealth, Birling has used company unison
to create even more division between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
● ‘Clothes mean something quite different to a woman. Not just something
to wear - and not only something to make 'em look prettier’ – pronounced
sexism, degrading, believe that clothes, appearance and other characteristics
linked to Edwardian femininity give women their identity, signifies that
clothing, and materialistic appearances were the only attributes that men
during the Edwardian Era regarded a woman’s dignity from, obscure
conceptualisation of how women were merely obliged to use their exterior
appearances to obtain any respect or veneration from Edwardian men.
● ‘I’m talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business’ – doesn’t let
sentiment get in the way of whatever he needs to do to succeed, his prime
motive is to keep wages down and maximise profit, he has a high opinion of his
own importance, alliteration conveys a sense of aggression and forcefulness.
● There's a lot of wild talk about possible labour trouble in the near future.
Don't worry. We've passed the worst of it’ – dramatic irony, in 1926, the
miners went on strike for nine days as part of what became known as the
General Strike. They were joined by dockworkers, ironworkers, printers,
railwaymen, steelworkers and transport workers. In total, over a million and a
half workers took part in the industrial action.
● ‘I say there isn’t a chance of war’ – sensitive topic, use of dramatic irony
allows the war-devastated 1945 audience to use hindsight to realise that
Birling’s confident predictions are foolish and injudicious, as the events turned
out in the opposite way he foresees them occurring, the First World War would
begin in July 1914, and last for over 4 years, killing 16 million soldiers and
civilians, and would be followed by WW2 in 1939 - global conflict was
, imminent in 1912, undermining his credibility and reliability, further convinces
Priestley’s idea of socialism by presenting Capitalist Mr Birling, a
representative of capitalism, as short-sighted and making the audience resent
him and cast doubt over his capitalist ideas.
● ‘Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ – following the famous sinking of the
Titanic in 1912 during its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg, the audience
will use hindsight to realise that Birling’s prediction is completely incorrect,
use of dramatic irony and repetition of ‘unsinkable’, to emphasise Birling’s
foolish optimism and reinforce Priestley’s pro-Socialist philosophy, the
audience would begin to attribute the inane comments of Birling to the
common attributes of capitalism and the bourgeoisie.
● ‘As if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and
all that nonsense’ - Mr Birling’s referral to ‘community’ and the idea of ‘bees
in a hive’ as ‘nonsense’ indicates his lack of social awareness as once this simile
has been ruminated, the audience will realise that ‘bees in a hive’ bring about
beneficial things to society.
● ‘A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’ –
prodigiously selfish tendencies, the fact that Birling neglected to mention his
family and placed it second in the list symbolises how his family are at the rear
of his priorities,opposes to the idea of looking after one another and
performing moral duties towards others in society, ignores the idea of social
responsibility and supports a segregated society, preventing the revolutionary
societal change obligatory following WW2.
● ‘I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago’ – Mr Birling
constantly attempts to assert his social class and status through reference to
his previous positions of power, as a defense mechanism, when he feels his
position being challenged by the Inspector’s authority.
● ‘I refused, of course’ – ‘of course’ suggests it Is natural for him to exploit the
subservient proletariat, short sentence structure emphasises that capitalist
were conditioned to placing business interests and public image above the
obligations of others in society, quick to dismiss requests for higher pay.,
instinctive action requiring little consideration.
● ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ – remorseless and callous, refusal to accept
social responsibility for his actions and the effect they had on Eva Smith
reflects his lack of concern for others and his egotistical nature, adamant on the
fact that his capitalistic actions did not even contribute minutely to the girl’s
suicide.
● ‘There’ll be a public scandal’ –mercenary, sees his business interests and
public image as imperative to the obligations of others in society, shows a lack
of concern for the death of one of his former employees.
, ● [Act 2] ‘(Angrily) I really must protest – ‘ – shocked and furious at the way he
is being spoken to, expects to be treated with respect and honour due to his
social class and public image and feels his masculinity is being undermined,
dash – cut off by the Inspector
● ‘You’ll apologise at once’ - directly addresses and commands the Inspector,
use of imperative, tries to gain authority and power over the Inspector.
● [Act 3] ‘There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did’ – moral
standing is not resolved, lack of regret or remorse for his actions, doesn’t learn
from the Inspector’s words, unwilling to change, traditionalist.
● ‘(Excitedly) By Jingo! A fake!’ – exclamation marks and stage direction
emphasise delight at avoidance of a public scandal, believes ‘it makes all the
difference’ that the Inspector is not a professional member of the Brumley
police force.
● ‘Look, you’d better ask Gerald for that ring you gave back to him, hadn’t
you? Then you’ll feel better' - attempting to re-build relationship between his
daughter and ex-fiancé, simply for his financial gain.
● ‘I’d give thousands, yes thousands’ – attempts to show sorrow with money,
absorbed in thoughts of wealth, repetition of 'thousands' emphasises the
extreme lengths he would go to in order to maintain his social reputation and
avoid a public scandal, juxtaposes his initial refusal to marginally increase Eva
Smith's wage by a minimal amount of shillings.
● ‘Probably a socialist or some sort of crank’ – negative view on Socialism,
however this would encourage the audience to show interest and appeal to
Socialism as they have been driven to resent Birling.
● ‘(Looks in a panic stricken fashion at the others)’ – panicked and alarmed,
fear and dread of not having learnt his lesson.
● ‘A police inspector is on his way here – to ask some – questions-’ – dashes
show shock and panic, struggling to articulate himself, cyclical structure –
Socialist message that if societal views do not change, it will be stuck in a
continual cycle of suffering.
SYBIL BIRLING
WHAT IS SHE LIKE?
● Arrogant, Supercilious, Unapproachable, Pompous, Traditional, Prejudiced,
Haughty, Cold-hearted, Self-centred, Prudish, Insular
QUOTES AND EXPLANATION
