From the start Mr Birling is shown
arrogant, in his ways and speech
From the start audience can't
trust his judgement
Page 6
THEME
"Unsinkable, absolutely
unsinkable"
We see from the start that Mr Birling is very font of himself and
throughout the play he gets more big headed and tries to cover
instead of taking responsibility
Dramatic Irony
Referring to the titanic, which sank
Page 7
Repetition of the adjective
"unsinkable"
"The time when Crofts and Birlings
are no longer competing but are
working together- for lower costs higher prices"
Is less bothered about his daughter's
engagement but more bothered about business
Capitalism
All he cares about is himself and how
to improve his reputation/business
He doesn't care about
anyone but himself
Generation Gap
Sheila and Eric represent the younger generation they wouldn't
think like this they would differently people are people not just
cheap labour
Capitalism
Vs
Socialism
"I refused of course"
Puts work in front of family shows he's
a uncaring man that has no empathy
towards others
The audience can see that the family
isn't very close with each other
Page 4
The adjectives "lower"
and "higher"
"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"
Capitalism
Capital views in which the rich get richer and the
poor get poorer. outlines the wrong in society
through Mr Birling
The audience would disagree with
Birling and agree with the sub moral of
the story
Capitalism
Vs
Socialism
The inspector and Mr Birling have different views upon how
people should be treated. Priestly is showing the immorally
wrong opinions of Mr Birling
The audience see Mr Birling more
erroneous rather than a rich intelligent
man
Generation Gap
Eric and Sheila represent the younger generation in which they
believe the opposite. They both have socialist views and believe
you should treat people better
Simile
Page 7
Noun "community"
"A man has to make his own way -
has to look after himself"
"(rather impatiently)"
"Yes, yes. Horrid business. But I don't see why
you should come here inspector-"
Repetition of the minor sentences "Yes,yes"
Capitalism
Values his reputation over someones life.
Priestly is telling us this Capitalist attitude is
unjustifiably wrong
Generation Gap
If we juxtapose Sheila's reaction and Birling we can see that
Sheila is more caring and has some empathy towards Eva
smith's death
"recognises it, with a little
cry gives a half-stifle sob,
and the runs out"
Stage direction
Shows how emotional
Sheila was compared to
Birling
"What's the matter with her?"
Page 23
Shows a younger more open minded generation
Page 12
Stage direction
Suggests he isn't bothered about anyone but himself
Lack of compassion
Makes the audience feel angry about his
capitalist view points of every man has to
look after himself
"This makes a difference, y'know. In
fact , it makes all the difference"
"Repetition of "difference"
Birling takes no responsibility even at the end he
carries on with his capitalist views
Not even at the end of the play
no responsibility
Capitalism
All he cares about is his reputation,
has no sympathy towards others
Can juxtapose the other characters and see how his
capitalist views are impacting others he doesn't care
about Eva Smith's death
After realising in act 3 that the inspector isn't real officer he is very excited
because he can cover and keep his good reputation
"There'll be a public scandal"
Noun "Scandal"
Even though he knows the inspector wasn't real he still doesn't see the main
problem and carries on taking no responsibility by blaming his own son Eric
"You're the one to blame for this"
The audience expect this behaviour from
Mr Birling and find ironic he calls Eric a
child because he's the one acting like a
child by not taking responsibility