Discuss Priestley's depiction of the Birling household and Gerald
Croft, prior to the arrival of Inspector Goole
In this submission I hope to fully discuss Priestley's depiction of
the Birling household and Gerald Croft, prior to the arrival of
Inspector Goole. The play is set in the fictional town of Brumley, an
industrial town in the North Midlands. It is evening in the town, in
the spring of 1912. At the moment the play starts the characters are
celebrating the engagement between Gerald Croft and the Birling
family's only daughter Sheila. They are all very pleased with
themselves and are enjoying the occasion.
The house is described as being a fairly large suburban house. The
furniture in the rooms is described as being, "good solid furniture of
the period. The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable,
but not cosy and homelike." As you will see later Mr. Birling always
wants to make the impression that he is better than his guest, or at
least is his guest's social equal. The furniture in the house may be
another one of Birling's attempt to make the guest feel this way. He
doesn't want to make the guest feel comfortable in his home he wants
to make them feel small and insignificant in comparison to himself.
Mrs. Birling is, herself, a person that is obsessed by social class,
she may have selected the furniture herself as a way of showing off
their status and again making their guests feel as if they aren't as
"good" as the Birling family. Birling as you will see later is the
stereotypical capitalist of the time. He will do anything to make
himself look and feel as if he is better than his guest. The furniture
represents the Birling families longing for status.
In the early 1900s social status was virtually everything. This was
because socialism dominated the whole of the United Kingdom. The
vertical social ladder of status was what controlled who was a
"somebody" and who was a "nobody". The description of the house is a
good example of how unsocial many families were during this time
because all anybody, who was "anybody", wanted was to show how wealthy
they were, and to climb the social ladder.
I shall now talk about the characters themselves.
Mr. Birling is described as being, "a heavy-looking, rather portentous
man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather
provincial in his speech." He is a prosperous factory owner and is "a
self made man". He follows all the capitalist traits of the time and
works heavily under the capitalist business mentality, "build them
cheap, sell them expensive".
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
This is the concept of collective responsibility. Priestley says, 'things could really improve if only people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others'. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them. The play starts off with the Birling family celebrating their daughter's engagement to Gerald Croft. The family included Mr Birling, Mrs Birling, Eric Birling, Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft.
Priestley shows that the tension is within Birling’s family in many ways. He has created the setting of the play in Birling’s dining room where all the traumatic situations occur, it’s also where they hear unpleasant news from Inspector’s arrival. This setting also makes it seem claustrophobic where the audience are controlled by Inspector’s enquiry which heightens the tension of the play between the exit and entrance in the play. An Inspector Calls starts off calmly with ‘pink and intimate’ lighting which once after Inspector’s arrival the atmosphere becomes ‘brighter and harder’. Priestley here is showing us the warning of the forthcoming quandaries. This could also mean the calmness will no longer last as the play goes on just as how Mr. Birling’s optimism is short-sighted.
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
Drama in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley is the author of 'An Inspector Calls', he wrote and published the play in 1945. The play he created was set in an industrial town called 'Brumley'. In 'An Inspector Calls' there are six main characters, one being an inspector who goes by the name of Goole. Inspector Goole questions the five other characters about a young working-class woman's, named Eva, death. During questioning, each of the Birling family, Sheila, Eric, Sybil and Arthur, all reveal that they have a secret connection with Eva, along with Gerald Croft, who is engaged to Sheila Birling.
In the brief introduction of the story, Wolff mentions, “Helping out with the dishes was a way of showing how considerate he was,” (1356) which shows the initial nature of the couple’s relationship—caring. The caring nature of the couple’s relationship is show again when the wife cuts her hand and the husband, “ran upstairs to the bathroom and rummaged in the medicine chest” (1357). These two instances provide the reader with the notion that the couple, especially the husband in this instance, cares for one other deeply. Though this statement seems to be true, the domestic details serve an alternative purpose as well—symbols. When the conversation begins to become more heated, Wolff demonstrates how, “she was piling dishes on the drainboard at a terrific rate, just wiping them with a cloth” (1356). Wolff’s attention to this detail shows how the frustration of the wife is building up and ultimately leads to her stabbing her finger. The water of the sink, “flat and gray” (1357) symbolizes the essence of their conversation—gloomy and going nowhere. Towards the end of the story, the husband cleans the house as it was when they first moved in which symbolizes how their relationship is reverting back to the beginning when they were
Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls The play an Inspector Call’s was written at the time of 1945 but is set in 1912. Priestley conveys a lot of social and important messages in this play. He conveys the messages through the character of Inspector Goole. One most important message that Priestley conveys is about Socialism.
Through his play Priestley endeavoured to convey a message to the audiences, that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He used the Birling family as an example of the Capitalist family that was common amongst the higher classes in 1912, who took no responsibility for other people and he showed this with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector; the uneasy facade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they considered to be lower class could not stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what had happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.
In the play “An inspector calls” by J.B priestly, Mr Birling and Shelia Birling have contrasting attitudes to social issues. The author uses this to difference to highlight the diversity between generations and their reaction to situations faced. Arthur Birling is the father to Shelia Birling and is presented as the old fashion generation whereas Shelia is the young generation, who is more aware of the responsibility she has towards other people.The play begins with Mr birling and his family celebrating the engagement of Shelia and Gerald. The atmosphere is happy and light-hearted. Before the inspector arrives, Mr Birling is happy with life and himself “It’s one of the happiest nights of my life.” This shows that Mr Birling is quire selfish because he only thinks that it is one of the happiest nights of his life and not of Shelia and Gerald.
The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft
J.B. Priestley starts the play by introducing the Birling family. He starts with an engagement party between the Birling’s and Crofts. He creat...
it has nice furniture and antiques so that it appears to be comfortable and old
but she seems to be a person who would only marry for love and not for
According to this situation, we found out the various essential elements of “Your Choice Furniture”.