The Birling Family as a Family with Bitter, Hard Personalities Throughout the play the Birling family are portrayed in two different ways by the two different generations of the family. The family consists of four members: Arthur Birling, " the hard headed business man " of the family, Sybil Birling, the punctual wife and their two children, Sheila who is in her late twenties and Eric who is in his mid-twenties. The play begins with the family having a celebratory dinner party due to the
the main functions of the inspector. The inspectors role is a key to the plot and conclusion and delivers morals and principles and how the functions of the inspector get used in specific places throughout the play. The play opens with the Birling family and Gerald celebrating the engagement of Gerald and Sheila. It is dramatically effective because you get to see all the characters in one room therefore seeing their personalities, instead of them being introduced one-by-one. They are celebrating
An Inspector calls beings with the Birling family celebrating Shelia's engagement to Gerald Croft, Mr Birlings friends son. In the beginning of the play the light is 'pink and intimate' until the unexpected arrival of the Inspector we find the light change symbolises start of an investigation put under the spotlight, being brought out of their own world into reality. The inspectors arrival is unexpected to the family 'some trouble about a warrant' Mr Birlings first thought to what the arrival
J.B. Priestley, takes the form of a “Whodunit”, it gradually becomes clear that there is an underlying serious issue. The play examines social responsibility, with the Birling family and Gerald Croft being questioned about the suicide of Eva Smith. When the inspector arrives at the Birling estate uninvited he suspects the family of being some way involved in the events leading up to the death of Eva Smith. The Inspector describes Eva Smith as ”A young woman…. A bit out of the ordinary…” As the story
the Birling Family in Priestley's An Inspector Calls The inspector was very successful in his interrogation of the Birling family; each member revealed their past that was connected to the death of Eva Smith. He also brings out the true nature of each individual. Priestly spends much time detailing the scenery at the beginning of the first Act. He also depicts the family well before the inspector arrives. This indicates that the audience needs to have a clear idea of the kind of family Priestley
of Eva Smith. Each one of the Birling family and Gerald pushed Eva Smith a little closer to suicide but no one person was solely responsible for her death. It was not only the Birling's that contributed to Eva Smith's death but her position in the world she was in, she was very poor and low in society Mr Birling was the first person who we were led to believe started off the train of events that led to the death of Eva Smith. I don't believe that Mr Birling did anything that ultimately push
AN INSPECTOR CALLS COMPARE THE LIVES OF EVA SIMTH AND SHEILA BIRLING “Property is that old fashioned way of thinking of a country as a thing and a collection of things on that thing.” This quote is taken directly from J.B.Priestleys late night post scripts on BBC radio in 1940, which were banned for being to critical of the governments actions, and can be used to sum up the capitalist view perfectly. I think this quote is made from the point of view of a capitalist who believes that the
said by Mr Birling, “Just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, you’ll hear some people saying that war is inevitable. Well I say to that - fiddlesticks” This play was first published after the second world war and so the audience will know just how wrong Mr Birling really is. Mr Birling also makes a statement about the ill-fated Titanic. “Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” The audience should know the tale of the Titanic very well and this just demonstrates again how wrong Mr Birling can be.
a more detailed explanation as to why the house may be elevated is that perhaps the Birling’s think they’re on another planet, and separate from other people. This idea is backed up by Mr. Birling saying “a man has to mind his own business, and look after himself, as his own,” this shows that Mr. Birling thinks people should work individually; like the house own its own, above everything. Below the house are a few young children dressed in ragged clothing, looking like poor people of a low
THE PLAY CALLED “AN INSPECTOR CALLS” – BY J.B. PRIESTLY The play ‘An Inspector Calls” by J.B Priestly, is set on an April evening in 1912. The play concerns the Birling family and Gerald Croft quietly celebrating over Gerald and (Mr. Birling’s daughter) Sheila Birling’s engagement, when an Inspector arrives unexpectedly amidst their family celebration to enquire about a suicide of a young pregnant girl called, Eva Smith. Through questioning, the inspector uncovers that they all have some kind of an
would you give to the actor playing the part of Mr Arthur Birling At the opening of the play, Priestley presents a typical Edwardian middle class business family. The arrogance and pomposity of the Birlings is clear immediately as Priestley remarks, “they are all feeling rather pleased with themselves.” As the audience are introduced to the play the Birlings are celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. Mr Birling is a successful businessman who has been active in local
An Inspector Calls Discuss the character of Sheila in “An Inspector Calls” Sheila Birling is the daughter of Mr Arthur Birling and Mrs Sybil Birling. She has a younger brother called Eric Birling. Sheila is in her early twenties and is in a high social class. However they are said to be “nouveux rishe” because her father wasn’t born into a wealthy family, he made his own way through life to be were he is. This, in a way, justifies the attitude and manners his children and himself. What
significance JB Priestly attaches to him. The opening scene of the play presents a solidly respectable upper middle class family at ease with itself and the world. They are at a dinner celebrating Gerald Croft's engagement to Sheila Birling and Mr Birling is holding forth on issues of the day. The year is 1912, the 'unsinkable' Titanic is about to set sail and as far Mr Birling is concerned, the First World War is not even a shadow on the horizon. You'll hear some people say war's inevitable
After the inspector leaves, The Birling’s discuss the night’s events. They go into a stage of blaming each-other for Eva Smith’s death, pushing the guilt onto one-another. Mr. Birling still does not have his priorities straight as the first thing that initially springs to his mind is that fact that the families reputation will go down the drain if any of the information they gave out will be found out by the public. He claimed that ‘There’ll be a public scandal.’ He was certain that he
relationship and love. Her words on receiving the gift are ‘Oh –Gerald-you’ve got it’. The pause in her sentence indicates the excitement in her voice. She then becomes very involved with the present- like a child receiving a birthday gift. Mr. Birling is about to make his speech about the war and the Titanic, however, he pauses when he realizes that Sheila may not be listening, as she is only concentrating on her ring. This is what a child may do when receiving a toy. This as with both her
AN INSPECTOR CALLS Wonderful day today. Went down to Birling and Company to be one of the workers and I got the job. I am so excited. I'm starting in two days and I'm seriously looking forward to it. At least I hope it would be more exciting than the last one I tried. Mum was very excited and so am I as you can tell. I'm already thinking about that break I will have next summer. Go to Blackpool, lie on the beach. By that time I'm sure I would have saved up enough money to do all this because
between Mr Birling and the Inspector “An Inspector calls” Essay on the differences between Mr Birling and the Inspector The play was written in 1945 and set in 1912 with a society very different from ours. The society of 1912 was divided into classes and how much money you had. People were not treated as equals and those of a lower class (e.g. Eva Smith), were treated with disrespect and no equality by those of a higher class with bullying attitudes and influences (e.g. Mr Birling and his
fiancée, a promising future and is financially stable. In 'An Inspector Calls' Gerald is described as "an attractive chap, about thirty". His father owns a company called 'Crofts Limited' who are friendly rivals of the Arthur Birling's business 'Birling and Company', although the Croft's business is both older and bigger than the Birling's. Arthur is very pleased about his daughter Sheila's engagement to Gerald, because of the possibility of the two businesses merging ultimately benefiting the Birling's
rich and the poor. Throughout the play, we can see that Priestley is a socialist. The audience knows that the message he is trying to put across is that we are a community and responsible for each other. We also know that the predictions Birling makes at the beginning of the play seemed to fail. He says, “…you’ll hear some people say that war’s inevitable. And to that I say-fiddlesticks!” which means that he thought there wasn’t going to be a war. This prediction failed because the World
right way to go. He is also pointing out Preistly’s message by saying that the old order views from Arthur Birling about how everybody should look after themselves and not care about any other problems in the world accept your own. The way that Preistly does this is by contrasting Inspector Goole and Arthur Birling for example the Inspector is cool, calm and collected, Arthur Birling has to always have his wits about him and always try to be right. My first impressions of the Inspector are