Character Study of Mr.Birling from An Inspector Calls by Priestley

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Character Study of Mr.Birling from An Inspector Calls by Priestley Priestly effectively conveys his attitude and opinions towards society via Mr. Birling, with the use of dramatic irony. "An Inspector Calls" is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Society at the time the play was set, was strictly divided into social classes and the majority of the wealth was in the hands of the minority of the population. Priestley was writing the play for a middle class audience and was trying to speak up for the working class by showing how the Birlings and Gerald Croft were all involved in making a young working class girl's life a misery. Priestley wanted to show us that we have a responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation; Our actions affect others. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them. At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling says, "The Titanic... unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable." The 1945 audience knew the fate of the Titanic (being that is sunk on its maiden voyage), and so Mr. Birling immediately appears in a bad light, although his view was that of everyone in 1912, and so he is a stereotype of society then. Mr. Birling's attitude is shown in his words, "...A man has to make his own way... has to look after himself" and, referring to the working class, "If you don't come down sharply on some of these people they'll soon be asking for the earth". Mr. Birling has a selfish attitude towards life, and also an attitude to only care for himself and family, and basically forget everybody else, in fact, this is exactly what he tells a speech on at the celebration of Sheila's and Gerald's engagement, "... a man has to look after himself - and his family too, of course..." which gives the impression of the selfishness, and also greed. Another example of this is when he tells a speech about how it is the best day of his life, "Gerald, I'm going to tell you frankly,

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