‘Mr Arthur Birling believes that he is superior to others.’ How far do you agree with this view of Mr Birling in the play? In J.B. Priestley’s morality play, An Inspector Calls, the hubristic character of Arthur Birling is presented as having a hamartia, in which he believes that he is superior to others in several ways. This is demonstrated through his propensity for monologues, his initial denials and predictions for the future, his hypocritical double standards, his undermining of the working class and less fortunate, his view of himself as a prime example of self-made capitalist success, his infantilisation of his children, and his intimidation towards Inspector Goole. There are few occasions in which he acknowledges that he is not superior to all others. An …show more content…
He has the largest portion of continuous speech in the entire play, and prefers to make speech without being interrupted. When Eric tries to correct him, Birling overlooks him, and says: ‘Just let me finish, Eric.’ Birling goes on to make another lengthy monologue. Here, Priestley insinuates that Birling does not care for the opinions of others, and Birling disparages others, repeatedly shouting: ‘Rubbish!’ to dismiss what others have said. Arthur Birling is portrayed as showing confidence in the future of his family, his business, and the state of world affairs. This is demonstrated through his monologue, encompassing his predictions for the future. Contextually, J.B. Priestley, and his 1945 audience knew the timeline of events following Birling’s speech in fictitious 1912. First: ‘I speak as a hard-headed business man.’ Priestley presents Birling as very arrogant and egotistical and affirms that Birling believes that his views as a ‘hard-headed business man’ are superior to those of others. Moreover, Birling states that: ‘There’s a lot of wild talk about possible labour problems in the near future. Don’t worry. We’ve passed the worst of it.’ Birling undermines other economists, who are talking
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
'An Inspector Calls' is a morality play - a form of play developed in the late middle ages in which a Christian moral lesson was brought out through the struggle between the forces of good and evil - set in 1912, and revolves around the questioning of a family by Inspector Goole about the suicide of a young woman (Eva Smith) that the family knew.The author, J.B. Priestley is trying to show us what some people's arrogance and selfishness can cause without them even noticing. Priestley was a socialist, therefore by writing this play he was drawing attention to the bad things about capitalism. The Inspector was intending to teach the Birlings that ?...we have to share something. If there?s nothing else, we?ll have to share our guilt? Act One. By saying this, he is telling them they are all as guilty as each other of the suicide of Eva Smith, this also links to Priestley being a socialist because he is putting the Birlings to shame.
The first impression of Arthur Birling is in the initial stage directions, when he is described as ‘a heavy looking, rather portentous man in his fifties.’ The fact that he is described as ‘heavy looking’ and ‘portentous’ suggests that he has a fairly comfortable lifestyle, and has an inflated opinion of his own importance. Priestley has done this to fit the typical man of the house during the 1910’s.
The Play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a modern morality play, created by J. B. Priestley. A morality play is a play that is designed to teach the audience the difference between right and wrong; the morality of this play is a Christian and socialist morality. The play encapsulates on the Christian religious morality that you should treat people the way you want to be treated to ‘love thy neighbour as thy self’. J. B. Priestley was a socialist who believed that everyone was created equally and should be treated equally. He believed in this despite his lack of faith. Priestley presents this moral message and his politics and opinions through the Inspector who is a God-like figure and serves as a conscience for both the audience and the Birling family. The Inspector also serves a peculiar but important role in the play. The Inspector teaches the Birling family morality and serves them a conscience. The Inspector is nothing more than a phantasm or illusion, as we know from the end of the play. Priestley’s moral is mixed between his politics and the beliefs of a Christian. As a socialist J. B. Priestley expresses his opinions through this play, in the time politicians were hated so Priestley used the play as a device to put his points forward. The play was not just a political view; it was his personal dream and passion to write an entertaining play. He creates it as a detective play because they were interesting, popular and the audience could also try to crack the mystery themselves, this was a very intelligent and unique way of expressing his opinions, as he knew they would be heard this way.
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.
Birling is the man of the house, and in the setting of the play, 1912,
In the context of this play, Mrs Birling is not a very amiable character. Although she does what she believes is right, she is also judgemental of everyone and is too aware of the divisions in the social class system to be liked by both the audience and members of her own family.
as Gerald's father is of a higher class than the Birling family and also to climb the social ladder. He views himself as a man of a high class and uses manipulation to get to the top. Mr. Birling is full of arrogant declarations such as "The Titanic." unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable. " The upper classes stood a lot better chance of survival than the lower classes when the Titanic.
The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft
If Mrs Birling had helped Eva she would not have felt so useless and would probably still be alive. Although Mrs Birling was not entirely responsible for Eva’s death she contributed the final event that drove her to suicide. In writing the play “An inspector Calls” Priestly is telling us that we all have a certain responsibility for each other no matter what age, race, gender or class we are we are all equal and responsible.
When the Inspector enters, his manner conflicts with Mr Birling’s, as well as his opinion of society. He is relatively reserved, although he is not intimidated to ask questions to the Birling’s ...
The Inspector, straight form his introduction, is commanding and authoritative. Upon his entrance he creates, “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”(PG.11) The Inspector continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while people around him crumble and fall to pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven by the fact he remains on task despite numerous attempts from Birling to digress from the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful’; this is shown where he explains to Birling that Birlings way of thinking “Every man must only look out for himself,” is not the case, and all warps of society are interlinked. The view is best illustrated in the Inspectors final speech, where he says, “We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”(p.56). This idea is one that Priestley, himself believed in deeply, and many of Priestleys writing shared this very theme.
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
This helped Priestley promote socialism against capitalism. JB Priestley uses dramatic devices to make An inspector calls a modern day morality play, to do this he uses dramatic devices, such as dramatic irony and tension in order to convey the message through the entire play. They are used accurately considering the time in which the play is set. Priestley also uses the characters as dramatic devices, they symbolise the dramatic devices, an example of this is Priestley makes us hate Mr. Birling because he symbolises capitalism, and in Priestley’s eyes capitalism is wrong. Throughout the play, Mr. Birling is the voice of capitalism....
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.