Mrs Birling

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Contemporary drama is the type of drama that represents social and political changes of the world in the 19th century - and that is exactly what ‘An Inspector Calls is’ - a microcosm of society; It was written by English dramatist J.B.Priestley to portray the insecurities of the society in the 1900’s and reiterate the message of collective social responsibility. He executed this by advocating his own view through the characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’ as each represented the pressures and pleasures of the social hierarchy and how they all had a part to play in Eva Smith’s suicide. Though each character's behaviour towards Eva Smith was outrageous, Mrs Birling’s part in the death and her reaction to it was prominent. This is due to various things and we see this as her character develops throughout the play.

Mrs Birling is introduced to the audience as "about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband's social superior." Within her description we have the three main factors, which construct her reaction towards the inspectors arrival. Firstly her age – she may not be very old but she is mature enough to have experienced life but more of society’s insecurities. She has been moulded into another drone of the upper class. A mould which ensures that she dismisses and looks down upon people socially inferior to her but also a mould which insures the obedience to the social uptakes and standards - her obedience being extrusive, when she tells Mr Birling that he is ‘not supposed to say such things’ as if complimenting the help goes against the guidelines of being socially superior which she would know more about as she is her husband’s social superior.

In act one we are introduced to Mrs Birling as she ‘(enters smiling...)’ which may b...

... middle of paper ...

...er class – sexism.
This ignites her determination, which I believe is fuelled by the anger she has towards the injustices towards society however much she tries to deny its existence. This can be proven as it is mentioned that she has affiliation with feminists or suffragettes as they were known at the time. Everything she does is a show, a competition presented to the rest of the upper class. From this you can see that the upper class are defined by how much they can show off while collateral damage created is dismissed - Collateral damage being the suicide. So yes Mrs Birling is heartless and ruthless but I believe after critically thinking, that she is helpless. She cannot do anything outside the bounds of her house due to the restrictions of her being a woman but her fault lies in the abuse of the power she had. The power to grant a pregnant girl support in life.

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