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How Does Priestley Present The Character Of The Birling Family

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HOW DOES PRIESTLEY PRESENT GERALD AND THE BIRLING FAMILY? Olivia Perham - Sims 9k

In this essay I am going to talk about the way Priestley uses each character of the Birling family to represent a theme or topic in order to criticize it and make the reader understand the danger and problems of capitalism , sexism and class division.

Priestley presents Mr Birling as a superior, selfish businessman in order to criticise difference in classes and capitalism. This is evident when Mr Birling says “Look at the progress we’re making. In a year or two we’ll have aeroplanes that will be able to go anywhere.”. The use of the personal pronouns “we’re, we’ll” suggests his Capitalist thinking towards people of his class. This shows that he excludes …show more content…

If you do , then the inspector , will just break it down .and it’ll be all the worse when does.” The use of the metaphor “build up a kind of wall” indicates that Sheila understands what the Inspector is trying to do and comprehends that the inspector knows what the family still don’t. The use of symbolism “just break it down . And it’ll be all the worse when he does” demonstrates that if the Birling family don’t admit to the role they played in Eva Smith’s death and try to deny the inspector he will make them comprehend the idea in a much horrible and cruel way. The use of the negation “You musn’t try ..” implies that Sheila knows that if her Mother doesn’t confess the inspector will make the whole family pay, so Sheila is trying to get that message to the family as soon as …show more content…

The use of the description “hard-eyed dough-faced women” demonstrates he’s sexist, closed-mindset in how girls should look and if they didn’t look like his standard of good looking they suddenly become ugly and hard-eyed.

Priestley presents Mrs Birling as vain and selfish in order to criticize philanthropy and class existence. This is evident when Mrs Birling says “And in any case I don't suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class..”
The use of the noun “Girls of that class.. “ indicates that Mrs Birling thinks that since Eva is from a different class they would never really know the reason for her suicide since they were in a completely different class from her. The use of the verb “understand” indicates that she is very aware of class division and states that people from the lower class have different morals that the higher class would never understand. The use of the the noun “And in any case” indicates that she is trying to find reasons and excuses that she is very dismissive of Eva and doesn’t think that she should be given any blame

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