ipl-logo

The Birling Family In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

414 Words2 Pages

In 1912, the difference between upper and lower class was very distinctive and noticeable to everyone in that society. The upper class were sophisticated, traditionally intelligent and had recognisable titles for other classes to identify them and to give themselves pride ,although the lower class usually worked cheap labour and struggled greatly to have a decent quality of life. In An Inspector Calls, the Birling family represent a typical upper class family but they are still aware of Gerald’s families status above them and Priestley represents the character of Arthur Birling to be very mindful of this and his ambition is portrayed in many ways throughout the play. Arthur Birling addresses the lower class as “these people” when talking about the issues with Eva Smith, this represents his capitalist views as he does not believe that a man like himself, a “hard-headed businessman”, should be looking after the poorer members of society. …show more content…

An example of a women of lower class in An Inspector Calls would be Eva Smith as she worked for Mr Birling at a low rate and when she became uncomfortable with her low wages, she decided to speak out on her views; this caused her to get fired because she had no authority or place in the factory so Mr Birling saw her as inferior. This example could be arguably repeated for the incident in the shop with Sheila because her upper class status forced the lower class out of a job due to uncontrolled

Show More
Related

A Critical Analysis Of Dorothy Allison's 'Context'

111 Words | 1 Pages

Dorothy Allison’s book, “Context”, argues that she herself is not worthy to be standing beside her lover in consideration of the difference in economic standing of their two families. Dorothy Allison intensifies her insecurities with continuity of negative thoughts in fear that her lover would leave her after meeting her “working class” family, an ordinary family compared to her lover’s. Her insecurities display that in order for her to continue to be with her lover; she must hold a wealthy lifestyle suitable to her liking. From reading “Context”, you can infer that the audience would be those who do not like their own standing in the current society compared to

Read More

How Is Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

792 Words | 4 Pages

An Inspector Calls is a morality play, filled with controversial political viewpoints attempting to persuade the audience that socialism is the way forward. Such views are voiced by The inspector, Priestley's mouthpiece. The play is set in 1912, A year followed by world war 1, the miners' strike and the sinking of the Titanic, therefore, supplying the writer with the opportunities to use dramatic irony, which Priestley does, to further influence his audience in act 2 to reconsider accepting a capitalist society. Sybil Birling is one of Priestley's characters that lack development in their attitudes towards society, particularly the lower class.

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Injustice In An Inspector Calls

1425 Words | 6 Pages

In An Inspector calls, Priestley uses The Inspector to present injustice in society through his questioning of the Birling family and Gerald Croft. The Inspector gradually uncovers the selfish and unjust acts which the family enacts upon the lower classes through their abuse of their power and status over people, not showing the slightest bit of care for their wellbeing, barely treating their workers as individual beings with their own lives and emotions, just caring about the money they are making for them, and treating the lower class in general as lower beings in general, not being worth the time to understand or sympathise with. The Inspector exposes the acts of injustice by the upper class towards the lower classes through his questioning

Read More

How Is Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

757 Words | 4 Pages

How is Mrs birling presented in An inspector calls In an inspector call, Mrs Birling is presented in a way that makes her unlikeable. She is shown to be rude and condescending as well as arrogant. She can be seen as condescending as she often corrects her family members, especially at the begging of the first act, she is very concerned with keeping up appearances and making sure that her family behaves properly.

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Gerald In An Inspector Calls

994 Words | 4 Pages

How does Priestley Present Gerald in An Inspector Calls In his didactic play ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley presents Gerald, and the upper class as a whole, to be extremely callous and unwilling to accept the opportunity for redemption. He explores themes and ideologies such as patriarchy in order to excoriate those for living protected in an ‘ivory tower’ of wealth, luxury and, most significantly, denial. The methods used by Priestley to do all of this encourages the audience in a contemporary society to look at themselves with an inverted eye and strive for equality.

Read More

How Is Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

1785 Words | 8 Pages

An inspector calls, written by J.B Priestly, is a play based on a suicide of a young woman Mr birling was the most to blame as he started the chain of misfortunate events of Eva Smith’s life which eventually lead to her suicide. Mr Birling is an exalted as well as being a wealthy capitalist, he is also portrayed as being a rather portentous man. Moreover, Priestly presents him as a middle-class citizen and extremely proud of his company Birling and co While boastingly claiming that he has “a couple of hundred workers under” him “which keep changing.” Due to his higher status to Eva Smith he views the working class as cheap labour rather than humans.

Read More

How Does Priestley Create Tension In An Inspector Calls

626 Words | 3 Pages

AMDG Inspector Calls 8/6/24. “Choose a play in which the writer creates an interesting character”. “An Inspector Calls” written by JB Priestley is a play which takes place within the Birling household. These main themes include: forgiveness, honesty, taking accountability for your actions, as well as having compassion for others. The storyline follows the unfortunate life of Eva Smith, and the events which prompted her suicide.

Read More

Henry James The Funeral Diction

617 Words | 3 Pages

Particularly, the speaker profiles Mr. Odger as a man engaged in “the useful profession of shoemaker” who “knocked in vain at the door that opens but to golden keys.” Here he obliquely patronizes Mr. Odger through the implication that the lower class should adhere to the bounds of their existing social status. Thus, the narrator retains a parochial view of the poor: any attempt on their behalf to transcend social hierarchy is a ludicrous notion. Following the narrator’s escape from the crowd into a hansom cab, he describes himself witnessing the affair as if “from a box at a play.” Notably, box seats are reserved for the opulent who can afford the luxury of sitting above the general audience.

Read More

Gender Stereotypes In An Inspector Calls Essay

1410 Words | 6 Pages

Priestly depicts gender stereotypes to emphasise gender in a capitalistic, misogynistic and patriarchal society, in his play 'An Inspector Calls'. Priestly portrays women as emotional, commodified, materialistic and irresponsible to highlight the way that a misogynistic capitalist society operates. In a similar manner, Priestly presents men as arrogant, ambitious, dominant, and strong. By doing this Priestly aims to critique capitalism and the underlying implications and undercurrent of problems which capitalism brings to provoke a reaction in the audience to promote socialism. Priestly presents women as weak, emotional and irresponsible throughout the entire play by using Sheila to show the 'pink and intimate' safety bubble and facade which her family lives in.

Read More

Mr Birling Quotes

541 Words | 3 Pages

In J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls," Mr Birling is portrayed as a wealthy businessman and a prominent member of the community. He is the head of a family that represents the upper class of Edwardian society, and his views and opinions reflect the prevailing attitudes of his time. Mr Birling's views on gender are typical of the patriarchal and conservative attitudes of his time. He believes that women should be submissive and should not have a say in political or economic matters.

Read More

Morality And Double Standards In J. B Priestley's An Inspector Calls

504 Words | 3 Pages

In the play An Inspector Calls written by J.B Priestley, the use of morality and double standards gives us an insight into the society of the early 1900s; which remains relevant in social stratification, cultural and deviance aspects. Through the story of Arthur Birling, Mrs. Sybil Birling and their children Eric and Sheila. The upper-class family, with untouchable reputation, enjoy of an intimate party soiree in honour of Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft. Son of a well-known business man, Sir George Croft from Crofts Limited. When Inspector Goole pays a mood-changing visit, resulting in the systematic manipulation of the presumably respectable characters.

Read More

Essay On Sheila's Change In An Inspector Calls

1041 Words | 5 Pages

In An Inspector Calls the character Sheila changes and matures significantly throughout the play. Priestly aims to encourage and persuade the 1912 audience to consider the negative power of capitalists and that socialism is a better way forward. Sheila contributes to Priestly’s moral message about socialism and capitalism by emphasising the possibility for change which is up to the younger generation. At the start of the play, Sheila is portrayed as a spoiled daughter who has been taught to be submissive to her parents.

Read More

The Theme Of Social Class In Blood Brothers By Willy Russell

893 Words | 4 Pages

Write about the way the theme of social class is presented in Blood Brothers The musical tragedy ‘Blood Brothers’, by Willy Russell tells the story of two twin brothers separated at birth, who reside in different social classes, yet are brought together through a friendly pact in their childhood, unaware of their relation or its consequences. Social class, a fundamental backbone theme of the play that heavily influences the text, is a division of society based on social and economic status. Accordingly, Willy Russell successfully expresses the biased nature and stark divide of social class, through the use of colloquial language and contrasting events, as a glance into the hardships and struggles associated with social class, during 1970’s Liverpool.

Read More

Pay Gap Assignment

1043 Words | 5 Pages

In today’s economy women are moreover subjected to being judged by their age, their looks, or in a lot of cases by the way that they dress. The “glass ceiling” is also a form of gender discrimination. The glass ceiling refers to the invisible barriers that disable women from getting higher ranks because, majority of the upper level positions are passed by them and given to the men in the company. “Sex or gender discrimination in the workplace is defined as treating someone unfavorable because, of the persons sex, whether they are applying for the job or are already a present employee at then establishment. The Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex in the payment of wages or benefits.

Read More

Criticism Of Sexism In Pygmalion

1995 Words | 8 Pages

Shaw also questions “the desirability of a high social class” in life through Eliza’s father, Mr. Doolittle (LitCharts). However, Shaw does not accomplish this through what Mr. Doolittle says, but rather through how Mr. Doolittle gives his speech on the criticism of society. During Mr. Doolittle’s speech, he hilariously and frustratingly “laments all the anxieties and troubles that his new wealth brings with it” (LitChart) In doing so, Mr. Doolittle was trying to indicate how he missed his conventional, humbler way of life, even though his old way of life was undesirable to most people. By establishing this, though, Shaw was inducing the idea that upper-class society was undesirable; however, Shaw also made it seem like lower-class society was not desirable either earlier on in the play with the description of how Mr. Doolittle used to live prior to becoming wealthy.

Read More

More about The Birling Family In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Related Topics

Open Document