Peter EdmondsonIn Act 1, How Does Priestly Create Our Initial Impression 23/09/2012
of Mr Birling and His Relationship with His Family?
In Act 1, How Does Priestly Create Our Initial Impression of Mr Birling and His Relationship with His Family?
J. B. Priestley wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ in 1945 with the play being set in the spring of 1912. Our initial impression of Mr Birling is that he is proud, optimistic but selfish. However his optimism could also interpreted as foolishness. The sense of pride is shown firstly when he says “We hard-headed practical business men” and also by the numerous times that he mentions himself being a former Mayor. Priestley never makes it completely obvious that Mr Birling is a very proud man but he does hint at it quite a lot. Priestley shows Birling is selfish as he says that the community is “nonsense” and that “a man has to make his own way”. Finally, Mr Birling shows that he is an optimist when he says “I say there isn't a chance of war". This may, however, be Priestley suggesting Birling is foolish at times, because we now know there was a war. This view of him being foolish and optimistic is also reinforced when he talks about the Titanic saying it’s “…unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”. This device, by Priestley, is called dramatic irony.
