Mr. Birling is publicly conscious of himself; he is obsessed with his social status and is always looking to climb the social ladder. Mr. Birling is trying to impress Gerald;
“But what I wanted to say is – there’s a fair chance that I might find my way into the next honors list. Just a Knighthood of course”
This quote shows the audience exactly what Birling is like. All Mr. Birling wanted to say to Gerald was that he was going to achieve a Knighthood, simply to impress Gerald and Lady Croft, therefore increasing the chance of the marriage. The reason why Mr. Birling is so enthusiastic for his daughter to marry Gerald is his own social status. Mr. Birling has money, plenty of it, but he doesn’t have a name in business. He can achieve this by the engagement of his daughter and Gerald. One or Mr. Birling’s speeches clearly shows his social ambitions;
“Gerald, I’m going to tell you frankly, without any pretences, that your engagement to Sheila means a tremendous lot to me. She’ll make you happy, and I’m sure you’ll make her happy. You’re just the son-in-law I always wanted. Your father and I have been friendly rivals in business for some time now – though Crofts Limited are both older and bigger than Birling Company – and now you’ve brought us together”
Mr. Birling says the engagement means a tremendous lot to him but I think Mr. Birling means a tremendous lot in the way of business. Mr. Birling wants to join with Croft limited to get a name in Business; He believes that having a name in society will be significant to his achievement in business. Mr. Birling’s Morals are very wrong; he is sacrificing his daughter’s married life to gain a better reputation in business.
Priestly portrays Sheila Birling, in Act 1, to be selfish, immature, and a ‘daddy’s girl’. Priestly uses Eric in Act 1 to show Sheila’s immaturity; “Don’t be an ass Eric”. Sheila is acting immature but I think she is also trying to gain high opinion from her father; Mr. Birling is slightly suspicious of Eric, so Mr. Birling may like it that Sheila is being nasty to Eric, as Mr. Birling does not stop Sheila and Eric arguing, Mrs. Birling does.
The playwright reveals to the audience that she is obsessed with material things;
“Oh – it’s wonderful! Look – mummy – isn’t it a beauty? Oh – darling- (she kisses Gerald hastily)”
Her moral attitude could be said to be very wrong, she is more interested in the ring than Gerald, she says how wonderful it is to her mother and then hastily kisses Gerald, like Gerald is simply an after thought, and that she feels that it is appropriate to kiss him, rather than she wanting to kiss him.
The audience is further confronted with Sheila selfishness when the inspector describes the death of Ms. Eva Smith;
“(rather distressed) Sorry! It’s just that I can’t help thinking about this girl destroying herself so horribly – and I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh I wish you hadn’t of told me. What was she like? Quite young?”
She is unhappy and distressed that she has become involved with the story of Eva Smith’s death; she says how happy she was tonight, as though her fun had been spoilt by the horrible news, she wishes that no one had told her. Her morals are displayed as unjustly, she is very selfish and doesn’t seem to think of others.
When Sheila finds out exactly what she has done the message is put across by Priestly. People should think of their actions before they mess something up. I think he’s looking at it on a larger scale, possibly if the people of Britain and the world don’t start thinking differently soon we might have lots of death on all our hands. The wrong political decisions or overall neglect of the poor may lead to world wide devastation. Priestly also relates Sheila to individuals in today’s world; too many people are vain and jealous.
In Act 3 Mr. Birling changes in some ways, and doesn’t in others. He stays very pompous and still thinks he is always right, however the playwright shows hi as a much more worried man; mainly about a public scandal if everything got out. He cares more about his well being then the felony that him and his family have done;
“You must give me a list of those accounts. I’ve got to cover this up as soon as I can. You damned fool – why didn’t you come to me in this mess?”
Mr. Birling is straight away thinking about what he ahs to do to get him self out of the mess he is in. He isn’t thinking about what he has done; only ignoring it. Mr. Birling’s morals are shown when he offers money to the inspector;
“(unhappily) Look, Inspector – I’d give thousands – yes, thousands-“
Mr. Birling hasn’t realized that nothing can change what he and his family have done, he just wants to ignore it and act like it never happened, this has relevance to many events in the real world. The inspector tries to promote a socialist idea and see things from a different view or perspective; this is very well shown in his last speech;
“We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”
This means that people should look after each other, think about how their actions are affecting others and take responsibility for them. Birling does none of that and the consequences are terrible. This has major relevance to events in the real world, like the out break of the Second World War. The Second World War is just one example; Priestly is just showing another one in his play.
Sheila Birling in Act 3changes dramatically, she takes responsibility for her actions, she seems to be much more mature. She develops a Moral attitude towards her actions and everyone else’s, and becomes conscious of what exactly she and her family have done. She stands up to her father, acting like less of a ‘daddy’s girl’. She finds her own principles;
“(eagerly) That’s just what I feel, Eric. And it’s what they don’t seem to understand”
Sheila completely understands her morals and sees what is wrong with Mr. Birling’s morals.
“I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it. But now you’re beginning all over again to pretend that nothing much has happened”
Sheila knows she has done something bad and is trying to make Birling see the same. She defiantly understands more of her social attitudes because she takes responsibility for her actions.
I think Priestly wrote this play to undermine the upper-class and also all people in general and how sometimes people can think they are on top of the world, just like Mr. Birling in Act 1, and then suddenly can be knocked over, only because of their wrong doings in the past. For Mr. Birling it was 2 years before, for Sheila it was more recently. But the same applies to both of them, they both did some thing dreadful and didn’t take responsibility and they didn’t think of what they were really doing to poor Eva Smith. This resulted in the past catching up with them and they ended the play in a very bad situation. Mr. Birling still keeps his moral arrogance and so ignores the fact that he has done something bad. Whereas Sheila takes responsibility for her actions and finds new morals. Priestly overall message from the play is to think before you mess something up, and take responsibility for your actions.
Priestly has made Mr. Birling’s Moral arrogance obvious to the audience by using the Inspector to get the truth out of Mr. Birling. The Inspector reveals
