He is quite ruthless in business and would rather fire a worker than pay a few pennies more to a pitiful wage. His workers are paid very badly and he treats them even worse. I feel that he does love his family and want the best for them, although he is very angry when he learns his son has taken fifty pounds, this may have been a lot then, but to him is surely not that important. His son, Eric feels as if his father is more like a dictator and is not the type of father who a son can talk to freely and ask for advice and come to with problems.
He has only one goal in life, to rise socially and also to build up a wealthy business, he does not care who he has to step on, or who gets in his way. He is typical industrialist for his time. His knight ship is brought up several times throughout the play. He views himself above most “common” people, when the inspector first arrives he tries to put down the inspector, telling him that he was a magistrate and also knows the inspector’s bosses. He somewhat feels that his place in society means that he does not have 2 answer to his inferiors. He does not think that war will break out, even though it will. He treats his workers just well enough to stop them leaving.
He uses quite sophisticated language as he is a well educated man, who was born middle class, and will die perhaps slightly higher up. I feel as if he has been given all he ever wanted by being born into the right family. He has not had to work long hours or very hard for pittance. He has money and has used it to make an even bigger fortune.
At the end of the play when the inspector is shown as a fake, he shows that he cares more about the fact his knight ship is more likely to happen than the fact that his family has destroyed the life of a girl, and her unborn child. He in fact is a heartless man, caring more for social standing, possessions and money than the life of a poor unlucky girl.
