Mr Birling Act 1

Birling sees himself as superior to many, especially the Inspector. “Well, if you don’t mind. I’ll find out first.” When the Inspector claims he will find out the reason why Sheila ran out of the room, Birling must take a higher stand. He sees himself as a higher authority, that he can find out before Inspector Goole.

Mr Birling refuses to accept any responsibility for the girl, Eva Smith, that he fired from a job, “I was quite justified in my decision”. J.B Priestly wanted to express how the modern society should learn to accept responsibility and look after one another. Mr Birling is a perfect example of what Priestly was trying to show us, how people get so obsessed with class that they lose sight of one another. He does this a number of times throughout act 1, “Still, I can’t accept any responsibility”.

He is constantly name dropping, “How do get on with Chief Constable?” Birling wants to remind the Inspector that he has connections, to patronise him with his high social standing.  Mr Birling’s patronising tone is shown again when he scolds the Inspector, “I don’t like that tone”. He sounds more like a condescending father, than a man being interrogated.  He reacts defensively to a potential insult. “Here, I’m not a purple faced old man!” He sees himself highly, and refuses to acknowledge what he may be.  He even sees himself as good company, “It’s a pity Sir George and, er, Lady Croft can’t be with us”. He regards the occasion to be a wonderful celebration, when really it would seem Gerald’s parents don’t care. He makes it out that they’re missing out, and goes onto explain how it isn’t the Croft’s fault they’re missing the dinner. He makes excuses, when really  it is most likely that the Croft’s just didn’t want to be there. To a certain degree, he is compassionate to lower classes, “Good dinner, too, Sybil. Tell cook from me”. Despite his wife’s scolds, he does in fact praise a member of a lower class in society. This shows his wife in fact to be the one in the relationship who sets the standards. Birling doesn’t compliment a lower class person from then onwards in the novel. He is obsessed with money, “Crofts and Birling…lower costs and higher prices”. He is somewhat of a miser, and when Eva and a group of women strike for a few more cents to be added to their wages, he fires her. He cares more for the fact that Sheila is marrying someone even further up the social ladder than they are, than he does for the fact his daughter is getting married, “We were rivals for a while…now you’ve brought us together”. He only ever speaks of himself, and how things might affect him. This shows his self obsessed nature, he is egotistical and business obsessed.

He is impatient and irritable, “(after a pause, with a touch of impatience)”. In fact, as the play goes on, Birling gets more and more angry with the inspector. This hints at his guilt, as when the Inspector informs him that he is investigating everyone, Birling relaxes and apologises, “(with marked change of tone)”.

He jumps to the conclusion that Eva had been fired from Milwards because of poor work, “Not doing her work properly?” Little does he know that in fact, it was his daughter’s fault she was fired. He seems to believe that all lower class people working in upper class businesses must in fact be bad workers. This stereotyping shows how the upper classes saw workers in those days.