scene of the play presents a solidly respectable upper middle class family at ease with itself and the world. They are at a dinner celebrating Gerald Croft's engagement to Sheila Birling and Mr Birling is holding forth on issues of the day. The year is 1912, the 'unsinkable' Titanic is about to set sail and as far Mr Birling is concerned, the
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Arthur Birling Husband of Sybil, father of Sheila and Eric. Priestley describes him as a "heavy-looking man" in his mid-fifties, with easy manners but "rather provincial in his speech." He is the owner of Birling and Company, some sort of factory business which employs several girls to work on (presumably sewing) machines. He is a Magistrate and, two years ago, was Lord Mayor of Brumley. He thus is a man of some standing in the town. He describes himself as a "hard-headed practical man of business
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Question: Act II ends with Mrs. Birling finally weakening. What is the cause of this? How does the Inspector trap her into condemning her own son? At the end of act two, Mrs. Birling realises that the Inspector knows a lot about all of the family. She realises that if she lies to him he will already know the correct answer and will know she is lying. Also after hearing everybody else's story before hers she is probably quite shocked and thinks that her story won't be of any significance. However
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interrogation of Eric, which begins this act, is the last in a chain of interrogations which have structured the play since the Inspector’s arrival (in order: Birling, Sheila, Gerald, Mrs. Birling, Eric). Each of the Birlings has played a part in Eva Smith’s death, and each of them must take part of the responsibility for what happened to her and for her final, sad choice. This motif, as well as the structure of the play and of Eva Smith’s life (though, to get the order of events right, Mrs. Birling was the
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Inspector Calls The stress that was caused in the Birling family was very disturbing even after a couple of years in 1914. When the war started everything gradually started to become worse as the country was suffering and many people were injured including children and infants. Sheila wanted to achieve something in life; she wanted to become a nurse as she knew she would be more deserving and would be able to help others who were injured. She knew that Eric was going away to fight for the country at the
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theme through the experiences of the family of a wealthy, influential and ambitious industrialist, Arthur Birling. To understand the significance of the key scene and its relationship to the theme we must first set the scene in context. The stage directions at the beginning of the play describe the Birlings as ‘pleased with themselves’. At first sight they have good reason to be: Arthur Birling is expecting to be knighted in the next honours list and his daughter, Sheila, is engaged to be married
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dramatic and so should therefore be explored further. The conversation between Mr Birling, Eric Birling, Gerald Croft and the Inspector initially hints to traits in their personalities. As the Inspector enters he instantly makes an impression. Following this the Inspector tries to find any information out about the suicide that he was investigating. Due to the circumstances of the case the Inspector speaks to Mr Birling first, telling him that due to his actions of firing the young girl, it acted like
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Mr Arthur Birling He is described at the start as a "heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties but rather provincial in his speech." • He has worked his way up in the world and is proud of his achievements. He boasts about having been Mayor and tries (and fails) to impress the Inspector with his local standing and his influential friends. • However, he is aware of people who are his social superiors, which is why he shows off about the port to Gerald, "it's exactly the
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What Is The Function Of The Inspector In 'An Inspector Calls'? Inspector Goole is the eponymous character in An Inspector Calls' by J.B Priestley who has many functions. Primarily, he is introduced to the play to interrogate the Birling Family and Gerald Croft, but Priestley also uses him to move the plot forward and as a device for the writer to voice his opinion, furthermore he controls movement on stage, encourage the characters and audience to learn from their mistakes and to create moments
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Birling is the head of the household and the director of a business. These two establishments unite to corruptly result in the death of Eva Smith – who symbolises the ‘thousands’ like her who live in poverty. Birling symbolises materialistic and self-serving Capitalism. Priestley uses Birling’s style of speech to undermine the audience’s respect for him, and to undercut subtly the outward confidence of his ‘easy manner’. He speaks often with interrupted diction, Priestley frequently gives him dashes
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