British Play How To Get Full Marks edexcel 2-Post-1914-Literature

Birling: “I speak as a hard-headed business man, who has to take risks and knows what he’s about…”

In what ways is Mr Arthur Birling important throughout the play?

Quotation Prompt

Supporting quote(s)

Interpretations (AO1)

“I speak as a hard-headed business man, who has to take risks and knows what he’s about…”

“social superior”

“now you’ve brought us together”

Arthur Birling is important as he is the head of the Birling family who are central to the play. Priestley’s opening stage directions describe Arthur Birling as a wealthy and successful businessman, with a wife who is his “social superior”. The engagement between Gerald and Sheila is viewed by Birling as more of a benefit to his business, enabling the Birling and Croft companies to merge, rather than a marriage based on love: “now you’ve brought us together”. As a former Lord Major and magistrate, Birling is also hoping to obtain a knighthood, which reveals his obsession with public reputation, status and titles and the reassurance that they provide him with. However, by the end of the play, Arthur faces exposure to a public scandal and the loss of his reputation, which would represent a terrible downfall for him.

How to approach context

Understand that context is about understanding ideas and perspectives

Ensure your exploration of context is linked to the themes and ideas the writer is exploring in the play and the question you have been set

Imbed social, cultural and historical contextual comments throughout your response, rather than including them as a bolt-on section at the end of your paragraph

Context needs to relate to the point being discussed

In what ways is Mr Arthur Birling important?

AO3: Context

Arthur Birling embodies the antithesis of Priestley’s philosophy and is therefore designed as a caricature of everything that Priestley loathed about capitalism. As a wealthy factory owner, Priestley presents Birling as a caricature of a Capitalist businessman which is in direct opposition to Inspector Goole’s Socialist aspirations. Priestley intentionally sets the play in 1912, when workers had little or no rights and were largely unprotected by unions and a developed Welfare State, leaving them vulnerable and subject to exploitation. Further, the play takes place before the First World War and Priestley conveys the ignorant attitudes of men like Arthur Birling about the future and the unrest throughout Europe.

AO1 Comments

AO3 Comments

Class plays a significant role in An Inspector Calls and is a major influence on many of the characters and events. The immense inequality between the classes is firmly established at the start of the play. The description of the Birlings’ opulent home is sharply contrasted with descriptions of the workers in Arthur’s factory. Priestley demonstrates how the working classes, especially women, could be exploited and abused by those with wealth and power. For example, both Gerald and Eric abuse their power and status in their relationship with Eva/Daisy and both men discard her when it suits them. For example, Eric admits in Act III: “I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty.” This quote illustrates the vulnerability of working-class women who could be easily exploited by wealthy aristocratic men like Eric.

In Edwardian society, the hierarchical class system was very dominant. Priestley uses the characters in An Inspector Calls to criticise the inequality and unfairness of the British class system and argues that the privilege of class blinds people to their immoral behaviour. Priestley uses the Birlings and Gerald Croft as representations of the upper classes, and Eva/Daisy as a representation of the working class, in order to highlight the immense differences between them and the unfairness of the system.

Class plays a significant role in An Inspector Calls and is a major influence on many of the characters and events. The immense inequality between the classes is firmly established at the start of the play. The description of the Birlings’ opulent home is sharply contrasted with descriptions of the workers in Arthur’s factory. In Edwardian society, the hierarchical class system was very dominant. Priestley uses the characters in the play to criticise the inequality and unfairness of the British class system and argues that the privilege of class blinds people to their immoral behaviour. Priestley demonstrates how the working classes, especially women, could be exploited and abused by those with wealth and power. For example, both Gerald and Eric abuse their power and status in their relationship with Eva/Daisy and both men discard her when it suits them. For example, Eric admits in Act III: “I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty.” This quote illustrates the vulnerability of working-class women who could be easily exploited by wealthy aristocratic men like Eric. Priestley uses the Birlings and Gerald Croft as representations of the upper classes, and Eva/Daisy as a representation of the working class, in order to highlight the immense differences between them and the unfairness of the system.