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Inspector Calls Character Analysis (Mr Birling (Key Characteristics (Mr…

- - - - “I’m talking as a hard-headed practical man of business”
      - ‘you’ll hear some people say war is Inevitable … fiddlesticks!’ Dramatic irony is used to belittle ideas, however this is ironic as there was a world war 2 years from the time the play was set.
      - ‘The Titanic – she sails next week…and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’ This is ironic because the titanic had sunk, and this was a very big and known event.
      - “I gather there’s a very good chance of a knighthood” . Selfish, Arrogant, generally self centred and egotistical
      - “A man has to make his own way – has to look after himself" Once again we can see his selfish aspect, and believes that the world was created for him and him only
      - “(rather impatiently) Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you should come here" . Once the inspector arrives, his language changes, as he begins to use shorter, and snappier sentences with more pauses.
      - “you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense.”
      - “I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago – and I’m still on the Bench – so I know the Brumley police offers pretty well”
      - “there’s every excuse for what your mother and I did” - Instead of saying "we", he uses "I" to once again convey his selfish attitude.
      - “Probably a Socialist or some sort of crank” . - The word "crank" means for a person to hold a belief that the majority of people believe is false, so here, Birling links the idea of a crank with a socialist, both having a negative attitude.
- - - - “Need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.” Imposing
      - “He is a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period. He speaks carefully, weightily and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking” . Basic description of Goole
      - “Two hours ago a young woman died in the Infirmary. She’d been this afternoon because she’d swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course” . Filterless in his language, straight to his point and reason why he's doing whatever he's doing
      - “A chain of events” (may have driven her to suicide) . He uses chain imagery to show how we are all responsible for the death of Eva Smith
      - “it would do us all a bit of good if sometimes we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their dingy little back bedroom” . Here, Priestley manages to show his socialist ideas in the perspective of Goole, where he attempts to make the characters feel sympathy for the lower classes.
- - - - “An attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town” . Basic description of Gerald
      - “Well, it came just at the right moment. That was clever of you, Gerald.” Birling's admiration for Gerald's clverness is shown at the end of the play.
      - “You couldn’t have done anything else” (sacking Eva Smith) . Is on Birling's side, and attempts to make a good impression on him.
      - “After all, y’know, we’re respectable citizens and not criminals” . Once again tries to remove the guilt, and make a good impression on Birling, evasive of reality
      - (about Sheila): “She’s obviously had about as much as she can stand”
      - “Why should you [stay]? It’s bound to be unpleasant and disturbing”
      - “Everything’s all right now Sheila. What about this ring?” Repeats what happened at the start of the play (echoes)