I think Mrs Birling ought to be excused
she’s had a long, exciting and tiring day
- Gerald
patronising
seeks to assert his patriarchal influence by speaking on Sheila’s behalf and suppressing her voice
sinister undertone of controlling what she thinks and her body
- foreshadows subsequent revelations about Gerald’s pernicious interactions with Eva
you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?
- Inspector
Edwardian view
- woman aren’t to be tainted by unpleasant, worldly truths
- woman aren’t capable of dealing with them
class hypocrisy - upper class are to be sheltered from harsh realities of life whereas working-class woman aren't
I must obviously be a selfish, vindictive creature
- Sheila
aware of how badly she behaved
- self-deprecating sarcasm
mature and perceptive enough to forecast Gerald’s thoughts
we’ll have to share our guilt
- Inspector
Priestley’s beliefs embodies in the inspector
- moral socialism
- need for co-operation, community and social justice in society
- theme of responsibility
we all started like that - so confident, so pleased with ourselves
- Sheila
outspoken, confident and insightful
beings to challenge her parents
speaks slower(dashes and commas) - adopts inspectors structure
you seem to have made such a great impression on this child
- Mrs Birling
treats Sheila as immature and young
disdainful and dismissive of her opinion
we often do on the young ones. They’re more impressionable
- Inspector
Priestley’s message that the younger generations have the capacity to change and break the cycle of abuse and poverty
- more open minded
generation gap
I think you ought to go to bed - and forget about this absurd business
- Mrs Birling
trying to control Sheila
business
- no sympathy for Eva
- trying to separate herself from any blame or emotion
Girls of that class
- Mrs Birling
clear prejudice
- dehumanising effect
- repulsion
only cares about Eva’s class
- her worth and value as a human is inextricably linked to her social class
- the view that Priestley sought to challenge and subvert
you musn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl
- Sheila
metaphor
- understands the power of the inspector
- he will break down the barriers between social classes and Sheila is the one that is attempting to prevent her family from building it
- echo the Inspector’s dialogue and attempts to translate it into a language that her family will understand
- acknowledges the harsh reality that she has been blinded to: her parents have indoctrinated her to shut out the lower class from her life. She now sees there is an apparent wall between her class and the lower class.
change in tone
-language has changed from being one of accepting her father’s reprimands to telling her parents what to do
metaphor
- demonstrates how Sheila has matured as a character
- echo the Inspector’s dialogue and attempts to translate it into a language that her family will understand
- adopt the Inspector’s structure of speech
that - I consider - is a trifle impertinent
- Mrs Birling
haughty and snobbish
sees inspector as socially inferior
- shouldn’t be able to contradict her
he’s giving us the rope - so that we’ll hang ourselves
- Sheila
metaphor
- allow family to condemn themselves by criticizing each other, instead of supporting one another
- able to elicit info that will incriminate themselves
interpretation
- rich will cause their ultimate downfall in the form of a social revolution
She was very pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes - (breaks off). My God!
- Gerald
shows the greatest grief when remembering her beauty
- superficial
- only helped her because of physical attraction
‘“No, of course not. He’s only a boy… (staggered) It isn’t true”
- Mrs Birling
ignorance and shock
- blind to the reality of her families problems
associates a face with the man she believed to be culpable, and because it is someone she cares about and believes to be equal in status to herself, Mrs Birling begins to feel the weight of what she has done
As if a girl of that sort would refuse money
- Mrs Birling
preconceptions about lower class
- classist snob
- viewed Eva as not possessing any great standards of morality such that they would refuse money
I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have
He should be made an example of. If the girl’s death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him
- Mrs Birling
very ironic
- Eric is the father
- fragile and complex nature of the relationship
lack of attentiveness and her ability to turn a blind eye to Eric’s behaviour has led to her condemning her own son through ignorance and ego
She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position
- Mrs Birling
- cruel, cold and insensitive attitude
- common wealthy attitude of see plebeians as clearly inferior and lacking morality, not as humans
- highlights her hypocrisy and dramatic irony later on in the conflict
“I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all.”
- Mr Birling
antithesis of what J.B. Priestley is attempting to expound via the play.
Eva was the victim of a society where she had to struggle to survive and suffered.
Mrs Birling’s comments are cruel and reflect a lack of pity for Eva’s suffering
- doesn’t take in to account the role of her family in Eva’s sad demise
- has exonerated herself from the suffering of the poor
I didn’t install her there to make love to her
- Gerald
Gerald did provide for Eva, care for her and left her with money and supplies
- lesser of the wrongs because he was the only person who did look after her with compassion.
- wasn’t obligated to stay with her
I became at once the most important person in her life
- Gerald
Rescue imagery
- portraying her as a victim of the capitalist society
- perceives himself as a knight in shining armour who saved Eva
Gerald’s rescue of Eva is a façade
- taking advantage of her vulnerability
- She was in a lower class which means that he was in the position of absolute power
condemns the actions of “alderman Meggarty” who is a “notorious womaniser”
- Gerald was in a very similair position
you were the wonderful fairy prince
- Sheila
witty quips
- sarcasm
I don’t dislike you as I did half an hour ago
And now at least you’ve been honest
- Sheila
shows how much she has changed
- expect her to react hysterically but she is very mature
- accepting tone
But just in case you forget - or decide not to come back, Gerald, I think you’d better rake this with you(She hands him the ring)
- Sheila
ring
- symbol of love, marriage and loyalty
- commitment is terminated
symbolic of her conversion from socialism to capitalism
- beginning to see beyond materialism(losing her riches)
- eyes have opened to the suffering that the working-class people have to endure for the sake of the avaricious upper-class citizens
- unites with the plebeians
- undermines Gerald’s masculinity and male chauvinism by refusing to marry him
- defies the misogynistic social constructs built up in the Edwardian Era of females being subservient by tolerating infidelity
you and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here”
- Sheila
Sheila has accepted her change
- cannot have the wool pulled over eyes ever again
- will go on to be a better person as she carries Priestley’s message
Priestley suggests that the relationship is completely fragmented
- ‘you and I’ rather than ‘we’ implying that their unity has been broken
