Wrong Mr Birling example essay topic

"An Inspector calls" takes place in 1912, where there are great social divisions and distinctions. Written by JB Priestley in 1945 this allows for hindsight which eventually leads to dramatic irony. There are many examples of this, all of which are said by Mr Birling", Just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, you " ll hear some people saying that war is inevitable. Well I say to that - fiddlesticks" This play was first published after the second world war and so the audience will know just how wrong Mr Birling really is. Mr Birling also makes a statement about the ill-fated Titanic. "Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable".

The audience should know the tale of the Titanic very well and this just demonstrates again how wrong Mr Birling can be. I think that the hindsight and the dramatic irony was used because it helps to better establish the time period of the play and it also shows that Mr Birling isn't nearly as clever as he thinks he is. Mr Birling as he put it is a. ".. hard headed, practical business man". and it seems he is not much more than that. He is not much of a father to Eric or Sheila, although he does love them he is not very good at showing it. What he does now how to do however is run a business.

Also he is very ignorant as I illustrated earlier, with his "predictions" which couldn't have been more wrong. Mr Birling acted very authoritie with Inspector Goole and was completely taken aback when the Inspector didn't treat him with the respect he thought he deserved. He is also ruthless, as it is proven when at least twice he offered the Inspector a bribe just to keep his mouth shut. When everything comes out about Eva Smith he is more worried about his reputation than the fact that he helped in leading a young girl to suicide. And when it turns out that there is no Inspector Goole he feels much better because he knows now nothing will come of it. I don't think it would have mattered whether Eva had been a lie or not, Mr Birling would never learn anything.

Sheila Birling is much more considerate and distressed when she hears of Eva Smiths death. She believes she is partly responsible with the rest of her family and Fiance. I think Sheila was jealous of Eva Smith as when she was in Milliards, a shop at where the Birlings were very good customers, she got Eva Smith sacked because she thought Eva was laughing at her expense. After when Sheila finds out of Eva Smith she greatly regrets her actions and promises, ."..

I will never do it again. ". . Sheila, unlike her Father seems to have a conscience. I think she is also very calm as when she hears of Gerald affair she doesn't start crying and screaming she takes it as it comes. However she had expected Gerald of this for quite some time.

The Inspector is, even more so than Mr Birling, commanding and stern with the Birlings and Gerald. He is very careful about the way he goes about his business. Never do two people see the photo of the supposed Eva Smith at the same time and he takes each story, one at a time form everyone in the room. He knows everything but never lets on. Sheila is perceptive enough to pick this up but no else ever does. Inspector Goole's name seems to be a pun.

To the Birlings I suppose he is a ghoul because he is about to ruin their reputation and is accusing them of something they would have never known anything about if it wasn't for him. Also Ghoul suggests something supernatural or mysterious which certainly is the feeling you are left with at the end of the play as the Inspector doesn't seem to exist at all. The Inspector I think represents every ones conscience. It only seems like though the younger generation in the play, Gerald, Eric and Sheila, are the ones he gets through to. Gerald Croft it seems played quite a large role in Eva Smith's (or Daisy Renton's) life. One summer he had an affair with her whilst dating Sheila.

He seems very calm when revealing this rather like Sheila but I think this was just a secret they knew they both knew about but didn't' t want to admit to it. He does realise how awful he has been after and fully accepts the fact that Sheila wants to give him her engagement ring back and that they are over. During the play, after his "confession" he decides that he needs air and so goes for a walk. I think that the Inspector lets him go because he knows he has faced up to the consequences and realise's what he has done. Eric Birling realise's the mess he got Eva into by getting her pregnant and giving her stolen money and does regret it.

However he is not sober at the time and I don't know if he would do the same when sober. He, like Sheila, believes he has done wrong and something must be done. I don't think though if it meant he had to stop drinking he would do it. I think he can be just as arrogant as his Father when it comes to business but I think he does care more about his family welfare than reputation unlike Mr Birling.

Mrs Birling is just like her husband when the eventual facts are all drawn out, she cares more about her reputation and doesn't actually think she has done anything seriously wrong. She doesn't think that turning someone down for money to help them and their child just because she doesn't like their tone is wrong. She feels sorry for Eva Smith but I don't think any remorse. The message of An Inspector Calls is that we shouldn't become so involved in our own lives that we forget about other people. As this was written at the end of the second world war JB Priestley wanted to illustrate this in a play so that the people could see just how easily it is to misjudge and that this is the sort of things can can start feuds or even wars.