The Student Room Group

An Inspector Calls

How does the character of Mr. Birling develop through out the play?
It doesn't because he doesn't conform to accepting social responsibilty.
Its mainly just ignorance to arrogance, then ignorance again.
Yeah he shows some reluctant humility after a while but he's quick to jump on Gerald saying the Inspector's not real... he's clearly shaken by the telephone call at the end though, which you could still say is him just worrying about himself and the possibility of a scandal
Reply 3
so if the question is about development could you just explain his lack of development and suggest reasons as to why he does not develop in relation to socialism? it's because everyone in my school is doing Sheila because she develops the most and I thought that it would be hard to get an A* if everyone is doing the same character. So I thought if I do the complete opposite I would be able to shock the teacher and possibly get a better grade then if a was doing the typical characters such as Eric or Sheila!!!
Do you think I should do that or stick to the expected characters.
Original post by nasra135
so if the question is about development could you just explain his lack of development and suggest reasons as to why he does not develop in relation to socialism? it's because everyone in my school is doing Sheila because she develops the most and I thought that it would be hard to get an A* if everyone is doing the same character. So I thought if I do the complete opposite I would be able to shock the teacher and possibly get a better grade then if a was doing the typical characters such as Eric or Sheila!!!
Do you think I should do that or stick to the expected characters.


Don't do that because you'll have less to talk about in your essay! Stick to the most obvious one, Sheila being the case, and discuss about all the possibilities on how this character has developed throughout the play! You can still amaze your teacher with doing the expected character as you'll have more to talk about instead of doing a different character which you'll find hard to distinguish certain information about which may score you a lower mark even though you believe you'll get a high mark for doing something different. :smile:
I'm doing how Sheila developed throughout the play and totally struggling anyone have any advice?
BTW is this your CA Question?
Reply 6
Original post by LemonadeAspire
Don't do that because you'll have less to talk about in your essay! Stick to the most obvious one, Sheila being the case, and discuss about all the possibilities on how this character has developed throughout the play! You can still amaze your teacher with doing the expected character as you'll have more to talk about instead of doing a different character which you'll find hard to distinguish certain information about which may score you a lower mark even though you believe you'll get a high mark for doing something different. :smile:

That is very true, especially with the fact that Mr. Birling does not develop at all. However, the problem is that i find it very difficult to find unique interpretation knowing that everyone is doing Sheila!!!!!
Unique interpretations are the main thing, without it i will be stuck with a band 3!!!!
what about if i do Eric or Gerald rather then her, as much as it would be wise to do Sheila i think it would be difficult aswell.
If i was to do sheila how should i structure my answer and what should i focus on?
if you could give me an outline i think i would find it more easy.
thank you
Reply 7
Original post by pinkrox22310
I'm doing how Sheila developed throughout the play and totally struggling anyone have any advice?
BTW is this your CA Question?


yeah, and i am really struggling with it knowing that in a few weeks i will have to sit in a room and type it up.
i thought i should plan and have a proper structure but dont even know where to start. The characters are all interesting so i dont know which one is the most appropriate for this question!!
is it your CA question and if so what character are you doing?
Original post by nasra135
That is very true, especially with the fact that Mr. Birling does not develop at all. However, the problem is that i find it very difficult to find unique interpretation knowing that everyone is doing Sheila!!!!!
Unique interpretations are the main thing, without it i will be stuck with a band 3!!!!
what about if i do Eric or Gerald rather then her, as much as it would be wise to do Sheila i think it would be difficult aswell.
If i was to do sheila how should i structure my answer and what should i focus on?
if you could give me an outline i think i would find it more easy.
thank you

I would love to help! I remember doing my An Inspector Call exam and I didn't do no revision and came out with an A*. I was stuck with what each character did and didn't know nothing, trust me! All I had was the script in the exam and paper to write on and Mr Birling came up!!!

MR BIRLING:
You can talk about Mr Birling on how his behaviour has developed or changed. At the start he's seen as someone who has more authority but throughout the play this authority becomes destructible because he's then presents himself as someone who is ignorant.

However, Mr Birling doesn't change whatsoever, he ignores to take on board the Inspectors lessons. Towards the end of the play there is another phone call which presents a second visit, maybe the "real" Inspector. This may be a warning to his (Priestley) audience of the circumstances/ danger of not learning the lesson (social responsibility) themselves.

Priestly also makes it clear that there are consequences for every action. For example, Mr Billings ignorant actions for firing Eva Smith, his failure of admitting being responsible in Eva's death and also how he wanted to cover up for Eric stealing money. All these actions were created by Priestley to convey the evil side of money and capitalism, also his dislike for capitalism due to the lack of care in society for the poor.

SHEILA:
Sheila gives the audience hope that society can be improved if people make an effort of making changes and taking responsibility. She develops throughout the play as she learns her lesson. She takes responsibility and makes a change and makes an effort of reassuring that others do the same.

Sheila Birling at the start of the play she is "very pleased with life" She is young, attractive and has just become engaged. Her happiness is soon to be destroyed as is her faith in her family. Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She is genuinely upset when she hears of Eva's death and learns from her own behaviour. She is very distressed by the girl's suicide and thinks that her father's behaviour was unacceptable. She readily agrees that she behaved very badly and insists that she never meant the girl any harm. (This was due to Sheila being jealous of Eva- You'll find suitable quotes if you look online on how jealousy and you can elaborate more on the quote to get top marks!)

The Inspector says that she is only partly responsible and later on, when he is about to question Gerald, he encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say so that she doesn't feel entirely responsible. Not only is she prepared to admit her faults, she also appears keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, ' I'll never, never do it again '

It then continues that she is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him. She is mature about the breaking up of her engagement and remains calm. She won't be rushed into accepting the ring back once the Inspector has left. She is unable to accept her parents attitude and is both amazed and concerned that they haven't learned anything from the episode. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner. She learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself (the idea of the community) and is sensitive. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents

Feel free to discuss about Eric and Gerald if you like and then you can link it to another character and what it suggest and why Priestley used this certain quote or how he conveys these through the act of the characters. :smile:

Feel free to message me for anymore help! Or if you need help for Gerald and Eric :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by LemonadeAspire
I would love to help! I remember doing my An Inspector Call exam and I didn't do no revision and came out with an A*. I was stuck with what each character did and didn't know nothing, trust me! All I had was the script in the exam and paper to write on and Mr Birling came up!!!

MR BIRLING:
You can talk about Mr Birling on how his behaviour has developed or changed. At the start he's seen as someone who has more authority but throughout the play this authority becomes destructible because he's then presents himself as someone who is ignorant.

However, Mr Birling doesn't change whatsoever, he ignores to take on board the Inspectors lessons. Towards the end of the play there is another phone call which presents a second visit, maybe the "real" Inspector. This may be a warning to his (Priestley) audience of the circumstances/ danger of not learning the lesson (social responsibility) themselves.

Priestly also makes it clear that there are consequences for every action. For example, Mr Billings ignorant actions for firing Eva Smith, his failure of admitting being responsible in Eva's death and also how he wanted to cover up for Eric stealing money. All these actions were created by Priestley to convey the evil side of money and capitalism, also his dislike for capitalism due to the lack of care in society for the poor.

SHEILA:
Sheila gives the audience hope that society can be improved if people make an effort of making changes and taking responsibility. She develops throughout the play as she learns her lesson. She takes responsibility and makes a change and makes an effort of reassuring that others do the same.

Sheila Birling at the start of the play she is "very pleased with life" She is young, attractive and has just become engaged. Her happiness is soon to be destroyed as is her faith in her family. Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She is genuinely upset when she hears of Eva's death and learns from her own behaviour. She is very distressed by the girl's suicide and thinks that her father's behaviour was unacceptable. She readily agrees that she behaved very badly and insists that she never meant the girl any harm. (This was due to Sheila being jealous of Eva- You'll find suitable quotes if you look online on how jealousy and you can elaborate more on the quote to get top marks!)

The Inspector says that she is only partly responsible and later on, when he is about to question Gerald, he encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say so that she doesn't feel entirely responsible. Not only is she prepared to admit her faults, she also appears keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, ' I'll never, never do it again '

It then continues that she is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him. She is mature about the breaking up of her engagement and remains calm. She won't be rushed into accepting the ring back once the Inspector has left. She is unable to accept her parents attitude and is both amazed and concerned that they haven't learned anything from the episode. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner. She learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself (the idea of the community) and is sensitive. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents

Feel free to discuss about Eric and Gerald if you like and then you can link it to another character and what it suggest and why Priestley used this certain quote or how he conveys these through the act of the characters. :smile:

Feel free to message me for anymore help! Or if you need help for Gerald and Eric :smile:

thank you so much, that has given me great insight on what to write if I was to talk about those two characters and I think that I am really leaning towards Sheila's character and might end up doing that.
i also wanted to ask you that since it's a controlled assessment i have the choice of doing a charcter, theme or relationship.
do you think that i should stick to doing a charcter or should i consider doing one of the other two?
what would you personally do? you seem to know way more then i do
Original post by nasra135
thank you so much, that has given me great insight on what to write if I was to talk about those two characters and I think that I am really leaning towards Sheila's character and might end up doing that.
i also wanted to ask you that since it's a controlled assessment i have the choice of doing a charcter, theme or relationship.
do you think that i should stick to doing a charcter or should i consider doing one of the other two?
what would you personally do? you seem to know way more then i do


I did the character because you'll have so much to discuss about that certain character however if you really want to do theme and relationship then go ahead. You can have a theme on jealousy and the question might be on Sheila, you'll need to be prepared with quotes that conveys the theme jealousy and talk about how Sheila portrays this theme and why Priestley used this theme and what it presents.
You can also have the theme of Power and you can then discuss on Mr Birling firing Eva showing he has more authority as Eva presents the lower working class which do not have as much power or when they are talking in the beginning and Mr Birling uses quotes that aren't considerably true (the audience knows this but the characters in the play don't). This is because the characters believe that just because he's at a higher working class with high authority, they automatically believe that people with this status are intelligent and know what they are saying, however Mr Birling is just delusional and wrong but Priestley is just presenting the theme of power and what affect it has on the people around them. "There isn't a chance of war...its make war impossible" or "The Titanic- and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable"

You decide which is easier for you, theme or relationship or the character :smile: If you need more help feel free to ask!
Original post by nasra135
yeah, and i am really struggling with it knowing that in a few weeks i will have to sit in a room and type it up.
i thought i should plan and have a proper structure but dont even know where to start. The characters are all interesting so i dont know which one is the most appropriate for this question!!
is it your CA question and if so what character are you doing?


Yeah, I'm doing Sheila since I feel as she changed a lot throughout the play.
Reply 12
Original post by pinkrox22310
Yeah, I'm doing Sheila since I feel as she changed a lot throughout the play.


i guess im gonna have to do her too but how are you working on getting unique interpretations, i find that really difficult?
Original post by nasra135
i guess im gonna have to do her too but how are you working on getting unique interpretations, i find that really difficult?


You can pm your essay on the way you're writing it up or just a paragraph of Shield and your analysis so I can read it and tell you if you need to add anything in there! :smile: I finished my GCSE's and currently doing A Levels so I'll be willing to help with previous revision from GCSE
Original post by nasra135
How does the character of Mr. Birling develop through out the play?


Mr.Birling doesn't change in the sense of accepting responsibility, however towards the start of the play he does all these grand speeches and generally is the head of conversation and in control, however towards the end the inspector gains control of conversation by asking questions- and generally decreasing the sheer mass of speech Mr.Birling uses to much smaller answers to questions- and it's only when the inspector leaves that he begins to take some 'power' back. (Assuming the story the inspector told to be made up)

Also, the speeches he makes are designed to make him initially seem as intelligent- from the sheer mass of language and topics he discusses (and being lord mayor)- however, if you look closer you see he says things like- WW2 will not happen, and the Titanic will not sink- both of which came to happen. Therefore, you could argue that this presents Mr.Birling as all talk and no knowledge, or you could say that he represents general public opinion (or upper class opinion) of the time- as many believed that the Titanic was unsinkable.

Priestly was a socialist, therefore he believed the class segregation at the time was wrong. This book is an attempt to persuade people to change there ways like Sheila- and Birling is just stubborn and mean, and generally doesn't care about Eva like his wife.

(Also, each character is compared to the 7 deadly sins- Mr.Birling could be argued as 'envy'.)

Hope this helps :smile:
Reply 15
Original post by LemonadeAspire
You can pm your essay on the way you're writing it up or just a paragraph of Shield and your analysis so I can read it and tell you if you need to add anything in there! :smile: I finished my GCSE's and currently doing A Levels so I'll be willing to help with previous revision from GCSE


Thank you so much
that would be really helpful, I'll let you know as soon as I'm done with my essay
Mr. Birling starts out all confident, but then he gets undermined by the Inspector. His authority is threatened, as he is no longer taking control of the situation, but he's more of a side character. However, once the Inspector leaves, he goes back to the way he was, all over again. He doesn't develop AT ALL, if you ask me. On the other-hand, Sheila and Eric develop plenty, and I even say Gerald has had a bit of change in him too.

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