An inspector calls - Mr birling

How does priestly present Mr birling?
i would like at least 4 points with quotes

How does priestly present Mr birling?
i would like at least 4 points with quotes

just out of interest, is this a prediction for the aqa english exam?! ive think this question will come up lol

Okay.
So at the beginning of the play Mr Birling is described as "Heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties but rather provincial in his speech". This suggests that Birling has worked his way up to be a high class business man, which he is clearly proud of, because he keeps constantly bringing up his status in society, which makes it seem as though he is bragging about it. An example of this is when he tells Gerald about his possible chances of knighthood, and he does this to impress Gerald. This is because Gerald is socially higher in the hierarchy than Birling, so Birling is eager to please him. Birling claims that the engagement dinner was "one of the happiest nights" of his life but it is unclear as to whether this is because his daughter is getting married or because he has the possible opportunity to merge with Crofts limited. This make Birling seem like a quite shallow man, giving the audience a negative view of him as he only seems to care about social standings.
Furthermore when the inspector arrives, Birling tries to intimidate him using his social status. He tells the inspector that " I [Birling] was alderman for years- and Lord Mayor the years ago- and I'm still on the bench" the hyphens here could show that Birling is pausing between his speech, and he does this after every social title he mentions. This may be because as soon as Birling says one of the title he is waiting for the effect of his status to sink in, before saying the next one, hoping that it would intimidate the inspector. This shows that Birling is dominated by a sense of self importance- as if he thinks he is superior to the inspector, which reveals to the audience the vain character that he is.
Birling is also clearly a "hard-headed business man" with no sympathy towards the working class, because even after he found out about his part in Eva's death he refused to take any responsibility because he felt that he was "quite justified" when he decided to fire Eva, just because she asked for a raise. He then goes on to say that "If we were all responsible for everything that happened to anyone we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward wouldn't it?". This shows Birling's capitalists view, so the audience grow to believe that Birling is a selfish man who is more concerned about this situation turning into a "public scandal", rather than feel bad for what he did. He does however say to the inspector that he'd "give thousands, yes thousands", to get Eva back, but this does not seem very genuine as it sounds like Birling is trying to use money to cover up his mistakes rather than hoping to fix the mistake. This clearly suggests that Birling only tries to protect himself and his own interests.
Birling always thinks he is right and is very sure himself like when he talks about titanic being "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" and how "there isn't a chance of war". Priestley uses dramatic irony here because the audience know that Birling is wrong, since the play was written after both the occurrences, and this make Birling seem very foolish, therefore showing that his views cannot be trusted.
Birling is also a very rude character as he shows very little mannerism towards the inspector. This is shown through stage directions such as "(angrily)", which indicates that he is not very self contained because rather than keeping his emotions to himself he takes it out on the inspector, his impatience quite clearly expressed through his actions. This further enhances the dislike that the audience feel towards Birling up to this point of the play. His rudeness is also shown when he constantly interrupts Eric and dismissing Eric's views. This not only shows his bad manners, but also shows that Birling is not a very good father to Eric because he treats him like he is not good enough. Eric shows that their relationship and Birling's parenting was not very positive when he says "you're not the kind of father a chap would go to when he's in trouble", because Eric knew that Birling would not have been very supportive of him, because he is not a very good father.
Finally, Birling is used my Priestley to represent older generations, holding the traditional, selfish attitude. Priestley wanted the audience to dislike Birling by making him seem like a fool so that they would be encouraged to lead a better life, by rejecting the attitudes of Birling. Priestley also hoped that the younger generation would bring change and have more social responsibility, unlike their parents.

HOPE THIS HELPS.