What grade/ mark would you give this gcse essay? AQA Inspector calls Mr Birling

In the didactic play, ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley uses Mr Birling as a symbol for capitalism and displays him as an inherently greedy and selfish figure who only cares for himself, and places the interest of business and social status above his family.

In Act 1, Priestley establishes Mr birling as ignorant through, “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”. Through this, Priestley highlights Mr Birling's willingness to ignore his social responsibility to maximise his financial gain. Priestley also suggests how highly Mr Birling values money since he lists “business” before anything else. This could be reflective of how capitalism puts the interest of money over everything else. Priestley showcases this attitude further when Mr Birling discusses socialism in a negative manner through, “mixed up like bees in a hive, community and all that nonsense”. The use of the simile “like bees in a hive”, could be interpreted to show how Mr Birling sees community as a primitive concept, only suitable for insects, which Priestley could be using to highlight and reflect the condescending attitudes of the upper class towards the lower class during the Edwardian era. This simile could also be showing how despite bees being synonymous with living in a harmonious society and being vital to human existence, Mr Birling dismisses it as “nonsense”, further emphasising how avaricious he is: he is willing to sacrifice a harmonious society in order to exploit the lower class to earn more profit, making Mr Birling an unpopular character among the contemporary audience, as during this time Attlee’s newly elected government made social welfare a manifesto commitment. Therefore, the audience had more socialist leanings and deemed capitalism counter-productive.

Additionally, In Act 1, Priestley emphasises to the audience how exploitive and harsh Mr Birling is towards the lower class , and only uses them for materialistic purposes, through, “yes, yes. Horrid business”. The repetition of the monosyllabic “yes” as well as the comma between the repetition, quicken the pace of the speech, implying how dismissive Mr Birling is of the whole situation as well as how annoyed he is by the inspector bringing news of Eva’s death, as he only sees this as an unwelcome interruption to a nice evening. Also the fact that he refers to Eva’s suicide as “business” dehumanises Eva and suggests how over-capatilistic Mr Birling is.
The fact that he is unremorseful towards the news of Eva’s suicide emphasises how he has become desentised to empathy as a result of being money-oriented. Moreover, this is also seen through, “Rubbish! If you don’t come down sharply on these people, they’ll soon be asking for the Earth”. The use of the adverb “sharply” suggests how Mr Birling sees the lower class as animals who need to be tamed as well as constantly relates everything to money and business . This also suggests how he sees the lower class as greedy people with unreasonable means through the metaphorical use of “earth”. This contrasts to the view of the majority in the contemporary audience; the war effort that they were forced to undergo united many regardless of background to fight for Britain, making people have more socialist views. Ironically, Mr Birling is displayed to exploit the lower class in order to maximise the success of his business. Through this, Priestley highlights to the audience how hypocritical and selfish Mr Birling is and links this to the harmfulness of capitalism.

Furthermore, Priestley further portrays Mr birling as a man who only cares about himself through his attitudes to public appearance which is showcased through, “the press might easily take this up”, when he finds out about Gerlad’s involvement with Eva’s death. This highlights how he has no regard for Eva’s death and is only concerned about his image and his reputation, which, if ruined, could jeopardize the success of his business. By act 3, Mr Birling could be argued to care about his family through the stage direction “(thunderstruck)” when he realises that Eric is the father of Eva’s baby, which displays how much shock and worry he is for Eric. However, his selfish desire to uphold his reputation is soon revealed through “(savagely) I've got to cover this up as soon as I can. You damned fool” when he realises that Eric had stolen money. Through the use of the adverb “savagely” as a stage direction, Priestley highlights how infuriated Mr briling is with Eric at hims stealing money, rather than possibly raping Eva smith, highlightling the wickedness of Mr Birling as well as capitalism. Moreover, the use of the adjective “damned” has connotations of hell, as if Mr Birling is damning his own son to hell due to money, though this shocking portray of a man who would sacrifice his morals for a polished public image, Priestley further conveys his selfishness. His selfishness is heightened further as the audience realises he cares more for his image than teaching his son the acceptable social morales. This negative characterisation allows Priestley to convey the rottenness of capitalism.

Priestley again highlights Mr Birling as self-centered through his attitude to Sheila's marriage to Gerald. In Act 1, he declares Gerlad as “just the kind of son in law I’ve always wanted” and how soon Crofts limited and the Birlings’ business will be working together for “lower cost and higher prices”. Through this, Priestley highlights how Mr Birling is only happy with Gerlad because of the business opportunities that he brings, demonstrating how he is willing to sacrifice the happiness of his daughter in order for business ventures. Also, “lower costs and higher prices'' demonstrates how Mr Birling is willing to exploit both the lower class and his customers in order for financial gain. Therefore, Priestley displays how Mr Birling constantly uses other people as a stepping stone for his own success. This is again shown is in act 3 through, “(heartily) look you’d better ask Gerald for that ring you gave back to him hadn’t you. Then you’ll feel better” The fact that Mr Birling is oblivious to the fact that Gerald cheated on her daughter and is only focusing on how the two companies will join together further highlights is avaricious nature and how his mind is only set on money and reputation, which Priestley uses to show to the audience how the capitalist viewpoint is .

In conclusion, it is clear that Mr Birling only cares about himself and has no regards for anyone including his family. By the end of the play, it is clear that Mr birling is a static and selfish character when he starts “(imitating the inspector in his final speech” highlights how he finds socialism and it’s messages as a laughing matter. Priestley uses Mr Birling as a warning to the members of the audience not to adopt capitalistic traits as when it is revealed that the real inspector will be arriving he becomes “panic stricken”, highlighting foolishness as well as selfishness will ultimately cause downfalls.

Reply 1

beefreya

this is a good essay, and you have a clear thesis but;
i feel as if you could expand in your intro a bit, as well as stating your main point you need to add the main ideas of all of your paragraphs.
as well, when you put in your quotes you sound unsure about this you say "could be interpreted" and to the examiner this sounds as if you are less confident in your answer. instead say "this is significant because" etc

but good context points and quotes analysis, i would give this a B1 but it depends on the examiner :smile: