An Inspector Calls grade 9 essay

Mr Birling 💵

Last week, I wrote an article on how to write a great introduction for a literature essay, and I provided a model introduction for an essay on Mr Birling.

This week, I’m sharing a full grade 9 essay on Mr Birling. I hope you find it helpful.

Question

AQA GCSE English Literature, paper 1 (Nov. 2020)

‘…a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’.

How far does Priestley present Mr Birling as a man who cares only for himself and his family?

Essay

Mr Birling epitomizes the self-serving Edwardian entrepreneur who places his company’s profits over the welfare of his employees. [His economic attitude is best expressed in his advice ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’. These words echo Adam Smith’s concept of the invisible hand which argues society can flourish when everyone acts in their own interest, trying to grow their own business. However, Mr Birling lacks the sense of moral responsibility which Smith argues is also key to a successful capitalist society, and] Priestley exposes the weaknesses of Mr Birling’s laissez-faire capitalism in An Inspector Calls through the use of dramatic irony and the misplaced confidence that Mr Birling has in there being continual economic growth from his 1912, pre-war standpoint. Additionally, Priestley questions the lack of government regulation in business by portraying Mr Birling’s selfish dismissal of Eva Smith as the catalyst for her downfall.

In the opening stage directions, Priestley gives directors and readers an unflattering impression of Mr Birling through his home decor and appearance. First, the house is described as ‘substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike.’ This description of the furnishings suggests that the house should appear garishly luxurious. Priestley wants to emphasise that Mr Birling lacks good taste to suggest he is shallow. The house is a reflection of Mr Birling’s personality: it is an ugly status symbol which lacks character. It is a fitting house for Mr Birling which hints not only at his materialism but also his moral bankruptcy. Further, it emphasises that Mr Birling is nouveau-riche in contrast with his wife Sybil Birling. As Mr Birling is a ‘prosperous manufacturer’ who has recently acquired his wealth, naturally the house lacks the elegance and sophistication of a country residence which has been refined over generations. This framing through the set design is significant because it will help to immediately emphasise to an audience Mr Birling’s status anxiety, which is apparent but subtle in his opening comment to Gerald when he highlights that he’s bought the same port Gerald’s father enjoys. If An Inspector Calls was adapted for a modern audience, Mr Birling would probably own a yellow Ferrari which he would park in front of a soulless new-build mansion with a hideous greige aesthetic to emphasise his obsession with wealth and status, and his desire to achieve both no matter what it costs his suffering employees.

Secondly, Mr Birling is characterised as a ‘heavy looking, rather portentous man’. The description of him as ‘heavy looking’ suggests that he is overweight perhaps to emphasise his greed and the description of him as ‘rather portentous’ suggests that he looks conceited and a little overbearing. Mr Birling’s physical appearance then complements his primary vices: greed and envy. Further, it is the combination of these vices, which cause Mr Birling to act out of self-interest and disregard Eva’s worth as a person. He is so greedy and desperate for status that he is willing to sacrifice the welfare of his employees, such as Eva, in his pursuit of the upper echelons of society inhabited by men such as Gerald and his father. This presentation of Mr Birling then primes the audience to loathe him and his lack of social conscience.

In the opening of the play, Mr Birling’s pomposity and his relentless obsession with wealth and status is made apparent in his opening monologues. First, he toasts to Sheila and Gerald’s engagement in a way which frames their union as a business deal for his benefit. Mr Birling says ‘your engagement to Sheila means a tremendous lot to me’. This is an unusual syntactical structure which places the focus on himself and away from his daughter Sheila, and it suggests that subconsciously Mr Birling cares more about merging with ‘Crofts’ to form ‘Crofts and Birlings’ than the happiness of his own daughter. This is then confirmed in Mr Birling’s closing remark when he says he hopes ‘Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but working together’ and he then explains why he wants this: ‘for lower costs and higher prices’. Mr Birling’s thoughts are entirely centred on business and how he can maximise his market share and increase his company’s profits. He views the dinner less as a celebration and more as a business opportunity, and his intentions are all too obvious which is why Sybil responds, ‘Now, Arthur, I don’t think you ought to talk about business on an occasion like this’ to highlight that it is completely out of place to say such things in a toast to your daughter’s engagement, especially at the dinner table.

Priestley really emphasises how Mr Birling’s thoughts are dominated by business, but this does not make Mr Birling a terrible character. What makes him truly awful is his lack of compassion for his employees and the working class generally which he colloquially refers to as ‘labour’. His language is very antagonistic when he attempts to reassure Sheila and Gerald that they’re getting married at a financially stable period of time. Mr Birling asserts that ‘we employers are coming together to see that our interests—and the interests of capital—are properly protected’, framing working class people as mere expenses rather than individuals who deserve dignity. It is worth considering that at this time when the play is set in 1912, there were many unions demanding higher wages at a time when there was no minimum wage set by the government which employers had to pay their workers. Inevitably, this led to some people being paid pitiful wages which could not cover their basic living expenses. Yet, there is no sense of sympathy or understanding from Mr Birling: he frames this as an us versus them (entrepreneurs versus ‘labour’) problem and implies it is his job to keep costs down no matter what the human cost to his employees. Additionally, the term ‘labour’ conveniently dehumanises the men and women working for big industrial businessmen, the John and Eva Smith’s of society, reducing them to items in a column. Eva’s suffering in the play and the graphic way she commits suicide therefore serve as a cautionary tale for people such as Mr Birling, showing them just how vulnerable and precarious their lives can be.

An Inspector Calls therefore is a play which promotes social responsibility and the Christian imperative to treat everyone fairly and kindly. Priestley suggests we should act as if we are part of the same ‘body’. This symbolic ‘body’ refers to British society in the Inspector’s closing remarks. It metaphorically suggests that businessmen like Mr Birling should acknowledge their responsibility toward their employees—not just because workers like Eva deserve dignity, but because societal stability and economic prosperity depend on it.

Word count:

1125

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Thanks for reading.

Let me know if you have any questions, and if you found this post helpful, then give it some love ❤️

Best wishes,

Morgan