English Lit Flashcards
(45 cards)
What the significant of stage direction
The lighting should be pink and intiamte and it exposes them until the inspector arrives than its brighter and harder
What ways do priestly present Mr Birling as being closer to Gerald Croft than his own daughter and how could thus link toy socialsit or capitalist beliefs
Mr birling says “your like the son in law ive never had” but in a way through a capitalist beliefs because whats driving him is the money he can make out of this marrige and is not intrested in shelias happinest.
Why is briling so sycophantic
He is crawling towards gerald and pretending they both like eachother because its convienent for eachother (money)
Sycophantic
behaving or done in an obsequious way in order to gain advantage.
Why are Gerald’s parents not at
the party? How do you think Mr.
Birling feels about this?
Geralds parents are not at the party because they dont want to be seen with someone thats shuch a lower class comper to them. Makes him feel hes a lower class and unworthy but due to his pride he wont show it or say.
Is Mr. Birling really happy for Sheila’s
engagement as a father should be
or is there another reason he is
looking forward to this marriage?
He is far more intrested in the bussines opertunites that the marrige will give rather than her happiness in the marrige
What does Mr. Birling think of his
own opinions? What does the
adverb ‘again’ imply?’
Mr Birling thinks hes always right he thinks the world revolves around him he gives his opion like theyre facts hes arogant he dont belive hes wrong. He says again as he always supposdely right
everything in
Birling’s speech that he gets wrong.
“you’ll be marrying at a very good time.”
“war’s inevitable”
“and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.”
What is Priestley hoping
to achieve by making Birling
unlikeable?
By making Birling seem unlikeable, Priestley is encouraging the audience to see the benefits of socialism.
Eric tries to speak to his
father in this speech but Birling
keeps cutting him off. Why do you
think Birling treats Eric in this way?
Mr Birling’s relationship with his son, Eric, lacks a sense of familial connection. And how eric will never live up to the name birling
Why is Birling wrong when he
speaks to Eric and Gerald?
Because there going to have to leave for the war
Birling presents his opinion as
fact. Why does he do this? What does this
tell you about his character
Shows how intransigent he is and how much of a hard-headed bussines man and doesent know better but his own opinion how eric mentions the war and shuts him up which makes the audience sympthaise with him
Use of personal pronouns in mr birling speech
When he uses i he thinks hes important when he says you hes also likes telling people what to do. Directing it to men because he dosent think women are important
Look at the word ‘again’
in the first line. What does it imply
about Birling?
He keeps telling people what to do and what he says go and how self absrobed he is.
Intransigent
unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something. (Noun)
Who is Birling referring to
when he says, ‘the way some of
these cranks talk…’?
Referring about lower class and socialists
HG wells a wirter who advocated for equality
Socialism
Commuinsm
Why does Birling emphasise the
fact that Gerald and Eric are ‘young’?
And how even though hes is old and smarter they should respect there olders and listen to them even if there wrong
How does Birling disregard the
socialist ideology in this extract? Try and
use a quotation in your answer.
“Youd think everybody should look after themselves” this showes he thinks socialism is a load of nonsense
Why does the doorbell ring
when it does?
The inspector has had enough of mr birling egotism and self centerdnes
Priestly use of mr birling
Birling is Priestley’s construct
(puppet). Priestley purposefully
makes Birling unlikeable so that
the audience associate
capitalism with him. In this way,
they are more susceptible to
Priestley’s socialist ideology.
Look at the stage directions
used to show how Birling and
Gerald are speaking. Explain the
differences between the
directions before and after the
inspector arrives.
Laughing funny but after the inspector comes he is quite uneased and unsettled. Gerlad is laid back.
How do the Inspector’s stage
directions compare to
Birling’s and Gerald’s?
Cool and composed,confident eye contact
What impression do we
have of Birling since the
arrival of the Inspector?
Every time he confronted Birling about something birling would get mad and take it out on eric or sometimes shelia.
