Mr Birling is a pompous and an arrogant person. He is pompous because he wants to let people know that he mixes with upper class people. He was pleased to let the Inspector know that his daughter has just become engaged to, “Mr Gerald Croft – son of Sir George Croft – you know, Crofts limited. ” He is also complacent because he doesn’t like to worry about what other people are saying. ” I say there isn’t a chance of war,” he says to his family, “these are all silly little war scares.
” Mr Birling refuses to believe the scaremongers that are predicting war. He’s living in his own protective world and doesn’t realise what’s really going on. Mr Birling shows that the upper classes gets on very well with the police. When Mr Birling and the inspector are talking about the chief inspector Mr Birling announces to Inspector Goole that, ” perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently. We play golf together up at the West Brumley.
” The upper class also love talking about their achievements. When Mr Birling is talking to Gerald he boasts that, “there is a fair chance that I might find myself into the next honours list. Just a knighthood, of course. ” This shows that Mr Birling is proud of him self and loves to brag to others of his successes, so that others will respect him more for these outward signs of success. Mr Birling shows us in the play that he is a hypocrite and very worried about his reputation. Mr Birling shows us that he is a hypocrite trying to tell the future.
When he is talking to Gerald about the fact that he might be getting a knighthood he says, ” I gather there is a very good chance if a knighthood – so long as we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal. ” This shows that he is very worried about his reputation because if he does something wrong then he’ll lose his chance of a knighthood. Mr Birling doesn’t believe in the inspectors quote, “we are all members of one body. ” He thinks that we should just fight our own battles and not look after or help others.
When talking to Gerald and Eric, Mr Birling says, ” but the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense. ” And, ” I can’t accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it? Mr Birling aims to make as much money as possible to enable him to live his upper class life. When discussing business with Gerald, his daughter’s fianci??
, Mr Birling says “lower costs, higher prices. ” Mr Birling wants the highest prices for the goods produced in his factory but is determined to pay the lowest wages to the lower class that work for him. At the beginning Sheila is exactly like her mother and father: pompous, spoilt, and arrogant. She expects a lot because of her wealth and social class. Sheila always dresses well in elegant and posh clothes; she speaks extremely well and reveals her background when speaking to others of her class, for instance her mother and father.
When speaking to her mother she says, ” yes, go on mummy, you must drink to our health. ” She also says, ” Milwards? We go there, in fact, I was there this morning. ” And, ” she was lucky to get taken on at Milwards. ” When these sentences are put together it shows that she shops at very exclusive shops. This is proving that she has a lot of money because she shops at Milwards. Her attitude at the beginning is snobbish here because she believes that only the best should shop and work there and the employees of Milwards should respect the clients.
