how sheila changes in an inspector calls essay

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Essay: How does Sheila change in An Inspector Calls?

Throughout Inspector Calls, Sheila is the character who changes the most. At the beginning of the play she is a young, naïve girl who is happy to be told what to think and do; by the end she is the only character who really takes responsibility for the death of Eva and is happy to tell her parents that she thinks they are wrong.

The stage directions describe her as being “very pleased with life” a phrase which reflects her luxurious upbringing. She’s also described as being “excited” an adjective that suggests she is looking forward to her life. In both these respects she could be viewed as being ignorant to the reality of what her luxury costs others, or how difficult the times ahead will be.

Sheila refers to her parents as “mummy” and “daddy,” nouns that are associated with young children and not young adults; she is also told off by her mother for squabbling with her brother, a fact that reinforces our vision of her as being infantilised by her parents.

Sheila is then given a ring by her fiancé Gerald. “Is it the one you wanted me to have?” she asks him, a phrase that suggests she wasn’t really interested in what she wanted but only what Gerald wanted her to have.

Throughout the opening she is presented as a child, with no real desires or wishes of her own. In many respects, she is the traditional rich young woman – without a real mind of her own by virtue of her gender.

When the Inspector arrives, he explains how her spoilt behaviour in a shop led to Eva being sacked. “Then I’m really responsible,” she accepts, quickly recognising her role in the girl’s downfall. Also, she observes that the Inspector is getting ready to speak to Gerald next and pushes this through, asking direct questions to Gerald and working out the reasons why he wasn’t where he said he was the summer before. In both these cases, she is showing independent thought – by accepting responsibility even when others don’t and by pushing Gerald against his wishes.

During their time with the inspector, her parents and Gerald repeatedly try to send Sheila out of the room to protect her from his news – her mother argues that she is “looking tired,” something that we would only really say to a very small child. Sheila repeatedly refuses, arguing that she will stay until “I know why that girl killed herself.” Here, she clearly shows herself standing up to her parents, sticking to her desire to discover the truth of the situation.

At one point Arthur argues that the inspector is making “quite an impression” on Sheila, suggesting that she’s coming around to the inspector’s way of thinking. “We often do on the young ones,” the inspector replies, suggesting that his socialist values are more affective on younger people. This reflects a view of Priestley’s which was that socialism and left wing values are more impactful on younger people, a fact that’s often reflected in even modern opinion polls where right wing conservatives tend to be older. This is also shown in how, by the end of the play, Mr and Mrs Birling remain unchanged by the arrival of the inspector, while their children change – even Gerald admits that the events “affected him,” before he reverts back to his old ways.

Even after the inspector leaves, Sheila continues to push his ideas trying to make sure that her family don’t forget him. She claims they are beginning to “pretend” that nothing has happened, clearly accepting that things won’t be the same again. Her use of the verb is interesting as well, as games of “pretend” are really childish things. It seems that the girl who was once infantilised is now accusing her parents of playing make-believe. She also argues that her parents “don’t seem to have learnt anything,” behaving almost like a school mistress arguing that a lesson has been missed. She also says, in response to a speech from Eric in which he accepts responsibility, that he makes her feel a little less “ashamed” of them, a word which really shows just how powerfully Sheila sees her parents’ remorseless behaviour.

Her frustration is clear throughout the ending, where she says her parents’ behaviour “scares” her. This clearly references the inspectors closing words about “fire and blood and anguish” which referenced the years of war that would follow the period between the play being written and being performed. The audience at this point would doubtless be agreeing with Sheila regarding her fear. Her parents continue to ignore her desire to grow up, infantilising her again by suggesting that she’s just “tired” and “hysterical,” though they can’t ignore her final words when she refuses Gerald’s ring again which clearly shows that she has grown up enough to express herself completely.

It’s also interesting that the final stage directions of the play say that Sheila is “facing the door” that the real inspector will soon enter through. This very specific instruction from Priestley could suggest that Sheila is ready to face the inspector, or that she is ready to leave. The last line of the play though is Sheila rising from her seat which symbolically suggests that she, as a representative of young women, will rise.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — An Inspector Calls — The Transformation of Sheila as Illustrated in an Inspector Calls

How Sheila is Presented in an Inspector Calls

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Updated: 25 October, 2024

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GCSE English Literature - An Inspector Calls (How & Why Sheila Changes)

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25th February 2020

How and why does Sheila change in ‘An Inspector Calls’?

In the morality play, An Inspector Calls, JB Priestley presents the construct of Sheila as a proxy for the Inspector as she changes to embrace socialism and reject capitalism as well as selfishness. She learns to accept responsibility for her actions as she knows what she did was morally wrong and she now knows the consequences that her actions have on society. She also symbolises how people can change for the better.

There is a direct contrast between Sheila’s naïve and shallow character at the start of the play and her sympathetic and compassionate character at the end of the play where we see a change due to her acceptance and learning of the consequences of her actions. Her selfish and self-obsessed nature, at the beginning of the play, is shown in the opening stage directions and the way she treats Eva Smith at Milwards - she is jealous of Eva because she is ‘pretty’ and describes her ‘smiling’ as ‘impertinent’. Her child-like character is also seen when Gerald offers her the ring: she gets very thrilled and shows her ‘mummy’ how beautiful her ring is. The use of the noun ‘mummy’ has child-like connotations and Priestley could perhaps be arguing how capitalism is a very childish belief. However, towards the end of the play, Sheila starts to address Mrs Birling as ‘mother’. This change in address could imply Sheila’s change in character and belief in socialistic views. ‘Mother’ also has a more distant feeling than ‘mummy’ which could represent how different her views are compared to her mother’s; Sheila is more responsible and now embraces socialism while Mrs Birling is a capitalist and refuses to change due to her ignorance.

Sheila can also be presented as Mrs Birling’s foil due to their contradictory views. For instance, Mrs Birling describes Eva Smith as ‘a girl of that class’ which reflects her cold and unsympathetic attitude when describing Eva’s position. However, we can see that Sheila opposes this view when she says ‘these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people’ as this shows her concerning and sympathetic feelings towards the working class. Furthermore, after the Inspector interrogates Sheila, we can see that the stage directions show that she becomes ‘distressed’ which shows her regret and remorse she has for treating Eva Smith the way she did. From this, we can infer that there is hope for change to the 1945 audience as well as for the future generations as they are often more ‘impressionable’ and seem to take responsibility for their own actions.

However, the patriarchal society of 1912 does not allow Sheila to change as women were seen as subservient to men - women at the time were denied power and the only way an upper-class woman, like Sheila, could gain power was through marriage. At the end of the play, Sheila gives Gerald the ring back (‘What about this ring?’) after she finds out about his affair with Eva Smith. Gerald is a materialistic character and has not changed or developed from Act 1, but he remembers Sheila’s initial reaction to the ring - she seemed to be more excited about the ring than about their marriage. He expected her to not to have changed her materialistic views and underestimated her ability to change, along with her power to change. She responds to Gerald’s offer with: ‘I think you’d better take this with you’. The verb phrase ‘I think’ shows that she is now prioritising her views over his and is also rejecting the importance of material things. This can be linked to her rejecting the idea pf how a 20th- century woman should behave, emphasising how women of 1912 were disregarded by men.

Once the Inspector makes Sheila aware of the consequences of her and her family’s actions, she becomes more sympathetic and moral; she has grown up and has realised that her actions can have grave consequences. By the end of the play, she challenges her parents to take responsibility for their actions and is genuinely repulsed by their inability to do so.

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Example Essay: Sheila

How does Priestley present Sheila as a character who learns?

An Inspector Calls is about how people should be more responsible. Priestley wrote An Inspector Calls to teach his 1945 audience about social responsibility.

Early in the play, Priestley makes clear Sheila is immature and has an easy life. In the opening stage directions, Priestley describes Sheila as ‘pleased’ with herself. Sheila is pleased because she is engaged to Gerald Croft. Priestley also writes in the stage directions ‘heavily comfortable house’ and ‘champagne’, which demonstrates that Sheila has quite an easy life due to being very wealthy. It is clear that Sheila doesn’t have many worries; her only worry at this point is being engaged to a wealthy man. Priestley also presents Sheila as immature by having her refer to her parents as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’. These words reveal that, at this stage in the play, she is still quite childish and looks up to her parents. This changes later in the play when the inspector arrives. Perhaps Priestley presents Sheila in this way to show that the lives of upper class people were very easy in 1912.

When the inspector arrives, Priestley demonstrates that Sheila starts to change. The audience learns from the inspector’s questioning that Sheila selfishly had Eva Smith fired because she was jealous of her good looks. When the inspector reveals that Eva Smith is dead, Priestley makes clear Sheila takes full responsibility for her actions by writing ‘I started it’. These words reveal that Sheila recognises that she contributed to Eva Smith’s death and that she feels very guilty about what she did. It is clear that Sheila is starting to change, as she is thinking about others - she is not just thinking about herself. Priestley does this in order to demonstrate to his 1945 audience that the younger generation in society can learn from their mistakes and learn to take more responsibility for other people.

After the inspector leaves, Priestley presents Sheila as a character who tries to change her parents. Priestley has Sheila state ‘I guess we’re all nice people now’. In other words, Sheila is saying to her parents that they think they’re nice people again simply because they’re realised the inspector isn’t real. Priestley has Sheila make a point to her parents that they haven’t actually learned anything because they’ve gone back to their old ways as soon as they realised the inspector wasn’t real. It seems they only cared about their reputation. At the end of the play, Priestley also has Sheila call her parents ‘mother’ and ‘father’, which suggests that she has grown up and no longer looks up to her parents in the same way. By having Sheila change in this way, Priestley is giving hope to his 1945 audience that society can change for the better if wealthy people start to take more responsibility for the working classes.

‘An Inspector Calls’ is about how people should be more responsible. Priestley explores the theme of responsibility throughout the play, notably through the differences between the older and younger generations, through which he gives his 1945 audience hope of a better society built on a model of social responsibility. As Sheila learns from her actions, accepts responsibility and challenges her parents to do the same, it could be argued that she learns the most in the play.

Early in the play, Priestley’s portrayal of Sheila as smug and immature conveys the sheltered lives of many of the upper classes. In the opening stage directions, Priestley describes Sheila as ‘pleased’ with herself due to her recent engagement to the wealthy businessman Gerald Croft. Living in a ‘heavily comfortable house’ and toasting her engagement with ‘champagne’, Sheila has little to worry her at this stage of the play; she is smugly consumed with the celebration of her engagement. Priestley also has Sheila refer to her parents at the start of the play as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’. These terms of address are an indication of the way her parents have infantilised her and sheltered her from the harsh realities of the word; this sheltered life is only possible for Sheila due to the wealth and status of her family. Additionally, the fact that Sheila uses these words to refer to her parents indicates that she still looks up to them and respects their views, something that changes dramatically as the play progresses. Perhaps Priestley presents Sheila in this way early in the play to demonstrate the sheltered and easy lives that many upper class young women led in 1912, in comparison to their working class counterparts, who suffered extreme hardship.

During the inspector’s questioning, Priestley uses Sheila’s actions to demonstrate the need for the upper classes to take greater responsibility for the working classes. Upon being questioned by the inspector, Sheila admits to selfishly having Eva Smith fired due to petty jealousy. Rather than deflecting responsibility onto others, Sheila recognises her role in Eva Smith’s death stating, remorsefully, ‘I started it’. Priestley contrasts Sheila’s remorse with the stubbornness of her parents, who claim they were ‘perfectly justified’ and ‘can’t accept any responsibility’ for their actions. Priestley’s portrayal of Sheila’s actions in the department store indicate just how much power and status wealthy people had in England in 1912, and how frequently this could be misused, deeply affecting the working classes. His choice to contrast older and younger generation characters could indicate to his 1945 audience that hope for a better society in the future must be placed in the younger generation, who are more impressionable and more likely to learn from their mistakes.

After the inspector leaves, Priestley contrasts Sheila with her parents to reveal how much she has learned and her commitment to make a permanent change. In contrast to her parents, who are delighted to discover the inspector was just a ‘hoax’, Sheila remains contrite about her role in Eva Smith’s death. Priestley has Sheila accuse her parents of not learning anything, saying ‘I guess we’re all nice people now’. The sarcastic tone in Sheila’s words demonstrate how infuriated she is with her parents for being so willing to forget the actions they took, revealing that they were simply concerned with their own reputation, and have not learned the errors of their ways. Additionally, Priestley has Sheila accuse her mother of ‘trying to build a wall’ between the Birlings and the inspector. This metaphorical wall symbolises the insight Sheila has gained into the huge divide between upper and lower classes, suggesting she has realised how unwilling many upper class people are to recognise their responsibility to others. Priestley’s presentation of Sheila as such a changed character offers a powerful message to his 1945 audience, suggesting that he believes the socialist society that he envisions is achievable if younger people take greater social responsibility.

Priestley demonstrates that Eric also learns, but it is clear that Sheila learns the most. Priestley makes clear from the opening that Eric is not like the other Birlings, as he seems slightly awkward and, as noted by Sheila, drinks heavily. His transformation, therefore, is not as great as Sheila’s; Sheila transforms from being a sheltered, selfish, childish individual, wrapped up in herself and her own happiness, into a more socially responsible young woman who appears to commit to changing in the future.

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Inspector Calls-How Sheila Birling Changes And Develops Through The Play

Sheridan Daley

An Inspector Calls

How does Sheila Birling change and develop throughout the play?

 An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly was first performed in 1945. The play was set in 1912 before the war; it centres on the wealthy Birling family. A visit from the mysterious Inspector Goole proves to be a horrifying experience for the Birling's as they learn that they have each taken part leading up to the suicide of a woman named Eva Smith. The Birling family are strong Communists and believe that they should not share the money they have earned, they strongly agree with the social hierarchy with successful men at the top of the hierarchy (Mr Birling) and working class women at the bottom (Eva Smith). Society at the time was indefensible and there was terrible prejudice against women and the working class. Even so, class divisions were also crucial into making sure higher class had much better opportunities than the lower class, the poor were suppressed from the rich. The Birling family use their status, power and wealth to get what they want. In this essay I am going to explore how Sheila Birling develops and changes throughout the play.

Character summary

Mr Birling - is a prosperous factory owner his first priority is to make more money and get more power, he strongly believes that “a man has to make his own way” he also is looking forward into receiving a knighthood.

Mrs Birling - Wants to stick to the rules. She is only interested in the family-reputation; she is very conservative, old-fashioned, selfish, cold-hearted and looks down on the working class.

Sheila - at the beginning she’s snobbish, egoistic and lacks confidence, but in the end she thinks more clearly, critical, accepts criticism, nice, honest and responsible: she likes to change herself and feels sorry for what she had done. Her readiness to learn from her experiences of great contrast to her parents.

Eric-  makes jokes, behaves silly, lives an easy-going life, and doesn’t care about anything. He behaves half shy and half assertive, towards the end though he starts thinking and accepts his guilt, he also becomes more mature.

Gerald - Is good-looking, rich and clever. He’s engaged to Sheila and also son of an industrial company. He doesn’t change a lot during the story; stays a capitalist (just interested in money and profit). He seems to agree completely with Mr. Birling, quite the same attitude of living.

Inspector Goole - (Goole= Geist; spirit in death) isn’t a real inspector; more something like God because he makes them all feel guilty. His manners are quite extraordinary, rude and assertive. One of the main reasons to visit the Birling family is to make them realise, what responsibilities they have and that their behaviour has an influence on others (opposite to Mr. Birling’s moral).

At the beginning of the play the Birling family are celebrating the engagement between Sheila and Gerald Croft. The Birling family all crave and value power, wealth and money especially Mr Birling. ‘ Gerald I’m going to tell you frankly… your engagement to Sheila means tremendous lot to me… your father and I have been rivals in business… Crofts Limited are both older and bigger company- and now you have brought us together…’  This quotation shows that Mr Birling is happy that his daughter is getting married but it comes across as though the only reason Mr Birling is so pleased is because the rivalry between the two companies will no longer be competing which would benefit his business i.e. more money and higher status. When we first meet Shelia she is immature, snobbish, egoistic and lacks confidence dramatically. ‘ Oh- it’s wonderful…isn’t it a beauty? I think it is perfect, now I really feel engaged. ’ This quotation shows that she is very materialistic and cares about the ring rather than someone she loves and trusts. ‘Yes go on mummy.’  This proves that she is very childlike and still depends on her mother, she has lived a very sheltered life and wants her mother’s approval for everything she does, and she is not independent. Even though Sheila is a grown woman she still has sibling rivalry with Eric. ‘ Don’t be an ass Eric.’  This quotation shows that even though they have both grown up they still bicker like children and do not get on; Sheila is against Eric rather than with him. The stage directions tell us that Sheila is young, pretty and excited which indicates something good has happened in the Birling household. ‘ (half serious, half playful) This stage direction shows us that Sheila is insecure and is suspicious of Gerald but has no confidence to speak out- she pretends she is only joking as she doesn’t want to cause trouble. It makes the reader feel annoyed at Sheila for not confronting Gerald and being confident in herself; however it also makes the reader feel sorry for her as she hasn’t got the inner strength to say what she really feels without being held back and worrying of the possible outcome she might be facing. Sheila does not change or develop here.

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When the Inspector arrives and questions Mr Birling, Sheila responds shocked by the suicide but also she seems quite jealous of the girl and asks questions about her. ‘ What was she like quiet young…pretty?’  This quotation shows us that Sheila is jealous and insecure; she wants everything too be perfect for her. It also shows her selfishness, a poor girl is dead and all Sheila cares about is whether the girl (Eva Smith) was better than her, Sheila is lacking sympathy and at this point Sheila is jealous and insecure and she also shows she is starting to recognise the girl and reconciling the past. The Inspector then turns on Sheila who is the only person who does accept some of the blame. Sheila tends to over-react with things and when she thought a dress she tried on at Milward’s looked better on the shop assistant (Eva Smith) than it did on her she became very angry, this was clearly shown when she says ‘when I was looking at myself in the mirror I caught sight of her smiling at the assistant, and I was furious with her. I’d been in bad mood anyhow.’  This explains how Sheila abused her status and forced the manager to either sack Eva or she would never shop at Milward’s again. She was jealous of her. After Sheila confessed to her part you start to see noticeable changes in her. ‘…if I could help her now, I would.’  This shows us that Sheila knows what she has done wrong and takes responsibility for her actions, she is becoming more independent and mature. This also shows she does regret her actions. Sheila is starting to change and develop.

The Inspector then turns on Gerald, Sheila already knows and understands what is going on, this shows us that Sheila is being perceptive and being more independent with life without her mother’s approval. There is by now an evident tension between Sheila and Gerald which becomes heightened when he admits that he had had an affair with Daisy Renton (Eva Smith) in the spring of the previous year. Whilst feeling angry with Gerald for his involvement with the girl she does have a certain respect for his openness and honesty with his admission. She also becomes wiser and does not value the same things she once valued before, she is not materialistic. She hands him the ring  (stage directions). This stage direction tells us that the relationship between her and Gerald is over, she is more confident to follow her heart rather than materialistic objects. At the end of Act 2, she is the first to realise Eric's part in the story. Significantly, she is the first to wonder who the Inspector really is, saying to him, 'wonderingly' , ‘ I don’t understand about you’  She warns the others ‘he's giving us the rope - so that we'll hang ourselves’  and, near the end, is the first to consider whether the Inspector may not be real. These quotations prove to us that Sheila is wiser, mature and not materialistic. Sheila in Act 2 is in total contrast to herself than in Act 1; she no longer values expensive items and is a lot more confident to speak her mind. (Laughs rather hysterically) ‘Why-you fool- he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see.’  This quotation shows that she is more alert about the Inspector and she knows he will bring a secret about one of them out into the open. She is becoming more confident and acting more like an adult and not afraid of speaking her mind. ‘Don’t interfere please father.’  This statement tells us that she is more confident and growing up, she say’s ‘father’  which also indicates that her child like ways are over, she is a lot more stern and forward. Sheila becomes more responsible and accepts what she had done wrong . ‘between us we killed her’  This shows that she has excepted what she has done wrong and feels guilty, she does take responsibility for her actions but wants her family to learn and change from their mistakes. Sheila is becoming more of a Socialist like the Inspector and in this act by Gerald confessing and other events happening it has caused her to change and develop her ways. In this act Sheila has fully changed and developed and taken responsibilities for her actions.

When Mrs Birling is being questioned by the Inspector she blatantly shows she has the least respect for him. She tries to intimidate him and when she is shown the picture of the body she lies to him and claims she does not recognise the girl. She tries to deny obvious facts about Eric’s drinking. Mrs Birling is a snob and looks down on the working class. ‘…gross impertinence…prejudiced me against her case…’  This quotation tells us that she is very aware of the differences between social classes and despises the working class. Mrs Birling’s reaction to the Inspector is in complete contrast to when Sheila was being questioned by the Inspector. Mrs Birling acted aggressive and confident towards the Inspector and also reminded him that she is higher class, whereas Sheila quickly became perceptive and worked with the Inspector. When Sheila’s mother is being questioned Sheila warns her mother. ‘ Mother-stop-stop…but don’t you see-…’  This display’s Sheila understands as to what is happening around her and is warning her mother to stop before she regrets it. Sheila mainly changes and develops here because she is a lot more perceptive and understands where the Inspector is coming from.

When the Birling family all learn that the Inspector wasn’t really an Inspector Sheila and Eric’s response is in utter contrast to the rest of the family. Gerald Croft immediately assumes he can have Sheila back and asks her to be with him, Sheila simply replies ‘ no not yet, it’s too soon I must think’ . This shows us that Sheila cannot just forget what has happened, she is a different person she realises she was spoilt and desperately wants to change. Sheila feels that she wants to think about her future clearly instead of just marrying Gerald for the sake of it. She wants to find her own personality not one that someone else wants her to be. Mr and Mrs Birling are relieved that the Inspector was not real just because their high status and wealth would still be intact; Sheila is outraged with them and does not like their attitude towards their way of life. ‘  I tell you, whoever the Inspector was, it was anything but a joke you knew it then you began to learn something and now you have stopped’.  This shows Sheila’s outrage that her parents are only happy because their status is still high on the hierarchy ladder, Sheila realises that just because the facts are not all there they should not go back to being Capitalists. Sheila shows a great deal of Socialism and tries to convince her parents with Eric that they are in the wrong. All these actions show that she and Eric have learnt their lesson and that Sheila has now matured and starting to build a new life for herself away from the parent’s Capitalist ways. Sheila has completely changed and developed here because she has opened her eyes and seen how her parents live and does not like the way they view life and treat others below them.

In Stephen Daldry’s production at the National Theatre Sheila, in Act One is presented wearing very expensive fashionable clothing indicating she is very materialistic. Sheila wears a lot of the colour white to make her seem pure on the outside but on the inside she is really hiding a dark secret. The white clothing is symbolising her to be pure and honest. She also wears gloves which symbolises her hiding her fingerprints like a criminal, she wants to appear pure and innocent. When Sheila is speaking in Act One the lighting placed on her has one half of her in light and her other half in darkness to symbolise that she is not totally perfect in the way she lives yet. Sheila has defensive, closed body language symbolising she is hiding something and does not want to speak out. In Act Two Steven Daldry presents Sheila having no gloves symbolising she has told the Inspector and is no longer hiding a secret, she also takes off her materialistic clothes and objects which show she is starting to change and develop. When Sheila is outside she puts her hands up in the rain illustrating her washing away all her sins and becoming truthful, she is now becoming more of a Socialist rather than a Capitalist. After ‘washing away her sins’ Sheila walks towards the light as if she is walking into a new life where she has no secrets. The rain and light symbolise purity and change in Sheila, the rain represents her rebirth, new life from now on and her body language is open. In Act Three when the Birling family realise the Inspector was a fake mr Birling and Mrs Birling drown out Sheila’s voice with their happiness, as the parents start to build their Capitalist lives back together Sheila and Eric stand outside the house symbolising that they don’t want to live their lives how they did before the Inspector came. Sheila has changed and developed and is now a Socialist.

Throughout the play Sheila Birling changed and developed. In Act One she was materialistic and could not stand up for herself, however in Act Two and Three she sees a different light and realises that she was a bad Capitalist and needed to change for the better. I think she has mainly changed because of the Inspector, if he had not of visited the family she would have still been selfish and a strong Capitalist who depended on her mother for approval. I believe that the point Priestly was trying to make was that people needed to be more caring about their community and the people in it. Priestley uses the character of the Inspector to convey his own thoughts, feelings and opinions about social issues. However, he also uses other characters, particularly Mr. Birling, to show the audience how cynical some people can be. J.B Priestly believed a great deal in Socialism. I think that Priestley set this play in 1912 for a reason. Arthur Birling is a rich businessman who thinks very highly of himself, even though he is often wrong. Arthur's family respect him and listen intently to his ideas that 'there isn't a chance of war'  and the Titanic is ' unsinkable.'  As the play was written in 1947 and set in 1912, this is an example of dramatic irony and the audience would know that Arthur was very wrong in his opinions and might even think him to be stupid. When he says 'the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else', he explicitly says that he is a strong Capitalist and is narrow minded. Priestley wanted the audience to have a low opinion of Birling because he was discouraging at Capitalist politics and trying to show people like Mr Birling to be in the wrong. I feel Priestly wanted to teach the audience community and socialism is always a better way of living than being a capitalist.

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