Mr Birling is the father of the family and owner of a factory. He sacked Eva when she went on strike after demanding more money.
- 'She suddenly decided to ask for more money…I refused of course…so they went on strike.'(14)
- He is very concerned with his social standing and is a bit of a snob. He is convinced he is going to get a knighthood and doesn't want any scandal to get in the way of it - 'there's a fair chance I might find my way into the next Honours List.' (8)
- He is quite pompous and arrogant - 'we hard-headed practical men of business' (6)
- At the start of the play, before the Inspector arrives, he makes a lot of predictions about the future that we know are catastrophically wrong. This means from the start we know his judgment is not to be trusted. 'The Titanic - unsinkable - absolutely unsinkable (7)'
- He starts out representing the viewpoint that is the complete opposite of Priestley's and the Inspector's - 'you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together...community and all that nonsense' (10)
- At the end he, along with Mrs Birling, is more concerned about whether the police know if he's guilty. Unlike Sheila and Eric, he doesn't actually care about what he has done to Eva Smith. 'The whole story's just a lot of moonshine'. (70)
