Mr Birling And Sheila's Relationship

The Birlings often show their wealth and power through gestures of grandeur. In act 1, Mr Birling assures Gerald that that what he is marrying into is a honourable family. He does these countless times through sly mentioning of the port they’re drinking or the size of their business. At this moment Sheila also makes teasing comments to Gerald, but towards Gerald Mr and Mrs Birling feel obligated to portray a family with great manners including a modest and obedient daughter. Eric shows the flawed behaviour in their family, as he constantly misbehaves and is obviously fond of drinking. Nervously, Mr Birling is able to take charge of the situation and continue his speech about the engagement. In this speech Mr Birling objectifies his daughter as “something good to be married to”. We know this because he addresses Gerald and regularly mentions how “She’ll (Sheila) make you happy”. Though Mr Birling’s power is tested when embarrassed by the Inspector. The Inspector bluntly confronts him for his terrible
When talking about Eva Smith, she says, ‘Girls of that class – ’. The word ‘that’ suggests that she prefers to detach herself from anyone who belongs to a class lower than her own. This attitude explains her complete disgust when Eva Smith introduces herself as “Mrs Birling”, an act which Mrs Birling identifies as “a piece of gross impertinence” (pg.45) . Hearing Eva Smith identify herself as a Mrs Birling shocked her so much that she hadn’t considered why Eva would have done that. Her admitted prejudice took over any rational thinking. Since Eva Smith is of lower class Mrs Birling believes her act is completely justifiable, regardless of her being part of a charity organization supposedly to help women in