Eric Birling a character analysis.
The role/function of Sheila Birling’s character in the play.
In the previous articles we looked at the Birling parents and their daughter Sheila. We focused on what the writer J.B. Priestley was trying to do by creating these various characters. In terms of Eric:
1. Eric (and his sister Sheila) personify the new generation in contrast to the older and more conservative generation of Britain of the past. A new Britain that might emerge with this new generation that would be kinder, more caring towards the poorer sections of society. They represent hope.
2. Eric also represents the fact that despite their best efforts the rich of society cannot completely seal themselves off from the poorer elements of society, as Eric a rich young man has an affair with a poor working class woman.
3. He also shows that no matter how superior the rich may think themselves to be to the poor, they are human. Mr Birling despite having money and status has a somewhat dysfunctional son engaged in alcoholism and sexual affairs. The audience of Britain at the time that the play was first shown would have been far more critical of pre-marital affairs and a child born out of ‘wedlock’ (born outside of marriage) than people in current Britain would.
4. Eric however does challenge his father towards the end of the play as does his sister. As mentioned before this signifies a change in the new generation and that the older generation has to be aware of this and deal if not accommodate this.
Eric is young. He is in his twenties and Priestley made sure that the director and actors of the play would know that Eric is, in Priestley’s words ‘not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive’. The opposite of that would be someone confident, sure of himself and perhaps successful.
Though Eric is not a real character and fictitious we can compare him to real life individuals that have a problem with alcohol. Sometimes the resorting to alcohol is done to fill a void, an emptiness. If this is the case with Eric what did he feel was missing in order for him to become involved in alcohol abuse? Can we attribute this to Mr Birling’s parenting skills or lack of them? Priestley lived in a time when society was more conservative and less about individual freedom. A son’s poor behaviour could reflect badly on the entire family. So in addition to the audience seeing Mr Birling as a flawed character due to his inability to know that the first world war would happen and that the Titanic would sink they would have even less respect for him after seeing how Eric had turned out, or perhaps in the eyes of some of their audience of how ‘Mr Birling had failed Eric‘.
This is reinforced by the quote in Act 1 when Eric says:
“And as you were saying, dad, a man has to look out for himself“
In other words this shows that Eric does indeed look or looked to his father for guidance and his father was an influence on him whilst he was growing up. We can see from this quote that Mr Birling has taught him to look after himself, in other words individualism. To put it in a more negative manner, ‘greed’ and ‘selfishness’. This message of every man looking out ‘for himself’ is the exact antithesis of what Priestley is trying to advocate via this play, and his message is one of social responsibility and that society is one unit all inter-connected and linked to each other and that we must all help each other.
Eric in the beginning of Act 1.
We can see in the beginning of Act 1 that Eric can be a bit of a fool and an embarrassment due to various things including his inexplicable laughter in the dinner table. Sheila feeling somewhat uneasy asks her brother ‘Now – what’s the joke?’ to which he replies that he doesn’t know and Sheila calls him ‘squiffy‘ meaning slightly drunk, instantly highlighting the fact that Mr Birling has ‘produced‘ (if we were to attribute how Eric has turned out in life to his father) a son with at the very least a slight alcohol problem, unable to be sober during a family important celebration. His general behaviour at the dinner table is somewhat awkward including when he says to his father ‘Well . Don’t do any. We’ll drink their health and have done with it‘ in the context of telling his father not to make a speech. In a very short space of time we can see that 1. Eric has slight issues with alcohol 2. Has problems with socializing with awkward exchanges with both his sister and father.
Birling’s response to Eric’s comment is that this night is ‘one of the happiest nights of my life. And one day, I hope,Eric, when you’ve a daughter of your own, you’ll understand why.’
The irony is that Eric did indeed father a child, and with the woman that Mr Birling had made destitute, so destitute that it caused her to commit suicide leaving Mr Birling’s future grandchild dead.
What is also useful to note is that while Mr Birling is trying to marry ‘upwards’ in to the ‘higher’ social levels of society his son has had a relationship ‘downwards’ with someone from the ‘lower’ class of society. Sheila is moving ‘upwards’, Eric moved ‘downwards’. We can see from this that it is not easy for society to keep everyone in their own ‘alloted’, ‘designated’ role, that society is one unit where what impacts one sector will impact others.
Mr Birling carries on in the speech which Eric said he shouldn’t give. He expresses happiness that Sheila has married someone from a wealthy family and to Gerald, ‘You’re just the kind of son-in-law I
always wanted‘. Eva Smith is definitely not the sort of daughter-in-law that Mr Birling would have wanted. However she was the mother of his future granddaughter and in British society at that time if this had been found out she would have either had to pretend that the child was not hers (one key reason being that the child would have been considered a ‘bastard’ child, an illegitimate child born to two parents who were not married and scandalous in Britain at that time) or would have had to be married to ‘legitimize’ the relationship. In modern English the word ‘bastard’ is just used as an insult and out of anger, it is akin to calling someone a ‘dog’ or a woman a ‘cow’. There is nothing inherently wrong in a dog or a cow but they are just used as insults, and so would in modern Anglophone (US, Britain, Australia) society be the same with being a ‘bastard’, a child born to people who were not married at that time. However at that time it was very much considered shameful to be a ‘bastard’ or to give birth to one. We need to understand this to fully appreciate the severity of the situation in the play and not by the standards of modern western society.
In other words the irony is this. Whilst Mr Birling is celebrating his daughter’s union with a man from a richer family, he would have been appalled at his son being with a woman from a poorer family.
Mr Birling wants to go upwards in the social hierarchy and not downwards.
For the audience they would see at the same time ‘success’ and ‘failure’. Success embodied in Sheila marrying upwards to Gerald but failure in Eric being socially awkward with alcohol problems.
The Inspector Arrives and after
Before the inspector knocks at the door Mr Birling, who has been giving a lot of relatively long comments including how the first world war will never happen and the Titanic will never sink, says “That’ll stop me giving you good advice’. to which Eric says ‘Yes, you’ve piled it on a bit tonight, father‘
We can clearly see Birling’s opinions and ‘advice’ are far from ‘good’. We can see that Eric has been the recipient of such ‘advice’ for years and how he has turned out.
Despite Mr Birling trying to inculcate ‘individualism’ in to Eric, his son very much has a compassionate side and we see this when the inspector tells the family of the death of a young woman in the infirmary. Eric is appalled and says, in Priestley’s words (in his directions) ‘involuntarily’: My god!
This contrasts with his father who in essence says to the inspector, sad but this is not our business. The precise words that Birling uses are, ‘ Yes, yes. Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you
should come here, inspector‘
Priestley makes it clear Birling says this ‘impatiently’ so it can be interpreted as Birling as essentially saying that it’s fundamentally none of his business and he doesn’t want to get involved. This is in contrast to Eric being shocked. Once again we see contratsts in the play. The upwardness of Sheila marrying Gerald, the ‘downwardness’ of Eric fathering a child with Eva’.
Suffering of the working class.
Another contrast is when Mr Birling tries to justify firing Eva Smith for asking for higher pay and says ‘We were paying the usual rates and if they didn’t like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else. It’s a free country, I told them.’
The next line is immediately from Eric who says:
‘It isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else.‘
This line is arguably one of the most important in the play. Mr Birling says that Britain was a free country. Eric very aware of the realities, in terms of lack of jobs and lack of opportunity says it isn’t. If the poor are not ‘free’ then they can be argued to be ‘slaves’ of some sort. Priestley is trying to show that ruthless capitalism can be seen as a form of modern slavery employing vulnerable workers who cannot work anywhere else for very low pay.
Eric continues in showing how different to his father by saying that his father could have done something else other than firing Eva Smith with the words:
‘He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough
luck.‘
This is not just a random comment or personal opinion. Eric is quite possibly the future inheritor of Mr Birling’s wealth and his businesses, the possible ‘future boss’. If he has ideas like this now then when he does become the owner after Mr Birling’s death he may follow more compassionate policies towards his workers. Once again Priestley is trying to highlight the generational differences.
Eric a bit later also says about Eva and her fellow workers who went on strike:
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages?
We try for the highest possible prices. And I don’t see why she should have been sacked just because she’d a bit more spirit than the others. You said yourself she was a good worker. I’d have let her stay.’
Birling’s reaction to this is a very angry one and he says:
‘ Unless you brighten your ideas, you’ll never be in a position to let anybody stay or to tell anybody to go. It’s about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities. That’s something this public-school-and-varsity life you’ve had doesn’t seem to teach you.’
The words ‘you’ll never be in a position to let anybody stay or to tell anybody to go’ are possibly a threat to Eric that he will not be future owner? If so then once again it is Priestley showing the defects and limitations of capitalism. If Birling does hand over future ownership of his business to someone else other than his own son and thus harming him financially it shows that ‘money doesn’t bring happiness’, and in this case it can cause family unhappiness. The irony is that Birling in his pursuit of having a better family by making more money will harm and damage his own family by possibly making his own son not inherit his business.
Birling also says ‘That’s something this public-school-and-varsity life you’ve had doesn’t seem to teach you’. The term ‘public school’ in the UK refers to a private school which you pay money to attend. Birling has spent lots of money for Eric to attend a ‘public school’ but is not happy at the final product and rather than blaming his own parenting blames this on the school that Eric went to. It is fundamentally Mr Birling’s responsibility to teach Eric about life and not the school’s. The school may teach about specific subjects and specific values but ultimately it is the parents responsibility, in this case Birling.
Eric and Act 2 & 3
In act 2 we hear the lines:
Inspector: (cutting in) isn’t he used to drinking?
Mrs Birling: No, of course not. He’s only a boy.
Inspector: No, he’s a young man. And some young men drink far too much.
Sheila: And Eric’s one of them.
His own sister, Sheila, believes he is an alcoholic and implicitly a ‘young man’, in contrast to her mother who says he’s a ‘boy’. Once again we see contrasts, once again we see a generational contrast between the Birlings, namely in this instance of how Mrs Birling and her daughter view Eric.
Gerald confirms that Eric is an alcoholic despite Mrs Birling’s denials.
In Act 3, Eric returns and we find out that he fathered a child with Eva. He was drunk one night in a bar and met Eva and forced his way in to where she lived, in his words:
‘she told me she didn’t want me to go in but that – well, I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty – and I threatened to make a row.’
We find out that Eric stole from his father’s business in order to fund Eva. We can see that Eric does have a heart, while Birling on the other hand is incensed. There is no interest from him that Eric was in a difficult situation and he did something he normally wouldn’t, instead he is furious over the money being taken. Birling says to Eric ‘why didn’t you come to me when you found yourself in this mess?
To which Eric says:
‘Because you’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble – that’s why.‘
Birling is a failure as a father. His own son does not feel that the very man who caused him to be born can be approached for help. Birling may have money, status, some ‘respect’ among the wealthier sections of society but he has failed as a father and contributed to the death of a young woman and his potential grandchild.
Can Birling be considered a ‘success’. Maybe in terms of money but not as a person. Priestely shows this clearly. Once again we can see ‘money isn’t everything’.
There is no remorse from Birling who responds ‘Don’t talk to me like that. Your trouble is – you’ve been spoilt‘. Birling once again shows how flawed he is. If Eric has been ‘spoilt’, then spoilt by who exactly? None other than Birling himself and maybe to a lesser extent his wife who is his subordinate as per the norms of society at that time.
A few lines later when Eric finds out that Mrs Birling had refused Eva help when she approached her in a charity she (Mrs Birling) helped out at, he explodes:
‘Then – you killed her. She came to you to protect me – and you turned her away – yes, and you killed her – and the child she’d have had too – my child – your own grandchild – you killed them both – damn you, damn you’
These are the most emotional and powerful words which come from Eric. Despite this we see that rather than care about the human aspect of this Birling is focused on his ‘honour’ and also says to Eric ‘But it may
interest you to know that until every penny of that money you stole is repaid, you’ll work for
nothing.’
Amidst all the drama unfolding. His son exploding at hearing about the death of his potential future child, death of a young woman, Birling shows his cruel, heartless nature and with it the cruel and heartless nature of raw capitalism in all its ugliness, indifferent to human suffering.
As the play nears its ending, Eric is more assertive and repeatedly points out that a woman has died. A human being has died. Eric says:
‘The money’s not the important thing. It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters‘
and later
‘And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her – and that’s what matters‘
Eric unlike his father does care about Eva’s death and acknowledges not only his role but the role of all of his family in her tragic death.
Here are some useful words when speaking about Eric Birling.
Useful vocabulary for GCSE students in essays and exam questions.
- Antithesis – The complete opposite of something e.g. ‘Priestley’s message of all of society caring for other people is the anti-thesis of Birling’s message of every man should look after himself.’
- Contrast – A difference or to be different e.g. ‘Eric’s feelings of sadness about Eva’s death contrasts with Mr Birling’s relative indifference to it.’
- Public school – In Britain independent schools which you pay for and which many of the elite go to are called ‘public schools’. The term ‘public school boy’ has a connotation of someone privileged and ‘posh’.
- Attribute – To say something or someone is the reason for something e.g. ‘Eric attributes the death of Eva to the actions of the entire family.
- Introspection – To look within yourself, often in the context of looking at what you have done wrong. The adjective is introspective.
- Parental – The adjective of ‘parent’.
This is the fourth in our series of articles on the themes of the play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ and the first three articles can be read by clicking on here.
- Mr. Birling, a character analysis.
- Mrs Birling, a character analysis.
- Sheila Birling, a character analysis.
To read the articles on the themes you can click on each of the links below:
1. ‘An Inspector Calls’, themes, part 1: Class division and social responsibility.
2. ‘An Inspector Calls’, themes part 2: Gender.
3. ‘An Inspector Calls’, themes part 3: Age.
Tell us what you think about Eric in the comments section below and if you have any questions!