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[Music]
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n
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[Music]
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welcome back to click Revision in this
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video we're going to continue to look at
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each of the main characters in An
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Inspector Calls this time focusing on
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Mrs
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[Music]
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Burling we'll take a look at how JB
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Priestly describes her her relationship
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with ether Smith and her behavior and
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attitudes throughout the play
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[Music]
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so what do we know about cibil Burling
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well you wouldn't be allowed to call her
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cibil that's for sure the stage
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directions at the start of an inspector
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calls describe her as about 50 a rather
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cold woman and her husband's social
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Superior this doesn't seem much to go on
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but it actually tells us rather a lot
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about the character firstly she's about
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50 years old so she's slightly younger
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than Mr burlin who is described as being
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in his mid-50s secondly she's described
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as cold which tells us that she doesn't
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show much emotion and is generally
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unenthusiastic towards other
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people this is important because it's
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this cold side of her character that
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causes her to react to Eva Smith the way
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she does and inevitably causes her to
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push the blame for the girl's death
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squarely onto Eric later in the
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play finally she is described as her
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husband's social Superior now we know
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Arthur Burling is a self-made
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hard-headed man of business and worked
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his way up the social ladder through
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hard work and success but by describing
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Mrs Burling as her husband's social
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Superior JB Priestley is telling us that
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she was born into money as part of the
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upper class and actually married someone
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beneath her in terms of wealth and
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status in any case Mrs Burling like her
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husband is a bit difficult to like at
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various points in the play she could be
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described as a snob as callous or
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unsympathetic or even obstinate which
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means she's fixed in her opinion and
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will not listen to logic or reason she
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also shows herself to be overconfident
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and Carries herself with a huge sense of
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entitlement she uses the word
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impertinent to describe both the
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inspector and Eva Smith and impertinent
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means that you're not giving someone the
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proper respect they deserve so she's
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clearly got a very high opinion of
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herself like her husband Mrs Berling
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also believes that her wealth and social
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status should make her immune from
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judgment particularly from people she
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considers beneath her socially she also
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attempts to intimidate the inspector
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with Mr burling's importance to the
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community she is far more judgmental
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than any other character and openly
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assesses People unfavorably based on
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their class overall She is totally the
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sort of person who would shout don't you
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know who I am say a traffic Warden
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trying to give her a parking
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ticket at the start of the play Mrs
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Burling is celebrating along with the
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rest of the Burling but hasn't taken a
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glass of port to toast along with the
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rest of the family in fact she needs
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persuading to do so and only drinks on
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account of it being a special
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occasion straight away this tells us
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that she's a bit uptight and that she
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isn't someone who lets their hair down
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and relaxes very much indeed Mrs Burling
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is someone who is strongly Guided by
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ideas of Behaving correctly and of
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acting in a way that fits your social
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status and ladies especially well-bred
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ladies in 1912 would not indulge in
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casual drinking as it was seen as the
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sort of thing done by the poor the badly
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educated and people with weak morals or
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poor
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self-control this side of Mrs burling's
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character the idea that you should
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always behave as you're meant to as
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Society dictates you're supposed to
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based on your background is also evident
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in Mrs burling's attitude towards her
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servants at the start of the play she
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orders Edna the maid around without
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saying please or thank you telling her
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all right Edna I'll ring from the
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drawing room when we want coffee
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probably in about half an
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hour however Edna calls Mrs Burling mom
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which is clearly the way she addresses
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her Miss mistress in general and shows
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that their relationship is formal
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there's an imbalance of power here and
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clearly Mrs Burling is the powerful
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figure and Edna is entirely subservient
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to
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her Mrs Burling is so obsessed with
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so-called appropriate behavior that she
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even criticizes Mr Burling for breaking
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the formal barrier between the family
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and the servants let's take a look at
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this
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exchange here Mr Burling is showing his
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middle class Roots by complimenting the
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chef and Mrs Burling is having none of
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it because that is just not how you
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behave she reproachfully speaks to her
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husband which means she disapproves of
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his behavior and reminds him that he is
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not supposed to compliment the servants
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bear in mind that these servants are
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people who work for the berlings every
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day and Mrs Burling is far more
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concerned with looking proper than she
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is giving the any job satisfaction or
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boosting their self-esteem they are
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simply there to serve her incidentally
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this exchange also tells us quite a bit
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about how power Works between Mr and Mrs
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Burling she certainly isn't afraid of
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speaking to her husband as an
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equal but generally Mrs Burling is
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someone who accepts her position in life
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probably because she was born into a
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very privileged position and that's an
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easy thing to accept and this also
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extends to how she views herself as a
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woman when Sheila half jokingly points
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out that Gerald avoided her for a whole
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summer because he was busy at work Mrs
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Berling tells her now Sheila don't tease
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him when you're married you'll realize
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that men with important work to do
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sometimes have to spend nearly all their
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time and energy on their business you'll
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have to get used to that just as I had
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we'll go into this quote in far more
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detail in a later video but for now
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let's just look at what it tells us
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about Mrs Burling as a person and there
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are three good points to be made here
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firstly she makes a distinction between
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men with important work to do and women
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who just have to get used to that so she
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clearly isn't concerned with equal
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rights for women probably because as a
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member of the upper class she's never
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been treated like a second class citizen
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in the way a poorer woman might secondly
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this quote shows that Mrs Burling has
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respect for Gerald almost certainly
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because he comes from a wealthy
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upstanding family and she is making
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excuses for Gerald's
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Behavior this not only shows her to be a
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pretty poor judge of character because
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Gerald wasn't busy at work he was
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actually busy having an affair but it
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also tells us something about the way
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Mrs Berling judges people she would
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never entertain the idea that someone as
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important and well-bred as Gerald would
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behave in such a way and thirdly this
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quote shows us some insight into how Mrs
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Burling treats her children she is not
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only lecturing Sheila on her position as
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a woman in society but she's correcting
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her daughter at the same time on how to
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behave in fact Mrs Berling spends a
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great deal of her time telling her
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children how to behave and she's
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generally quite an authoritarian person
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which means she values discipline and
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proper behavior over freedom and seeing
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her children's characters flourish she
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condescends both her children on several
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occasions in the play and refers to
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Sheila as this child she tells Sheila
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please don't contradict me like that and
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don't be childish and Mrs Burling
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repeatedly tells Sheila to go to bed
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furthermore she describes Eric as only a
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boy and calls him a silly boy when he
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leaves the house let's not forget that
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Sheila and Eric Burling are both in
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their 20s but Mrs Burling still treats
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them very much like children overall she
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really doesn't seem to have much respect
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for her children as people which is
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probably why she doesn't know them very
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well so does Mrs Burling do anything
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nice or positive throughout the whole of
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An Inspector Calls well yes she does get
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these three
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lines however apart from these three
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moments of basic Humanity Mrs Berling
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spends nearly every other line of
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dialogue in the play either telling
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someone what to do judging or
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criticizing someone or defending her own
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behavior note how it's such a rare
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occurrence that the stage directions
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actually State smiling in all three
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lines so now that we've established that
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she's not a very nice person let's have
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a look at the relationship between Mrs
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Burling and Eva Smith this is the part
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of the play that most people get
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confused by because of the mangled way
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Mrs Berling tells the story but here are
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the key points to
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remember Mrs Burling is a member of
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Brumley women's charity organization
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which in the words of Mrs Burling does a
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great deal of useful work in helping
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deserving cases the important word here
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is deserving because it shows that Mrs
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Burling is powerful enough to decide
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which causes receive money and which of
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the people who ask for it are unworthy
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of it Eva Smith visits the Brumley
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women's charity organization and asks
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for help because she's pregnant and
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needs support now during this visit Eva
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Smith gives her name as Mrs Berling
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because she wants to look married so she
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won't be judged for being single and
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pregnant and she uses the name of the
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baby's father the first name she can
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think of she doesn't know who Mrs
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Berling is at this point she's just a
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posh lady on the panel she's appealing
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to and doesn't realize Mrs Burling will
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see it as damned impudence which again
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means being impertinent and rude when
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Eva Smith tells the truth that the man
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who got her pregnant is only a youngster
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silly and wild and drinking too much and
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that he's been supporting her with
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stolen money Mrs Burling refuses to
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offer her help according to Mrs Burling
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I didn't see any reason to believe that
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one story should be any trer than the
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other meaning that as Eva Smith had lied
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already Mrs Berling didn't believe
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anything she
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said what is important to remember here
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is that Mrs Burling doesn't just refuse
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to help Eva Smith because she's offended
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by her calling herself Mrs Burling in
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fact there's plenty of evidence that
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shows how Mrs Burling judged Eva Smith
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based on her class and blamed her for
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the predicament she found herself in to
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begin with the way Mrs Berling reacts to
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the details of the suicide tells us a
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lot about her the same as it did her
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husband the first thing she says about
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the death of Eva Smith is this I don't
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suppose for a moment we can understand
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why the girl committed suicide girls of
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that class Sheila cuts her off here so
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we never get to hear the end of the
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sentence but the implication is clear
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upon hearing of a young factory worker
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killing herself Mrs Burling prejudges
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the girl based on her job and her social
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position and automatically assumes she
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would behave the way she thinks other
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workingclass people would which
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obviously because she's a snob means she
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judges Eva Smith in a negative
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way furthermore when talking about
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meeting Eva Smith specifically when
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talking about how Eva Smith refused to
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accept more money from the baby's father
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as she knew the money was stolen Mrs
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Burling says that Eva Smith was claiming
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elaborate fine feelings and scruples
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that were simply absurd in a girl in her
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position Scruples are basically the
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barriers in our brains that stop us
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doing something we think is immoral like
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stealing or murder the little red lights
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that go off in our heads telling us
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we're thinking about doing a bad thing
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so what Mrs Burling is suggesting here
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is that Eva Smith being poor and working
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class would not have been capable of
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that level of conscience required to
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refuse stolen money as she says herself
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as if a girl of that sort would ever
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refuse money Mrs Burling is clearly
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prejudiced towards EV Smith and people
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like her before she has even met them
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Mrs Burling very much had the power and
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the means to help the pregnant woman
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before her she simply chose not to based
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on a personal
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judgment so let's finish up by looking
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at how Mrs Burling reacts to the
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inspector as you might expect Mrs
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Burling does not Buckle under the
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inspector's questions she's actually the
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most unflappable of all the berlings
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after pretending not to recognize the
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photo presented to her she even openly
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tells the inspector if you think you can
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bring any PR pressure to Bear upon me
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inspector you're quite mistaken unlike
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the other three I did nothing I'm
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ashamed of or that won't bear
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investigation in fact throughout the
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inspector's questions she continues to
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claim she is innocent of any wrongdoing
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even more so than Mr Burling she openly
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admits that in the case of Eva Smith she
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used my influence to have it refused but
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repeatedly states that she believes Eva
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Smith had only herself to blame and
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claims the inspector is quite wrong to
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suppose I should regret what I did this
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blinker attitude continues after the
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inspector leaves too Mrs Burling is
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proud of herself for not opening up to
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the inspector as though it was some sort
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of badge of honor she boasts to her
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family I was the only one of you who
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didn't give in to him and turns her
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attention to possibly covering up any
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wrongdoing the family might have
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done like her husband Mrs Burling learns
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absolutely nothing from the events of
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the play aside from some rather nasty
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secrets about her
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family so the final question to be
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answered about Mrs Burling is this if
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Mrs Burling is the last person from the
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Burling family to see Eva Smith alive
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having met her only a couple of weeks
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before the action of the play then why
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is her story told before Eric's after
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all all of the other flashbacks are told
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in chronological order well the reason
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for this is formal and we'll cover it
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more in the video on the structure of an
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inspector calls but JB Priestley makes a
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clear choice to have the inspector
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interrogate Mrs Burling before Eric
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because it's her absolute refusal to
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accept any responsibility for Eva
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Smith's death which causes her to push
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the blame onto Eric without realizing
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she's doing
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it she tells the inspector I'll tell you
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what I told her go and look for the
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father of the child it's his
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responsibility and I blame the young man
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who is the father of the child she was
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going to have if as she said he didn't
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belong to her class and was some drunken
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young idler then that's all the more
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reason why he shouldn't Escape he should
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be made an example of if the girl's
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death is due to anybody then it's due to
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him despite having such a high opinion
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of herself or possibly entirely because
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of it she plays into the inspector's
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hands better than anyone else in the
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play and condemns her own son in the
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process well that's all on Mrs Burling
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for now our next video will focus on
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Sheila Burling but we'd recommend
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attempting to write a few sentences and
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answer to each of these questions before
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you move
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on question one what took place between
00:14:25
Mrs Burling and Eva Smith try to answer
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as clearly as possible possible and in
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chronological
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order question two was Mrs Burling right
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to refuse Eva Smith help try to back up
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your opinions with evidence from the
00:14:41
text question three how would you
00:14:43
describe Mrs Burling choose five words
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you would use and write a sentence or
00:14:47
two explaining why you think each
00:14:49
description is appropriate
