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um
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welcome back to the an inspector call
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season from click revision
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now you have an idea of the background
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of an inspector calls and the time it's
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set in
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we will begin to look at each of the
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characters in turn in a little more
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detail
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this video will focus on arthur burling
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we will look at how he's described by jb
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priestly
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his previous relationship with eva smith
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and his dialogue and action within the
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play
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arthur burling is described in the stage
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directions as a heavy-looking fairly
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portentous man
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which means he's a little bit overweight
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but also that he's the sort of person
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who constantly tries to impress
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everyone around him with how great and
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successful he is priestly also describes
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berlin as having fairly easy manners and
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being rather provincial in his speech
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this suggests that he has a regional
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accent and is fairly down to earth and
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not snobbish despite being a prosperous
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manufacturer which means he owns a
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factory and he's made a lot of money
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from it
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he's also held political positions on
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the local council and was lord mayor two
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years before the play takes place
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he expects to receive a knighthood in
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the next honours list which would make
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him sir
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arthur burling so overall he's a fairly
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powerful man who's well respected in the
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community
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nonetheless it's fair to say that
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burling isn't a very likable man
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and he could be described as pompous
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smug or arrogant at many points
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throughout the play
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the first line in the play is spoken by
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burling and in it he's boasting to
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gerald about how posh his bottle of port
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is and basically trying to convince
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gerald that he's as classy as the rest
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of the croft family are
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burling is a domineering personality who
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likes the sound of his own voice and
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strongly believes in his own opinions
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he's the sort of man who insists on
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giving a long rambling speech after
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dinner
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even though there aren't many guests at
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the table to hear it and this is exactly
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what he does
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at the start of the play while
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celebrating sheila and gerald's
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engagement
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berlin's engagement speech begins just
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as you might expect toasting the happy
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couple
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and describing gerald as just the kind
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of son-in-law i always wanted
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however he seems to be fond of gerald
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not because he likes him in fact he
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doesn't seem to know him very well at
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all
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but because gerald's father is also a
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factory owner and he can see the
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marriage opening up new opportunities
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for him
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his end goal is to get both families no
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longer competing but working together
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for lower costs and higher prices he
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describes himself as a hard-headed
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businessman who has to take risks and
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knows what he's about
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and a hard-headed practical man of
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business several times
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and clearly struggles to leave business
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discussions out of a family occasion
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interestingly burling also uses his
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speech to make several predictions about
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the future
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now don't forget that an inspector calls
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is set in 1912 but was written at the
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end of the second world war over 30
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years later
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this enabled jb priestley to use events
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that had already happened when he wrote
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the play but have his characters talk
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about them as though they hadn't
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happened yet
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let's have a look at some of the
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predictions burling makes in his speech
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and see how they turned out
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firstly berlin predicts that the coal
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miners strike of 1912
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when miners refused to work because of
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poor wages and dangerous working
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conditions
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would not lead to more strike action and
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workers winning a fairer deal at the
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expense of their employers
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don't worry we've passed the worst of it
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berlin says
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however workers rights continue to
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increase for the next 30 years so he was
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completely wrong about that
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next burling states that there isn't a
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chance of war
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the world's developing so fast that
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it'll make war impossible
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now as we all know the first world war
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started only two years later and lasted
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all the way up until 1918 so he was
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wrong about that as well
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next he brings up technological advances
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highlighting the titanic as a great
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breakthrough
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and calling it unsinkable absolutely
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unsinkable
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only a week later of course the titanic
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sank on its maiden voyage so he was
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wrong once again
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finally berlin claims that in 20 or 30
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years time
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there'll be peace and prosperity and
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rapid progress everywhere
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30 years after burling spoke the second
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world war was well underway
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so he was completely wrong there too so
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as we can see
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burling is absolutely 100 wrong about
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everything he thinks he knows about the
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future
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and it's clear that jb priestly wanted
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him to look like a bit of a fool to
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audiences watching in 1945.
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however from the play's perspective and
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also from that of jb priestly
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burling saves his wrongest of wrong
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assessments of the world around him
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until last though he describes it as
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good advice
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let's have a look at this section of the
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speech a man has to make his own way has
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to look after himself and his family too
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of course when he has one
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and so long as he does that he won't
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come to much harm but the way some of
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these cranks talking right now you'd
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think everybody has to look after
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everybody else as if we were all mixed
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up together like bees in a hive
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community and all that nonsense
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but take my word for it you youngsters
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and i've learned in the good hard school
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of experience that a man has to mind his
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own business and look after himself in
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his own
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here burling is clearly championing
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self-interest over ideas of altruism or
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unselfishness
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he openly calls the concept of community
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or working together with a sense of team
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spirit
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nonsense and labels anyone who believes
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in it as cranks suggesting they're wacky
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or even insane
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it's no coincidence that burling is
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interrupted at this moment by the
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doorbell signaling the arrival of
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inspector ghoul
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the inspector will spend the rest of the
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play attempting to make burling and his
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family
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accept social responsibility and take
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the less fortunate into consideration
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which is the complete opposite message
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to berlin's speech here
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arthur burling is the first member of
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the family to be questioned about the
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death of eva smith
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and was also the first to meet her the
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events at the factory that began eva
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smith spiral into poverty and depression
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took place in september 1910
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and that's one year and seven months
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before when the play is set in april
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1912.
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the most important thing to remember
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about berlin's dealing with eva smith is
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that she was fired from her job for
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standing up for the rights of her fellow
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workers
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who went on strike because they wanted a
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pay rise from 22 shillings and six pence
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a week
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to 25 shillings in today's money that's
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the equivalent of someone earning around
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118 pounds a week and asking for 130
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pounds
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while you might see eva smith taking a
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stand as brave or noble
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burling saw her as a troublemaker and
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one of the ringleaders in the strike
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he fired her from her job because in his
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words if you don't come down sharply on
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some of these people they'd soon be
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asking for the earth
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back to the present then and the
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inspector arrives at the burling
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household and questions arthur burling
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first
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which makes sense since he's the head of
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the household
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as soon as the inspector enters mr
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burling attempts to look important
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quickly mentioning how he knows all the
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police in the town of brumley and
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highlighting his powerful positions in
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the local council
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he also attempts to intimidate the
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inspector into stopping his questions
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early on by mentioning how he plays golf
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with the police chief constable
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the implication here is that mr burling
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is trying to subtly suggest that he is
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too important to be investigated by the
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police
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that his social standing and privilege
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should extend to him being above the law
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he literally feels that the inspector's
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questions are beneath him despite the
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death of a young woman
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burling also continues to repeatedly try
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to avoid the inspectors questions
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calling them uncalled for and officious
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in fact mr burling shows very little
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sympathy or pity for eva smith who he
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describes as wretched and is unable to
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hide how irritated he is by the
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inspector's intrusion
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let's have a look at this exchange
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between burling and the inspector
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this tells us a lot about burling's
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character because he is clearly unable
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to think beyond his own inconvenience
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most people when faced with a police
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officer telling them about the horrific
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suicide of a young woman would express
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some sort of emotion
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however burling only dismisses the death
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to turn the conversation back to himself
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furthermore the stage direction here the
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burling is speaking rather impatiently
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clearly shows that jb priestly wanted
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burling to appear heartless to the
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audience and only interested in himself
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this idea is also reinforced by
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burling's reaction to the name eva smith
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i seem to remember hearing that name eva
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smith somewhere but it doesn't convey
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anything to me despite his previous
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dealings with her as an employer he
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doesn't remember eva until he sees the
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inspector's photograph
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at which point he remembers everything
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about the incidents leading up to her
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dismissal
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as a person he doesn't remember eva
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smith at all as a threat to his business
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he remembers her with perfect clarity
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nonetheless when questioned by the
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inspector burling refuses to take any
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blame for the death of eva smith
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and maintains this attitude throughout
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the entire play
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he tells the inspector i can't accept
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any responsibility
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if we were all responsible for
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everything that happened to everybody
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we'd have anything to do with it would
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be very awkward wouldn't it
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again this is an example of berlin's
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every man for himself attitude and how
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he's
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unsympathetic towards the rest of the
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human race he completely rejects the
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idea that his actions in 1910 could have
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in some way led to evil smith's death in
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1912.
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in fact burling's main concern
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throughout the play is his social
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standing
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and the risk of the public finding out
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about his family's connections to eva
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smith
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he uses the phrase public scandal four
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times in the play
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and is particularly worried that his
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knighthood is at risk
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to burling appearance is everything he
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describes himself as a public
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man and his success largely depends on
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him looking like a reputable important
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member of society
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he wants to look to all outsiders like
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he is a good upstanding citizen
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without actually having to be a good
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upstanding citizen as the inspector
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implicates each member of berlin's
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family
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he becomes increasingly worried that his
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public reputation is at stake
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he says to his wife when this comes out
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at the inquest it isn't going to do us
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much good
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the press might easily take it up
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suggesting he's worried about the
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scandal making the newspapers
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by the time the inspector leaves with
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the knowledge that all his family are
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involved and that his son has stolen
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money from the family firm making him a
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criminal
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berlin does appear to show some remorse
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for the death of eva smith
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however there is little in the rest of
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the play to suggest that burling
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actually feels sorry for the girl
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burling's unhappiness as prompted in the
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stage direction is clearly self-pity
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furthermore the inspector's response
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that you're offering the money at the
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wrong
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time mr burling it's clearly intended to
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show how far out of whack priestley
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believes berlin's priorities are
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he approaches the death of an innocent
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girl and the potential shaming of his
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family in public
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in exactly the same way he'd approach
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any problem in his life by throwing
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money at it
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indeed apart from this small admission
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of regret burling has changed very
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little by the inspector's visit
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after the inspector leaves he still
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refuses to accept any fault in the death
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of eva smith
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he openly blames eric for the scandal is
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likely to befall the family
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and tells him you don't yet realize all
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you've done
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it's fair to say that arthur burling is
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being a bit of a hypocrite here
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he doesn't spare a thought for eva smith
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or the grandchild he's lost
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his only concern is his own public
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standing he even says
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nothing much has happened haven't i
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already said there'll be a public
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scandal unless we're lucky and who here
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will suffer from that more than i will
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also berlin's relief when the family
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unmasks the inspector as an imposter and
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not a member of the police force
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is very much focused on the fact that
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there will no longer be a scandal
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he's simply relieved to be off the hook
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he says to eric
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if that had been a police inspector and
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he'd heard you confess
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which implies that the family is going
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to cover up eric's criminal activity
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burling is also the main conversation
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leader in deciding that the inspector's
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visit must be some sort of hoax
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and even go so far as to try to make
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excuses for why he was outsmarted
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we ought to have seen through it from
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the first in the ordinary way i believe
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i would have done
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but coming like that bang on top of our
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little celebration just when we were all
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feeling so pleased with ourselves
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naturally it took me by surprise
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not only can he not accept
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responsibility for the events of the
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play
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he can't even accept that he might have
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been outsmarted by another person
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he explains the inspector away as
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probably a socialist or some sort of
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crank
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which takes us full circle because crank
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is exactly the same word he used at the
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start of the play to describe anyone
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with a sense of community
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overall despite everything that he sees
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and hears throughout the play
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because he thinks he's gotten away with
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it and there will be no consequences
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mr burling learns absolutely nothing
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from the experience
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well thanks for watching that's all on
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arthur berlin for now
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our next video will focus on mrs burling
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but we'd recommend attempting to write a
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few sentences in answer to each of these
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questions before you move on
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question one what took place between mr
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burling and eva smith
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try to answer clearly and in
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chronological order the order everything
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happened
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question two to what extent is mr
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burling responsible for the death of eva
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smith
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try to link your opinions back to the
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text
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question three how would you describe
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arthur burling
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choose five words you'd use and write a
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sentence or two explaining why you think
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each description is appropriate
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you
