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- Although she is of a higher class than her husband- she is subservient to him in a patriarchal household and society - is in charge of the household and teaching sheila how to understand pre-war etiquette.
- Stereotypical upper-class pre-war woman- she is concerned about her reputation, social status and appearance - priorities are to keep an unblemished reputation and dress well to show her husbands wealth - shares capitalist views ( people should only look after themselves) is unconcered about the impacts of her actions - represents selfish attitudes of the wealthy higher classes - thinks lower class people deserve their misfortune and are inferior to her.
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- Mistreatment of lower classes- helps to show how terrible life was for lower-class people in pre-war britain
- Highlights negative aspects of capitalism -Priestley presents her as a villain to encourage the audience to understand the horrible consequences of a capitalist society ( he knew that social attitudes needed to change for society to become fairer and more caring
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- Accepts no blame and doesn't change - she accepts her children's faults in the end but refuses to accept she played any role in Eva's death - does not care about lower class ( thinks Eva's misfortunes are her own fault) - by the end of the evening she has not changed at all ( wants to dismiss the whole thing )
- Interactions with Inspector Goole - is the only character to stay completely unaffected by the inspector's revelations ( shows no emotion about Eva until she learns about Eric's involvement) - tries to intimidate the Inspector into leaving and lies to him - later on tries to deny the truths (believes they will tarnish the family's appearance)
- Cold- hearted - Priestley shows how she is cold hearted and unlikable throughout the play
- Uncaring upper- class - Priestley uses her to show the uncaring, selfish, self-centred nature of the upper class in society ( he felt that these were the people who needed to change in order to improve society) - people like Mrs Birling needed to care about others to accept the changes that needed to happen to everyone's lives - she refuses to even cooperate with the Inspector (She feels she is above the law) she challenges him and calls him "impertinent" for doing his job
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- "I don't think you ought to talk business on an occasion like this" - Act 1 -being of a higher social class. she understands the rules of pre-war etiquette very well - she tells her husband of for discussing business at the dinner table, when they are celebrating and her daughter is there - she is obsessed with how the family is perceived and does not want to risk Gerald thinking that they do not know how to behave properly as this could damage their reputation.
- "It would be much better if Sheila didn't listen to this story at all" -Act 2 - she focuses on how the family should behave and feels like Sheila should not be exposed to the reality of what has happened - the upper class avoided thinking about the hardships of working - class people, and sheila should not have to hear these.
- "I was the only one who didn't give in to him. " -Act 3 - she sees it as a victory that she did not accept any of the blame the inspector tried to place on her-she is smug at the statement because she mocks the others for answering the Inspectors questions truthfully- in some cases she mocks people for feeling the guilt he was trying to get out of them- this then emphasises her selfish,uncaring and cold nature.
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