Eric Birling

Eric Birling is the textbook prodigalson: he drinks to excess, spends his father’s money, shirks responsibility, and exhibits erratic behaviour. He is a young man of upper-middle class origin with links to a prosperous business – he should have the world at his feet. Yet Priestley reveals that Eric is “not quite at ease,” and he appears out of place within the supposed serenity of the Birling household. Eric is characterised as a mostly silent observer or wallflower. There is something enigmatic about him, simultaneously a product of his middle class upbringing but also a staunch supporter of Eva Smith throughout the questioning. He asks questions about why the lower classes should not campaign for higher wages, and comments on his family’s disastrous actions towards her.