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SYBIL BIRLING.
I’ve been thinking about Sybil a lot in the last week or so, about her treatment of Eva, and how it resonates with current questions about our treatment of the poor in times of need.
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I’ve been thinking about Sybil a lot in the last week or so, about her treatment of Eva, and how it resonates with current questions about our treatment of the poor in times of need.
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It’s significant that JBP introduces Sybil as an almost comical character. Remember: Sybil’s generation would have all but died out by 1945, and those in the audience in their 50s or 60s would recognise themselves in Sheila and Eric, and their parents’ gen. in Mr and Mrs B.
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So Sybil sits on stage at curtain up, presumably dressed to stand out as her “husband’s social superior”, a relic of the Victorian upper class.
And her first contributions make her seem deliberately out of date:
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And her first contributions make her seem deliberately out of date:
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She commands Edna, the servant. She chides Mr B for a faux pas about the cook. She makes a facepalm-worthy comment about men spending ”all their time on their business” (more on this later). She scolds Sheila for the word “squiffy”, and scolds Mr B for ”talking business”.
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All of this establishes her as old-fashioned, out-of-touch, at worst a little ignorant about the lives of her family. But benign, really. You can even imagine the character being played for laughs, like the matronly elder woman in an Oscar Wilde play.
But.
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But.
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As the play progresses, and Sybil part in Eva’s death is revealed, we realise there’s nothing comic about her.
And this is why I’ve been thinking about Sybil, whenever I read a tweet asking why the poor can’t just cook cheaply, or go to food banks, or why do they need TVs.
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And this is why I’ve been thinking about Sybil, whenever I read a tweet asking why the poor can’t just cook cheaply, or go to food banks, or why do they need TVs.
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If you have wealth and influence, being out-of-touch is toxic. Being ignorant is dangerous. Clinging to the assumptions and prejudices of a previous era can cause untold harm.
Sybil’s naivety about her family and the society around them isn’t benign AT ALL.
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Sybil’s naivety about her family and the society around them isn’t benign AT ALL.
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After Sybil tells Sheila about “men with important work to do”, we ask later on if Mr Birling was unfaithful to her in past years, just like Gerald was.
Did Sybil know? Is she really naive, or is she warning Sheila not to ask too many questions about what Gerald gets up to?
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Did Sybil know? Is she really naive, or is she warning Sheila not to ask too many questions about what Gerald gets up to?
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To Sybil, men and women occupy totally different spheres. We see this in the way she manoeuvres Sheila around the home (and away from men talking). Her surprise at the news of Alderman Meggarty being a “sot and rogue” comes from a lifetime of tactical ignorance about men.
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But that ignorance is a type of complicity.
Mrs Birling hears her future son-in-law admit to an ongoing affair with Eva, making a mockery of his engagement to her daughter, and has exactly ZERO to say about it.
Not a word of anger or disappointment does she utter.
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Mrs Birling hears her future son-in-law admit to an ongoing affair with Eva, making a mockery of his engagement to her daughter, and has exactly ZERO to say about it.
Not a word of anger or disappointment does she utter.
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Because Sybil wouldn’t challenge a man on his private business or, most likely, on his treatment of a woman.
As the men around her exploit vulnerable women, Sybil, untouched by such unpleasantness, turns a blind eye.
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As the men around her exploit vulnerable women, Sybil, untouched by such unpleasantness, turns a blind eye.
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TOMORROW — more on Sybil, and a close look at her encounter with Eva :)
