The author here depicts mr Birlings arrogance and disrespect of the lower classes which he himself is from. Many people who would of watched this play would of been from a lower class than mr Birling is from. The author would have done this intentionally to provoke the audience to make the people dislike him as he is almost enforcing the fact that those in the lower classes are destined to stay there which is in fact hypocritical of his past. I think this helps people side with the inspector as he clearly has an increased sense of loathing for mr and mrs Birling. We know mr Birling thinks because of a comment he made early on in the first act ” You’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we’re all mixed up together like bees in a hive.” This quote is actually very stupid from a man which has a great sense of arrogance. He states that people are saying that we should act like bees and help each other out. By this he is meaning that we should move towards a more communist outlook on how wealth is distributed. Although in a bee hive you have a heir achy system where the worker bees slave away their whole life to benefit the queen bee. which is in fact very similar to the way his own business is run. Thus highlighting his heightened stupidity. This has been used to make the audience dislike mr Birling and has done so very well as i find myself viewing him as an obnoxious stupid and hypocritical imbecil.