AN INSPECTOR CALLS: CHARACTERS

MR BIRLING
1. Selfish - Only cares about his business relations with Gerald rather than his daughters' engagement party
  1. He tries to keep good relations with Gerald.
2. He believes that he is the biggest role in society.
  1. "might find a way onto the Honours list. Just a knighthood of course." (Pg8)
3. Priestley uses Mr Birling as the "Capitalist" character. When making him describe Eva Smith as poor and refusing to give pay rises.
  1. "There's a lot of wild talk about possible Labour trouble" (Pg.6)
    1. This shows that Priestly is present Birling as a capatilist as he describes labour as trouble.
  2. "It has nothing to do with the wretched girl's suicide" (Pg.13)
4. Head of House - Most men of his age would have been the head of house as they are strongest and normally bringing in most income.
MRS BIRLING
1. Controls Mr Birling when he steps out of line, mainly when talking to the inspector or when talking to their kids.
2. Acts fragile despite being shown as a strong women. She represents a typically high class women of the era.
3. She is a typical captatlist person.
  1. "Arthur, your'e not supposed to say such things" (Pg.2)
    1. This shows that Mrs Birling displays how the upper classed are supposed to treat lower classed people.
4. Mrs Birling shows us what a typical women would be like, She demostrates that men are higher when using stagecraft of her leaving.
  1. "Men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business." (Pg.3)
5. Priestly presents Mrs Birling women in the time. He uses contest to show the role of the woman.
SHELIA
1. Spoiled - Mainly within the Act 1, she boasts about her ring then when reviewing Eva Smith's story we learn that she got her fired by jealousy.
  1. "Oh - It's wonderful! Look - Mummy - isn't it a beauty?" (Pg.5)
2. Throughout the rest of the play she symphosis and understands the story of Eva Smith better than everyone.
3. In Act 1 she is displayed as rude and abrupt and wouldn't drop subjects relating to Gerlad. She seems to team up with her mum (Mums girl)
  1. "Except for all last summer, when you never came near me" (Pg.3)
4. Throughout the play Shelia develops the most. At the start she is presented as snobby and centre of attention however as she learns about Eva Smith, she becomes more aware of how are actions can affect peoples lives.
ERIC
1. Priestly presents Eric as drunk for most of the play and makes us understand why he has such drinking problems with Eva Smith being pregnant.
2. Younger character that changes throughout the inspectors appearance. He feels more guilty for her death as he had connections with her.
  1. This is shown via actions. Eric runs out of the house before returning at the exact moment when the inspector knows what has happened to him.
3. He keeps expressing his opinions, however this could link to him being drunk.
  1. "All the Best! She's got a nasty temper sometimes" (Pg.5)
4. He is still treated like a kid by Mr Birling.
  1. "Eric: Is that why she commited suicide? When was this Father? Mr Birling: Just keep quiet, Eric, and don't get excited!" (Pg.13)
GERALD CROFT
1. Laid back and fits into the family despite the class change.
2. In Act One, Dramatic Irony is used when Shelia is questioning Gerald about last Summer.
3. He is a business man like Mr Birling.
4. He gave Daisy (Eva) a home through the summer that Shelia claims she never saw any of him.
5. He seems the most carm and doesn't do Eva much harm, he cared for her.
6. Priestly uses Entrances and Exits to develop the play. When Gerald exits the story with Inspector goes on however when Gerald comes back, he starts a the plot twist of there not being a Eva Smith and all photos being different.
INSPECTOR
1. Tall and comes across as a dark figure.
2. Stage directions describe the inspectors appearance on stage.
  1. "The inspector enters, and Edna Goes, closing the door after her. The inspector need not be a big man but h creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. He is a man in his 50's, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period/ He speaks carefully, wrightily, and has a disconcerning habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking." (Pg11)
EVA SMITH (...)
1. Dead via suicide. By drinking bleach.
2. She was discharged for wanting more pay at Birlings work. Then she was fired from her job at Millwalds (Clothes Store) for laughing at Shelia. She then had Gerald save her and make her his mistress. Eric then has sexual relations then finds out that she is pregnant before she got turned down by help as Mrs Birling didn't believe her story.
3. Smith is a common name in England.
  1. This shows that Priestly is comparing Eva Smith to a common person, in other words saying that she is working class instead of the Birlings' high class attitudes.

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AN INSPECTOR CALLS: CHARACTERS

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	Created by Oliver Eaton over 8 years ago