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An Inspector Calls:
Context, Characters
and Themes
- Themes
- Characters
- Mr Birling
- He has worked his way up in the
world and is proud of his
achivements. He boasts about being
Mayor and tries to impress the
Inspector, but fails.
- He is proud that it is likely
that he will receive a
knighthood as it will move
him even higher in society.
- He is optimistic for the future
and confident that the titanic
won't sink and that there won't
be another war. However, the
audience knows that this isn't
true as as the titanic did sink
and there was actually two
world wars.
- At the end of the play, he knows that he has
lost his chance of a knighthood, his
reputation in Brumley and the chance of his
company and crofts merging togethe. Yet he
still hasn't taken the responsibility for his part
in Eva Smith's Death.
- He has worked his way up in the
world and is proud of his
achivements. He boasts about being
Mayor and tries to impress the
Inspector, but fails.
- Mrs Birling
- Sybil Birling looks
down on others and
is very aware of the
differences between
social classes.
- She has the least amount of
respect for the Inspector out of
all of the characters. She fails to
frighten/intimidate the Inspector
and force him to leave, then lies
to him as she denies knowing
the photo that the Inspector
shows her of Eva Smith.
- She still sees Sheila
and Eric as children
and speaks
patronizingly to them.
- She tries to deny
everything that she doesn't
believe. E.g. Eric getting
Eva pregnant, Gerald's
affair with Daisy/Eva.
- At the end of the play,
She refuses to believe
that she did anything
wrong and doesn't accept
the responsibility in her
part in Eva's death.
- Sybil Birling looks
down on others and
is very aware of the
differences between
social classes.
- Sheila Birling
- Although she probably hasn't
considered the conditions of
the workers, she shows her
sympathy immediately after
she hears about her father's
treatment towards Eva.
- She feels guilty of her
jealosy and blames
herself for Eva's death
- She is curious about Gerald's part
in the story and it is interesting
that she's not angry at him when
she hears about his affair
- Sheila is angry that her parents tried to
pretend that nothing had happened. She
says "It frightens me the way you talk."
Here she cannot understand how they
haven't learnt from the evening in the
same way that she and Eric has.
- At the end of the play, Sheila is wiser
as she can now judge Gerald and her
parents in a new way. Her greatest
change is that she has gained a social
conscience and is aware of her
responsibilities in society.
- Although she probably hasn't
considered the conditions of
the workers, she shows her
sympathy immediately after
she hears about her father's
treatment towards Eva.
- Eric Biring
- Gerald Croft
- Mr Birling
- Context
- How each character
contributed to Eva's
death
- Mr Birling
- Mr Birling
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