An inspector calls

Mr Birling- Key information

• Mr Birling is the head of the Birling household. He has made himself very wealthy by being a 'hard-headed' business man.
• At the start of the play he comes across as being arrogant, making long speeches about his predictions for the future.
• He also makes assertions about how a man should look out for number one and not waste time helping others.
• It is at this exact moment that the Inspector arrives. Sybil, his wife, is his 'social superior' and it is hinted that he is self-conscious about being from a more working-class background.
• He is materialistic and possessive and also has old fashioned views about women.

Mr Birling- Key quotes

• "And I'm talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business. And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible."
• Mr Birling is confident that there will not be a war, saying that 'there isn't a chance of war' and then repeating this idea when he considers it 'impossible'. His arrogance and complacency are made very clear. The audience, knowing that just two years after this speech, World War One will begin, see that Mr Birling is wrong on this point, and on many others, including his prediction that the Titanic is 'unsinkable'. The audience lose trust in him as a character.
• "...clothes mean something quite different to a woman. Not just something to wear - and not only something to make 'em look prettier.'"
• Mr Birling makes some old-fashioned and patronising points about women and how they view clothes and appearance.
• "...we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together - for lower costs and higher prices."
• Mr Birling is a business man whose main concern is making money. This is what is most important to him and he comes across as being greedy- capitalist

Mrs Birling- Key information

• Mrs Sybil Birling is Arthur Birling's wife and right from the opening of the play she is cold-hearted and snobbish despite being a prominent member of local women's charity
• Throughout dinner she tells Sheila and Eric off for things that she considers impolite whilst ignorantly turning a blind eye to her son drinking too much.
• It is clear that despite Eric being old enough to drink and Sheila getting married, she sees them both as children, not as a young man and woman.
• Her cold, uncaring nature leads to her downfall as the Inspector forces her to unknowingly condemn her own son.

Mrs Birling- Key quotes

• "She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position."
• She assumes that just because Eva is unmarried and pregnant that she is unable to have 'fine feelings', a very cruel and cold opinion to have.
• "What an expression, Sheila! Really, the things you girls pick up these days!"
• Sybil shouts at Sheila for using the word 'squiffy' - meaning drunk. Sybil has snobbish opinions that people should speak and behave 'properly', not doing so would make her look down upon them.
• ''Secondly, I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have. If, as she said, he didn't belong to her class, and was some drunken young idler, then that's all the more reason why he shouldn't escape. He should be made an example of. If the girl's death is due to anybody, then it's due to him.''

Mrs Birling- Key information

• Sheila Birling is Arthur and Sybil's daughter and is in her early twenties. At the start of the play she is celebrating her engagement to Gerald Croft and she is a giddy, naïve and childish young lady.
• The Inspector arrives and she is very shocked by the news of Eva Smith's death, she is also very regretful of her own involvement in the suicide.

Sheila Birling- Key Information

• Sheila Birling is Arthur and Sybil's daughter and is in her early twenties.
• At the start of the play she is celebrating her engagement to Gerald Croft and she is a giddy, naïve and childish young lady.
• The Inspector arrives and she is very shocked by the news of Eva Smith's death, she is also very regretful of her own involvement in the suicide.
• As the play continues, she matures, admiring Gerald's honesty, even though he cheated on her.
• She shows an assertive side by standing up to her mother and father and she also shows that she is insightful and intelligent - she can see where the Inspector's investigation is going and tries to warn the others.

Sheila Birling- Key quotes

• "I'm sorry Daddy actually I was listening."
• Sheila shows her naivety and lack of maturity in the way she reacts to her father. She is quick to apologise, it is clear that she is keen to behave well. She also refers to her father as 'Daddy', a childish term.
• "I tell you - whoever that inspector was, it was anything but a joke."
• The change in Sheila here is clear. She has become more assertive, using phrases such as 'I tell you'. The events of the evening have made her aware of the serious impact one's actions can have.
• I don't dislike you as I did half an hour ago, Gerald. In fact, in some odd way, I rather respect you more than I've ever done before. I knew anyhow you were lying about those months last year when you hardly came near me. I knew there was something fishy about that time. And now at least you've been honest. And I believe what you told us about the way you helped her at first. Just out of pity. And it was my fault really that she was so desperate when you first met her. But this has made a difference. You and I aren't the same people who sat down to dinner here. We'd have to start all over again, getting to know each other.

Eric Birling- Key Information

• Eric is the Birlings' son and is in his early twenties, he is described as being 'not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive'.
• In other words, he lacks confidence.
• At points he tries to stand up to his father but is talked down.
• It becomes clear that he is drunk at the dinner table and later it is revealed that he has been drinking too much for quite some time.
• It turns out that Eric had an affair with Eva Smith and that she was pregnant with Eric's baby when she committed suicide.
• Eric stole money from his father's business to help Eva.
• In the final act Eric makes an emotional attack on his parents and their values and shows that he can be assertive.

Eric Birling- Key Quotes

• I don't know - really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh."
• The stage directions describe Eric as being 'half shy, half assertive' and this comes across in his dialogue. He is awkward and unsure of himself. Here he cannot explain his sudden laughter.
• No, I mean about this girl - Eva Smith. Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices. And I don't see why she should have been sacked just because she'd a bit more spirit than the others."
• At the start of the play, Eric shows that he can be assertive. Here he questions his father's decision to sack Eva Smith. He backs up his point with a well-reasoned argument. His father quickly shouts him down though.
• "(bursting out) What's the use of talking about behaving sensibly. You're beginning to pretend now that nothing's really happened at all. And I can't see it like that. This girl's still dead, isn't she? Nobody's brought her to life, have they?"
• Eric suddenly shows how he has been affected emotionally by Eva's death. He asks the stark question 'This girl's still dead, isn't she?' He is clearly distressed and understands the gravity of the situation, he can’t understand why the others don’t.

Gerald Croft- Key Information

• Gerald is described as 'an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town'.
• Mr Birling is very pleased that Gerald is getting engaged to Sheila because his family are upper-class business owners, Mr Birling hopes they can join forces in business.
• At the beginning of the play, Gerald comes across as being confident and charming.
• This changes after his affair with Eva Smith is revealed. Gerald gives himself away when he hears that Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton.
• He initially is evasive and tries not to talk too much about it but redeems himself in the eyes of the audience by being more open and honest about it as he talks to Sheila.
• He lets himself down in the final act by trying to get the family out of trouble, he doesn't seem to have learned from his mistakes.

Gerald Croft- Key Quotes

• "Sure to be, unless Eric’s been up to something."
• Mr Birling suggests that he is in line for a knighthood so long as the family have behaved themselves. Gerald confidently makes a joke at Eric's expense which is full of irony.
• "All right. I knew her. Let’s leave it at that."
• This abrupt line of dialogue shows how initially Gerald is very evasive about his involvement with Eva Smith and wants to close down the topic as soon as possible.
• "The girl saw me looking at her and then gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help."
• Gerald honestly tells the story of how he met Eva. He was in the wrong to have an affair and then abandon Eva but, his use of emotive language 'cry for help' makes us realise that he genuinely felt sorry for her and wanted to help her.

Inspector Goole- Key Information

• The Inspector arrives whilst the Birling family are celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald.
• The stage directions state that he 'need not be a big man' but that he must create an 'impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness'.
• The Inspector investigates each family member one at a time and in doing so, reveals the consequences of their behaviour.
• He drives forward the drama, with his questions creating shocking moments and gripping cliff-hangers for the audience.
• By the end of the play it is revealed that he isn’t actually an Inspector. It is not entirely clear who he is, Priestley leaves it up to the audience to decide.
• His name 'Goole' suggests a supernatural or ghost like element, and he seems to know what the characters will say before they do - is he the conscience of the audience?
• Is he the voice of Priestley? Either way he delivers a frightening message when he leaves, that if people do not take responsibility for each other, the world is doomed.

Inspector Goole- Key Quotes

• ..he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.
• The fact that his presence combines 'massiveness' with 'purposefulness' suggests that the Inspector would be a very imposing figure
• "Her position now is that she lies with a burnt out inside on a slab."
• This is such a shocking image presented in plain language, it is not surprising that it impacts upon the emotions of the other characters and the audience. The Inspector uses this language intentionally to make the family more likely to confess.
• "And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night."
• The Inspector predicts a hell like future, filled with a nightmarish vision of 'fire' and 'blood'. Priestley experienced war first hand, so some suspect that what he saw in wartime influenced the Inspector's final speech.
• But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.

Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton- Key Information

• The audience learns about Eva through the Inspector, who has read a letter and a diary she kept.
• They also learn about her through the characters she came into contact with. A lot of the information about her is inferred - from the incident at Mr Birling’s factory we can infer that she was strong willed.
• From her interaction with Sheila the audience can see that Eva had a sense of humour.
• Her relationship with Gerald, when she changed her name to Daisy Renton, reveals her sensitivity. By the time she reaches Eric and Sybil, Eva is desperate and resourceful in trying to get herself help.
• Eva is always referred to in a positive light by the characters that met her but the Inspector never lets the audience or the Birlings and Gerald forget her gruesome death.
• The Inspector's final speech reveals Priestley's lesson that there are millions of Eva Smiths being exploited and this must not continue.

Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton- Key Quotes

• Birling: "...she'd been working in one of our machine shops for over a year. A good worker too. In fact, the foreman there told me he was ready to promote her into what we call a leading operator - head of a small group of girls. But after they came back from their holidays that August, they were all rather restless, and they suddenly decided to ask for more money."
• Even by Mr Birling's own admission, Eva Smith had lots of qualities that showed her strong will - she was lively, worked well and was in line for a promotion. He sees her asking for more money as a bad thing, as Eric later states 'I don't see why she should have been sacked just because she'd a bit more spirit than the others. You said yourself she was a good worker.' The same strong will that made her stand out as a good worker eventually got her the sack.
• Inspector: "She kept a rough sort of diary. And she said there that she had to go away and be quiet and remember 'just to make it last longer'. She felt there'd never be anything as good again for her - so she had to make it last longer"
• .The Inspector explains how Eva Smith went away to be 'quiet' and to 'remember'. These words clearly show that Eva was emotionally sensitive. The fact she also felt that 'there'd never be anything as good again for her' make us realise how devastated she was when Gerald ended their relationship. The fact that Gerald just got back on with his life and relationship with Sheila makes the audience empathise even more with the sensitive Eva.