Kelso High School English Department

‘An Inspector Calls’

Learning Intentions – Act Three Plot / Key incidents Characterisation – Arthur Birling / Sybil Birling / Sheila Birling / Eric Birling / Gerald Croft / Eva Smith (Daisy Renton) / Inspector Goole Dramatic Techniques: Tension Themes : Social Class / Social Responsibility

Plot / Key Incidents Eric returns. He knows that everyone thinks he is the father of Eva / Daisy’s child. He confesses that he forced her to have sex, got her pregnant and then stole money to support her. Eva / Daisy rejected the money and turned to Sybil’s charity for help. The Inspector warns that unless everyone learns to look after each other, that there will be more suffering. The Inspector leaves the Birling’s house.

Plot / Key Incidents – Final Twist Gerald returns and says he doesn’t think the Inspector is who he is supposed to be. Birling calls the police and finds there is no Inspector Goole. Gerald calls the hospital and finds no-one has committed suicide. They all decide they have been tricked. The phone rings. A young woman has been found dead and an Inspector is coming to question the Birlings…

Characterisation: Arthur Birling

Characterisation: Arthur Birling Birling starts to take the situation seriously for the first time. This is only because it is revealed Eric stole money from his company to help support Eva / Daisy. He is shocked that Eric almost had a child with a woman who was probably a prostitute which would have brought shame on the family. Birling doesn’t want anything to change. He wants things to go back to how they were – with him in charge. The Birling parents haven’t learnt anything. They care more about keeping everything a secret. The only thing they would feel really ashamed about is a scandal. Birling blames the Inspector for making a ‘nasty mess’.

Characterisation: Sybil Birling

Characterisation: Sybil Birling Eric is angry when it is revealed that Sybil refused to help Eva/Daisy – “You don’t understand anything. You never did.” Sybil cares more about how people see her family than having a good relationship with her children. Like her husband, Sybil thinks if the Inspector isn’t real, then what he said doesn’t matter.

Characterisation: Sybil Birling Throughout the play, she doesn’t change: She doesn’t learn anything from the Inspector. She keeps telling everyone “triumphantly” that she knew the Inspector was a trick. It is more important to her that she comes out on top, than that she could have caused a suicide. Near the end of the play, she is ‘smiling’ and tells everyone to feel ‘amused’. This suggests she has already put everything behind her and learned nothing.

Characterisation: Sheila Birling

Characterisation: Sheila Birling By the end of the play she wants to break away from her parents as she and Eric are the only characters who see that they all have to change. At the end she says “between us we killed her” – the other characters never admit this. She knows the family must stop these “silly pretences”. Priestley uses Sheila to show that there is hope that people can change. She is the only character who shows real compassion for working people – “these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people”.

Characterisation: Sheila Birling She is like the Inspector as she wants to know the truth and wants to help with his investigation. She realises that the Inspector’s questions are meant to break down the “wall” they have put between themselves and Eva/Daisy – Sheila wants to do the same. By the end of the play she is sensitive, moral and seems to have changed for good. She thinks everyone should face up to their role in the tragedy.

Characterisation: Eric Birling

Characterisation: Eric Birling His drunkeness and bad behaviour represent the dark side of family life. Fact he is a heavy drinker is obvious by the way he pours his whiskey in Act Three – (His whole manner of handling the decanter and then the drink shows his familiarity with quick heavy drinking). Eric’s behaviour is normal for a middle class man – Gerald / Birling’s ‘respectable friends’ / Alderman Meggarty – but he is much more reckless. He doesn’t hide his drinking and the baby would have ruined the Birling family’s reputation.

Characterisation: Eric Birling He is a victim and a villain: 1. He feels he doesn’t fit in and that nobody supports him. He has had to find comfort in women and drink. 2. When he shouts at Sybil, “You don’t understand anything”, it is the angriest moment in the play. 3. He is portrayed as a villain, yet he accepts responsibility for what he does – ‘I did what I did’. He criticises his parents for pretending that nothing has happened.

Characterisation: Gerald Croft

Characterisation: Gerald Croft When he finds out the Inspector wasn’t real and there was no suicide, he sides with Mr Birling. He wants to protect their reputation. Like Mr Birling, he is more interested in finding out whether the Inspector and the girl were real, rather than in learning from what they’ve done. Like Mr and Mrs Birling, he learns nothing from the visit: He is the first character to use the word “hoax”. He is keen to prove the Inspector was a fake and clear everyone’s names. At end, he says, “Everything’s all right now, Sheila”. He doesn’t seem to have leant anything.

Characterisation: Gerald Croft Just before second phone call, Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald relax and start joking about what has just happened. The atmosphere starts to seem like it did at the beginning of the play. Gerald suggests he and Sheila should get engaged again. Sheila says it is “too soon” – unlike Gerald, she can’t forget what she has learnt.

Characterisation: Eva Smith / Daisy Renton

Characterisation: Eva Smith Real identity of Eva / Daisy is never revealed. She could be the same person or different people. The Birlings see and treat all working-class girls in the same way, so it doesn’t matter who she really is. Eva / Daisy lost all her jobs because she was abused by more powerful people. They felt more important than Eva because of their social class. She is a silent character who represents powerless members of society. She doesn’t try to get revenge – the Inspector does it for her. He speaks on her behalf and uses her to teach the Birlings about Social Responsibility.

Characterisation: Eva Smith Eva / Daisy represents all vulnerable working-class people who need the support of a more caring society. She is KEY to play’s message – Inspector says there are “millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths” and that everyone’s happiness is connected. This is the KEY point. He is telling the Birlings and the audience to behave responsibly towards others. Focus of play is life and death of an unknown woman. Even if they are all different women, it doesn’t matter. Eva / Daisy is a mix of all the people they’ve ever treated badly.

Characterisation: Inspector Goole

Characterisation: Inspector Goole The Inspector sums up how each character had a hand in Eva / Daisy’s suicide: Arthur – started it all by sacking Eva Smith Sheila – got her fired from her second job Gerald - kept her as his mistress, but made her homeless when he called it off Eric - “used her” because he was drunk Sybil - wouldn’t let her charity help her

Characterisation: Inspector Goole His speech makes clear that there are millions of people like Eva / Daisy. He thinks everyone should be responsible for everyone else as everyone is affected by each other’s actions. “One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us…. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” He warns that if people don’t learn to look after each other, they’ll be taught with “fire and blood and anguish”.

Characterisation: Inspector Goole At end of play, the audience isn’t sure who or what the Inspector is. He seems to know everything, but nothing is properly explained. Some people think he represents 1) the voice of God 2) the audience’s conscience His lesson is more important than who he is – Eric and Sheila realise that whether something is morally right or wrong is just as important as whether something is legal or not.

Characterisation: Inspector Goole The Inspector says what Priestley thinks: He is Priestley’s voice in the play. Most clear in final scene. Inspector is talking to the Birlings, but it could be Priestley speaking to audience. He is an outside who takes Eva / Daisy’s side. He isn’t afraid to tell the Birlings what he thinks of them. Priestley wanted play to have a strong message about looking after one another and it is the Inspector’s job to deliver it.

Dramatic Techniques - Tension In Act One, the family are seated, but by the end the characters are standing, shouting, drinking and crying. The tension has increased to the point that the Birlings are falling apart.

Theme: Social Class Priestley suggests that the richest members of society didn’t want to change the class system because they didn’t want to share their money or their power. Play isn’t about one family’s scandal – it was how Priestley saw society. Birlings’ arrogance and selfish represent the worst qualities of the upper and middle classes.

Theme: Social Class Priestley shows how unfair class system is for people like Eva / Daisy. She could have been anyone. Birlings think class is all that matters. Priestley believes opposite. He wants people to be judged by what they do, not by which class they belong to. At end of play, Eric and Sheila realise they have a responsibility to the working class. Priestley shows that people can choose to act differently from the rest of their class.

Theme: Social Responsibility Play’s purpose is to show how important social responsibility is. Social Responsibility is the idea that everyone should be responsible for each other because our actions affect everybody else. Inspector shows how each of characters are responsible for Eva / Daisy’s death. Sheila and Eric learn from the visit, but Mr and Mrs Birling refuse to change. Inspector’s final speech is clear and to the point – it is a summary of what he’s tried to teach the Birlings about responsibility – “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other”. He isn’t trying to make the family feel guilty, he wants to make them aware of problems faced by working class.

Theme: Social Responsibility All the events in the play are connected. Priestley seems to think that it doesn’t take great people to change the world – we can all change it by changing the way we treat others. Priestley supported Socialism – idea that money and power should be shared equally. Birling is wrong about lots of things (war, Titanic etc) so when he says Socialism is “nonsense”, the audience are supposed to think he is wrong about that too.

Success Criteria Plot / Key incidents Characterisation – Arthur Birling / Sybil Birling / / Sheila Birling / Eric Birling / Gerald Croft / Eva Smith (Daisy Renton) / Inspector Goole Dramatic Techniques: Tension Themes : Social Class / Social Responsibility

Well done!!