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¨      Arthur’s primary concerns are the Birling family’s good name and his ability to climb in early-twentieth-century English society.

¨      Arthur is aware that, although his firm is successful, it is not as successful as the Crofts’. Arthur also does not yet possess a formal title as the Crofts do, so he gleefully tells Gerald in Act One that he is expecting a knighthood. Although Arthur does seem somewhat upset at the idea that he contributed to Eva Smith’s death, he is more upset that his family’s implication in the scandal would become public. This would mean that the knighthood might be withheld, and that Birling would no longer continue his social ascent.

¨      Arthur’s opinion, that men ought only to look after themselves as individuals, is a strictly capitalist mentality, in which owners of capital value only profits, and do not care for workers’ rights. As Sheila says in Act Three, the Inspector calls just as Arthur tells Eric and Gerald that they must put their own interests before anyone else’s, and that socialist ideas of human brotherhood are strange and not to be trusted. Sheila wonders if the Inspector’s visit was meant to prove to Arthur that people’s lives are actually very complexly intertwined.

Priestley's message (Intended effect on the audience)

¨    Being co-founder of a Socialist Party, Priestley felt strongly about his political views in favour of socialism and these views are displayed prominently throughout An Inspector Calls.

¨      Priestly used the character of Mr Birling to represent how the upper class frowned upon people below them in society.

¨       Priestley was concerned about the consequences of social inequality in Britain, and the disparity caused by wealth and class divide. He believed that what resulted from this were the very characteristics shown in Mr Birling (selfishness, inability to admit responsibility for his part in Eva's death, exploitative tendencies, power lust etc.) Priestley wanted to encourage his audience to dislike Mr Birling and to see him as a fool – by rejecting the attitudes held by Mr Birling, Priestley’s audience could lead a better life.

¨      Throughout the play, Priestley makes it clear that there is a consequence for every action. Through Mr Birling's thoughtless actions of firing Eva Smith, his inability to admit his partial responsibility in Eva’s death, and Birling wanting to cover up for Eric stealing money, Priestley portrayed the evil side of money and capitalism, as well as his dislike for capitalism due to the lack of care in society for the poor.

¨      Arthur Birling – Key Quotes

¨      Intro  ‘Arthur Birling is a heavy looking, rather portentous man’

¨      Naive, Capitalism ‘Fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war.’

¨      Dramatic Irony ‘The titanic- she sails next week’-‘Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’

¨      Stubborn, Capitalism 'man has to mind his own business and look after himself.‘

¨      Intimidation 'I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago – and I’m still on the Bench – so I know the Brumley officers pretty well‘

¨      Looks down on the Inspector 'I don't like your tone‘

¨      Capitalist View “If you don’t come down hard on these people they’d soon be asking for the earth.”

¨      Patronising ‘Nothing to do with you, Sheila. Run along’

¨      Feels no guilt ‘There’ll be a public scandal’

¨      Relentless 'Nonsense! You’ll have a good laugh over it yet! Look, you’d better ask Gerald for that ring you gave back to him, hadn’t you? Then you’ll feel better'

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¨      ‘Inspector’ suggests someone who ‘inspects’ things – to look loosely at… Priestley’s stage directions tell us that the lighting becomes ‘brighter and harder’ on his arrival - a spot light on the family for his investigation perhaps?

¨      The name sounds like ‘ghoul’ which makes him enigmatic (mysterious). Is he from another world? A spokesman for the dead girl come to plead her case?

¨      His physical description – “an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness” – nothing distracts him from his purpose of discovering the truth. His “solidity” is necessary if he is to be a match for the Birlings. He appears incorruptible, calm, determined. He speaks “weightily” – this is a man who is serious about his mission.

¨      The timing of his arrival is crucial: just as Mr Birling has been voicing his philosophy of life that ‘a man has to look after himself and his own’. This interruption signals that the Inspector will challenge this viewpoint and under mind their notion that they are a “nice respectable family”. It is a good example of Priestley’s use of dramatic irony

¨      Throughout the play, he shows the Birlings (and the audience) that people are responsible for each other; that we are indeed “bees in a hive”. He voices Priestley’s beliefs about society that primarily people must accept responsibility for others and have a social conscience. He gives a moral perspective on the way the family have behaved.

¨      The mood of the play changes as soon as he arrives by becoming more sombre. He is not drawn into ‘friendly’ chatter with Mr Birling

¨      He reveals everyone’s secrets – has an uncanny knowledge of what each character had done and when they have done it

¨      He asks probing questions which lead them to confess. As Sheila says, “somehow he makes you.” he makes the Birlings and Gerald face up to what they have done and take responsibility for their part in the “chain of events.”

¨      The inspector controls everything: he decides who will speak and when; who will be allowed to leave and who should stay; who sees the photograph etc.

Priestley's Message (intended effect on the audience)

¨      He is Priestley’s voice – he represents Priestley's strong moral views. His job is to make the characters change their attitudes, face up to what they have done and start taking responsibility for each other – see his final message in the play.

¨      He heightens drama – his entrances and exits are well timed in order to create maximum tension (e.g. at the end of Act 1 when he walks in on Gerald and Sheila’s conversation).

¨      He controls the structure of the play – each revelation moves the play one step forward.

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¨      Sheila is the conscience of the Birling family. She realizes very soon after the Inspector’s arrival that her anger at Milward’s resulted in Eva/Daisy’s dismissal, and that, because Eva/Daisy went on to commit suicide, Sheila played a role in her demise.

¨      Sheila wonders how she will live with the grief her actions have caused, for herself, and of course for Eva/Daisy. She seems genuinely upset and lost, and reminds the rest of her family that they, too, have acted wrongly. She wants the family never to forget what they have done, despite their desire to proceed as though nothing is amiss.

¨      Sheila’s position is, broadly, an empathetic one. Although she does not seem to care much for the Inspector’s implicit critique of capitalism, she does believe that humans are responsible for one another’s good will. She is despondent that she cannot undo what she has done, but is committed to the idea that the family can change going forward. She is also willing, at the play’s end, to forgive Gerald his infidelity, because he appeared to have genuinely cared for Eva/Daisy, even if at Sheila’s expense.

Priestley's Message (intended effect on the audience)

¨      She represents (with Eric) the younger generation – Priestley saw them as ‘more impressionable’ – after all, they were the future.

¨      She gives the audience hope that their society can improve if people make changes and take responsibility.

¨      Sheila Birling – Key Quotes

¨      Displays Sheila's curiosity 'What’s this all about? ‘

¨      Only one to react and care about Eva's death 'Oh, how horrible! Was it an accident? ‘

¨      Socialist View 'But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people. ‘

¨      Guilt '(Miserably) so I’m really responsible? ‘

¨      Jealousy 'I couldn’t be sorry for her. ‘

¨      The first to accept responsibility and take some blame 'I know I’m to blame – and I’m desperately sorry‘

¨      Guilt 'You're forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really had happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done.'

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¨      Gerald Croft works at his father's company, Crofts Limited, which is both bigger and older than Birling & Co.

¨      He is engaged to be married to Sheila Birling. His parents, Sir George and Lady Croft, are above the Birlings (Mr Birling and Mrs Birling) socially, and it seems his mother disapproves of his engagement to Sheila.

¨      J. B. Priestly describes Gerald as "an attractive chap about thirty ... very much the easy well-bred young-man-about-town."

¨      He is one of the characters to be questioned by Inspector Goole.

Priestley's Message (intended effect on the audience)

¨      He represents the selfish attitudes of the upper class.

¨      He played a key part in the ‘chain of events’, contributing to the death of Eva Smith.

¨      He lets the audience down; we had hope that he would change his attitudes, but he doesn’t. It conveys how ingrained these attitudes were in the upper class, and how difficult it was to change them.

¨ Gerald Croft – Key Quotes

¨      He cannot see how he could be involved in Eva Smith’s (Daisy Renton’s) suicide. ‘I don’t come into this suicide business.’

¨      When he starts to talk about her death, he appears genuinely upset and goes out for a walk: ‘I’m rather more – upset – by this business than I probably appear to be – ‘. (The audience assume that he has learned his lesson and that perhaps he will change for the better.)

¨      When offering Sheila the ring back, she can’t take it. ‘Everything’s all right now Sheila. (Holds up the ring.) What about this ring?’ She replies, ‘It’s too soon. I must think.’

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¨      A character who does not appear onstage in the play, but who is the absent figure around which the action spins.

¨      She is referred to as Eva Smith, Daisy Renton, and “Mrs. Birling.” She may be a combination of these young women, or a different person, or a fiction.

¨      Whether she is real or not, Eva/Daisy is a stand-in for the girls that Arthur, Sybil, Sheila, Eric, and Gerald have wronged, either separately or together.

¨       Eva/Daisy worked for a low wage, and Arthur fired her for attempting a strike.

¨       Sheila had her fired for impertinence.

¨       Eric and Gerald both had affairs with her, and though Gerald cared for her, Eric’s relationship to her was more vexed, and required him to steal money for her.

¨      If Eva/Daisy is a real person, as the last phone call suggests, then the family’s guilt might really knot them together. But if she is not one person, and rather a set of people, this makes her no less substantial as an organisational principle for the work.

¨      Priestley demonstrates how selfish, or economically motivated, or jealous behaviour can ruin people’s lives. Eva/Daisy is the lesson each character must learn individually.

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¨      She is described at the start as "about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband's social superior."

¨      She is a snob, very aware of the differences between social classes. She is irritated when Mr Birling makes the social gaffe of praising the cook in front of Gerald and later is very dismissive of Eva, saying "Girls of that class."

¨      She has the least respect for the Inspector of all the characters. She tries - unsuccessfully - to intimidate him and force him to leave, then lies to him when she claims that she does not recognise the photograph that he shows her.

¨      She sees Sheila and Eric still as "children" and speaks patronisingly to them.

¨      She tries to deny things that she doesn't want to believe: Eric's drinking, Gerald's affair with Eva, and the fact that a working class girl would refuse money even if it was stolen, claiming "She was giving herself ridiculous airs."

¨      She admits she was "prejudiced" against the girl who applied to her committee for help and saw it as her "duty" to refuse to help her. Her narrow sense of morality dictates that the father of a child should be responsible for its welfare, regardless of circumstances.

¨      At the end of the play, she has had to come to terms that her son is a heavy drinker who got a girl pregnant and stole money to support her, her daughter will not marry a good social 'catch' and that her own reputation within the town will be sullied. Yet, like her husband, she refuses to believe that she did anything wrong and doesn't accept responsibility for her part in Eva's death.

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Kaylie.greenshields@sarahbonnell.net

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What do you think is the importance of Sheila Birling in An Inspector Calls and how does Priestley present her? 

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What do you think is the importance of Sheila Birling in An Inspector Calls and how does Priestley present her? 

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Young people were presented to be treated as innocent and naive by their parents

She helps explore the theme of responsibility by reflecting on her needs to be responsible and changing her way of being for the best.

The importance of Sheila Birling is that she is not a victim but someone that can make change society.

In An Inspector Calls Sheila Birling helps explore the theme of responsibility by reflecting on her action and her needs to be responsible and changing her way of being for the best. The importance of Sheila Birling in the play is that she is not a victim but she is someone that can make change in society, also shows how young people at the time were presented to be treated as innocent and naïve by their parents, they were seen as being incapable. In the stage direction Sheila Birling is presented as a girl instead of a lady which shows that she is treated as a little child rather than a woman and we see that she depends a lot on her parents for everything rather than working for it, when she gets married to Gerald (her fiancé) she will have to depend on him. She worries about looking nice and being pleased with herself but doesn’t care nor worry about others, she is shown to be full of herself just like her father. We see this through the quotation “Sheila is a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”.

Sheila takes responsibility for her actions and grows to be independent and thoughtful young woman in contrast to her parents. “I've told my father – he didn't seem to think it amounted to much – but I felt rotten”

The contrast between her and her parents highlights what we should do and that we should understand that we are responsible for others too rather than just ourselves.

No matter your social standing you should always take responsibility for your action.

Priestley is trying to send a message to the audience about responsibility by having a contrast between Sheila and her parents highlighting what we should do and that we should understand that we are responsible for others too rather than just ourselves, he is also trying to let the audience know that no matter your social standing you should always take responsibility for your action and love to have a good heart and respect one and other. In 1912 people were treated differently to suit their socio-economic class, there were strong divisions between the upper and lower classes. Women were treated differently to men. All that rich women could do was get married and be their husbands shadow and a poor woman was seen as cheap labour, they were deprived of the right to work, all they can do is get married and stay at home and look after their children. If they were single they had to work but they could only work as waitresses, cooks etc. many young woman were simply expected to get married and have children. Women fought for their rights but it was tough. The upper classes that are in charge of the country saw no need to change the status quo.

In 1945 the Second World War ended in Europe on 8 May 1945. People were recovering from nearly six years of warfare, danger and uncertainty. Class distinctions had been greatly reduced as a result of two world wars. As a result of the wars, women had earned a more valued place in society. There was a great desire for social change. Immediately after The Second World War, Clement Attlee's Labour Party won a landslide victory over Winston Churchill and the Conservatives.