Inspector Calls

Question 1

how does Priestley present Mr Birling almost as a caricature?

Answer 1

He uses dramatic irony to make Mr Birling look ridiculous: the audience is unable to take him seriously because of his ludicrous statements about the Titanic “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” and the War “no-one wants a war”

Question 2

priestley’s quote about capitalism:

Answer 2

“The root objection to Capitalism is that its values are wrong, inhuman”

Question 3

What is a word to describe a play that teaches a moral lesson?

Answer 3

A didactic play

Question 4

Priestley designed Mr Birlings character to represent capitalism. Why did he do this, and what is the name for a character that has been designed in this way?

Answer 4

Priestley is trying to explore what’s wrong with capitalism by exploring what’s wrong with Birling. Birling is therefore a construct (priestley ‘constructed’ him in order to put forward this point of view)

Question 5

how does the quote “I’m talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business” relate to context?

Answer 5

• Priestley deliberately uses the language of the labour manifesto (which complains about “hard-headed men of business”) - there was an election in 1945 when play first performed - call for people to vote labour - turns campaigning speech into a drama his audience can relate to on an emotional level, and are therefore more likely to be persuaded by.
• allusion to the language of Sir Stanley Baldwin - prime minister three times between 1912 and 1939 - accused “hard-headed men of business” of profiting from the war

Question 6

explain two important quotes for Mr Birling

Answer 6

1. “that a man has to mind his own business, and look after himself and his own” - shows that Mr Birling represents capitalism - he is a construct - Priestley wants to explore the flaws of capitalism by exploring Mr Birling’s flaws. Inspector arrives just after he says that - interrupting him: undermining him + showing he has a flawed view.
2. “I’m talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business” - relates to context + Labour Party, shows he views Sheila’s marriage as a business arrangement between him + Lord Croft (hopes for them to work together for “lower costs and higher prices”) - views Sheila as “his own” - believes he owns her, and uses her to better his business - emphasises patriarchal society

Question 7

4 key quotes to do with Gerald:

Answer 7

1. “You were the wonderful fairy prince. You must have adored it, Gerald”
2. “She was happier than she’d ever been before” (about daisy renton)
3. “daisy knew it was coming to an end”
4. “she’d lived very economically on what I’d allowed her”

Question 8

“girls of that class”

Answer 8

“girls of that class” - eva a woman, but diminished by being called a “girl”

Priestley constructed Mrs Birling in this way to attack the idea of social hierarchy + class

Question 9

what is a morality play?

Answer 9

an allegorical drama in which the characters personify moral qualities (such as charity or vice) or abstractions (such as death or youth) and in which moral lessons are taught. It is a very old theatrical form, going back to the medieval period, which sought to instruct audiences about virtue and evil.

Question 10

explain a quote from Mrs Birling that shows her dismissal of the working class

Answer 10

“Girls of that class”

• Eva’s a woman, but being diminished by being called a girl (link to Mrs B infantilising Sheila, but trying to protect sheila + trying to diminish + dismiss Eva) - shows her hypocrisy - trying to protect Sheila but won’t help Eva - same age. Shows Mrs Birling is a construct to attack the social hierarchy (“class” system) - contrasts to Inspector saying “we are all members of one body”
• shows the need for a welfare state (something Priestley is trying to achieve) - Mrs Birling ostensibly giving out charity, but won’t protect Eva, who is in desperate need of help

Question 11

suggest a reason for Priestley making the structural decision to have Mrs Birling confess before Eric.

Answer 11

Priestley could have got Eric to confess directly after Mrs Birling to juxtapose their two crimes, forcing the audience to realise that Eric’s offence is much worse.
Mrs Birling says

Question 12

give a quote from Mrs Birling that justifies what she did to the audience, and explain how this makes Eric’s offence seem worse.

Answer 12

“the girl had begun by telling us a pack of lies”

• logical doubt - valid point - justified
• however she fails to see Eva’s desperation - she would rather commit suicide than take the stolen money, or marry Eric.
• Priestley appears to be suggesting that Eric has had a far greater effect on her committing suicide - structurally, Priestley has Mrs Birling confess first, so that he can then shock the audience with Eric’s crimes, the juxtaposition highlighting the severity of Eric’s offence
• Mrs Birling says “if the girl’s death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him”

Question 13

give one of Eric’s important quotes and explain what it says about him

Answer 13

“I think it’s a shame. We try for the highest profits, why shouldn’t they try for the highest wages?”

• anti-capitalist construct, voice of hope and change, links to Inspector’s “we are all of one body” - agreeing with Inspector - on the side of good - shown to be a forward-thinking and moral individual
• however, still committed serious offence (“she told me she didn’t want me to go in”) - and is shown to be guilty by Mrs. Birling. Could be Priestley’s way of trying to convey to the audience that it is not enough merely to have a socialist ideology - you actually have to act on your morals, otherwise you end up just as guilty as Eric. In this way, Eric could be seen as a construct to catalyse change in the actions of the audience
• Eric represents many other young men in his position - “in that state where a chap easily turns nasty” - normalising violence & suggesting that this “state” is common to many “chap[s]” - Priestley implying such violence is ubiquitous in the upper-classes of society

Question 14

give 2 quotes that show Eric neglecting to take responsibility

Answer 14

1. “I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty”

2. he said that it was “not really” stealing because he intended to “pay it back”

Question 15

How much money did Eric steal? How much would it be worth today? Approximately how many weeks of Eva Smith’s wages is this equivalent to?

Answer 15

he stole £50, which would be equivalent to about £6,000 today. This would be equivalent to around 40 weeks of Eva Smith’s wages

Question 16

what does “proxy” mean?

Answer 16

someone that takes the place of someone else

Question 17

explain an important quote from Sheila that shows that she had taken on board the inspector’s lesson

Answer 17

“no, because I remember what he said, how he looked, and what he made me feel. Fire and blood and anguish”

• shows she learns the Inspector’s lesson
• she is acting as a proxy for the Inspector - repeats his words - Priestley could be using her as a construct to show the audience what he wants them to do - go out and spread his message

Question 18

give two important quotes from the Inspector

Answer 18

1. “we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”
2. “and I tell 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”

Question 19

“we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”

Answer 19

“we are members of one body” comes directly from the Bible & from the church service when Christian congregations take communion. Around 80% of Priestley’s audience at the time would have been Christian, and so he deliberately uses language that they are used to in order to make an absolute connection with them, and to forge a link between Christianity and socialism in the audience’s mind. He therefore could be insinuating that if you are Christian (as the vast majority of his audience would have been) you should also be a socialist, because the two ideologies share so many values.

Question 20

“and I tell 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”

Answer 20

• “fire and blood and anguish” - the Inspector’s last lines - talking about the world wars. Insinuating that war is a direct result of capitalism - encapsulating the morals of the play as both socialist and pacifist
• priestley’s choice of “men” over ‘man’ - ‘man’ would mean whole of humanity, whereas “men” means men vs women. Could be interpreted an attack on the patriarchy (as Priestley is drawing attention to it, and could be insinuating that it is “men” that are the issue & have to change), however it could also be viewed as merely representative of the extent of the influence of the patriarchy at the time - Priestley has neglected to include women in his statement, as he knows that they have no power to change society. If a change is going to be made it is going to have to be the “men” that make it, as they hold all the power.

Question 21

give two different things that the “Titanic” could be a metaphor for in the play

Answer 21

1. capitalism - Birling believes it to be “unsinkable”, but there is a change coming
2. the class system

Question 22

give 2 possible interpretations of Birling’s quote “we’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity”

Answer 22

1. It is an example of Priestley using Birling as a construct to discredit capitalism: he is using dramatic irony, as the audience would know that this statement is decidedly untrue, due to the Great Depression and the two world wars.
2. Birling could be using “we” in the sense “we employers”, in which case his statement might not actually be false, as the upper & middle class businessmen actually did quite well out of the Great Depression and the world wars: there was great profit to be made out of certain necessities of war. For example, there were 10 million soldiers fighting that would need uniforms: Birling’s “works”, being a clothing company, could experience a huge profit because of this. In this case, this statement could be both reflective of Mr Birling’s stupidity, and an attack on the injustice of capitalism

Question 23

what is a cartel?

Answer 23

an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.

Question 24

give one of Birling’s justifications for sacking Eva, and explain why it isn’t fair

Answer 24

he says “we were paying the usual rates and if they didn’t like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else”, despite the fact that he almost certainly knows full well that this was impossible. The major business of the time would have been very effectively operating a cartel in order to prevent employees from leaving their business in search of higher wages: if all the employers in the area pay their employees the same dismal wage, then their employees will have no incentive to leave their business and will be forced to live on whatever wage they are paid.

Question 25

give 2 things that link the Inspector to the supernatural:

Answer 25

1. his name “Goole” could be a play on the word “ghoul”, meaning ‘ghost’
2. his appearance directly after Mr Birling says “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” - could be interpreted as being supernatural contact - as though he’d been listening from another dimension and appears only to prove this belief wrong

Question 26

give a reason why the Inspector could have left the characters when he did

Answer 26

to give the characters the opportunity and free will to decide whether they should take responsibility for Eva’s death or not. As soon as they decide not to take responsibility, the phone call announcing the arrival of a second inspector arrives. Could this second “police inspector” be like the final reckoning, come to decide whether they have atoned for their sins and make a final judgement? The ambiguous end to the play leaves the audience with many questions such as this in their mind, encouraging them to leave the theatre closely considering the messages and morals of the play.

Question 27

draw some parallels between the arrival/announcement of the arrival of the two police inspectors, and explain the significance that this might have

Answer 27

both of the inspectors are announced directly after Mr. Birling makes a statement that Priestley believes to be incorrect: in the first instance that “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”, and in the second he is mocking the way that Sheila and Eric have learnt from the Inspector and accepted responsibility, calling them the “famous younger generation who know it all”. Both times, Mr. Birling is cut of by the “ring” of a doorbell or telephone. The similarity of these two events combined with the ambiguity and abruptness of the ending could suggest a degree of continuity: the Inspector will continue to interrupt Mr. Birling forever until he finally understands what the Inspector is trying to tell him. This is reminiscent of the way that Priestley wants the audience to go away and ceaselessly question the injustice of society until a change is made.

Question 28

how could Eva’s death symbolise the world wars?

Answer 28

Phone call rings to announce arrival of second inspector after family decide not to take on board Inspector’s message (directly after Sheila says “it’s too soon” to take back Gerald’s engagement ring, suggesting that she will at some point get engaged to him again, and therefore that, with time, the Inspector’s message will fade and she will become the same girl she was before) - could be interpreted as though this second phone call only arrived because the family refused to take responsibility.
In that case, it could be argued that Priestley had deliberately used Eva’s death to symbolise the two world wars - first world war = first death. The second world war only happened because society failed to learn its lesson after the first world war, and this could be mirrored by Eva’s death - the second death only happened because the Birling family failed to take responsibility.

Question 29

what form is An Inspector Calls written in?

Answer 29

morality play/didactic play

Question 30

describe Priestley’s attitude to Edwardian society

Answer 30

he vehemently opposes the hierarchical capitalist structures of Edwardian society, and the laissez-faire economics of the time.

Question 31

give a word that is similar to “represents”, but with a slightly stronger meaning.

Answer 31

embodies

Question 32

what does Mr Birling embody?

Answer 32

1912 society (in his rejection of social responsibility), and capitalism

Question 33

give a word to describe Mr Birling’s speech, and its meaning

Answer 33

bombastic: high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated.

Question 34

what is the word for working-class people regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism)?

Answer 34

the proletariat

Question 35

give a ‘stark contrast’ between 1912 and 1945 society

Answer 35

trade unions: by 1946, much of the audience would probably have agreed with the protection of the proletariat, and may even have been part of the Trade Union Congress as membership was rising at this time

Question 36

what are the audience’s first impressions of Sheila? How are they solidified?

Answer 36

If the Birling family is a microcosm of Edwardian society, Sheila is a perfect example of the younger generation. As a member of the bourgeoise she seems to be nothing other than an ignorant girl born into privilege and blind to social responsibility. This presentation of Sheila is solidified when she uses all of her social capital to have Eva fired from Milwards, causing a vulnerable, young, working-class girl to lose the only thing keeping her afloat.

Question 37

how does Eva represent the working class?

Answer 37

as the Inspector says, right at the end of the play, “there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths”, implying that Eva Smith is representative of every single one of them. Eva is not even in the play yet there would be no story without her, which is much like the treatment of her class in society. The working class was perpetually ignored and taken advantage of by upper-middle class Edwardians such as the Birlings, yet they were the backbone of society and imperative to its continuation. Priestley hopes to get this message across to the audience, in an effort to present social responsibility as the least people can do for the proletariat

Question 38

describe Priestley

Answer 38

as a founding member of the labour party, Priestley was a passionate social reformer and advocate of the welfare state

Question 39

what is the purpose of social responsibility in An Inspector Calls?

Answer 39

the sustained theme of social responsibility which is conveyed throughout An Inspector Calls emphasises the play’s purpose. It clearly sets out the failings of capitalism in both 1912 and 1946 society in the hope that the audience will be galvanised to join Priestley’s movement as a catalyst for change.

Question 40

what is the message of An Inspector Calls

Answer 40

An Inspector Calls is a morality play disguised as a detective thriller, in which the author, J.B. Priestley, denounces the hypocrisy and callousness of capitalism and argues that a just society can only be achieved if all individuals feel a sense of social responsibility.

Question 41

how does An Inspector Calls subvert the idea of a typical detective story? why does it do this?

Answer 41

A traditional detective story involves the narrowing down of suspects from several to one, whereas An Inspector Calls inverts this process as, one by one, nearly all the characters in the play are found to be guilty. In this way, Priestley makes his larger point that society is guilty of neglecting and abusing its most vulnerable members. A just society, he states through his mysterious Inspector, is one that respects and exercises social responsibility.

Question 42

what is social responsibility?

Answer 42

the idea that a society’s poorer members should be helped by those who have more than them. Priestley was a socialist, and his political beliefs are woven through his work.

Question 43

what is socialism?

Answer 43

There are many different types and degrees of socialism, but a general definition is that an ideal socialist society is one that is egalitarian - in other words, its citizens have equal rights and the same opportunities are available to everybody; resources are shared out fairly, and the means of production (the facilities and resources for producing goods) are communally owned

Question 44

how is the timing of the Inspector’s arrival significant?

Answer 44

the Inspector’s arrival cuts Arthur Birling off mid-sentence, enacting in miniature the clash between the two ideological positions that unfolds throughout the rest of the play

Question 45

give quotes from the stage directions that describes the Birling’s house

Answer 45

• “a fairly large suburban house belonging to a fairly prosperous manufacturer”
• Priestley’s description of the set at the beginning of the play script stresses the solidity of the Birlings’ dining room: ‘it is a solidly built room, with good solid furniture of the period”
• on the walls are “imposing but tasteless pictures and engravings”
• the “general effect is substantial and comfortable and old-fashioned but not cosy and homelike” - suggests that although the Birlings have wealth and social standing, they are not loving to one another or compassionate to others.

Question 46

what does the fact that the play is set in a single room suggest?

Answer 46

their self-absorption, and disconnectedness from the wider world

Question 47

give a quote that shows that Arthur Birling is completely focussed on profit, even when discussing the marriage of his daughter

Answer 47

“and now you’ve brought us together…Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together - for lower costs and higher prices”

Question 48

explain a quote that uses dramatic irony to discredit Mr. Birling, and the capitalist society that he embodies

Answer 48

He suggests that in time, “let’s say, in the forties”, “all these Capital versus Labour agitations and all these silly little war scares” will be long forgotten. In fact, as audiences in 1945 would have been keenly aware, the period between 1912 and 1945 saw a huge number of strikes, including the monumental General Strike of 1926, and not one but two global conflicts, the second of which had only recently ended. Dramatic irony is rarely a subtle technique, bit Priestley’s use of it is exceptionally blunt. This could be considered clumsy, but it underlines the fact that An Inspector Calls is a play with a point to make.

Question 49

explain a quote showing the way that the Inspector is impervious to Arthur Birling’s threats about his close relationship with the chief constable

Answer 49

“I don’t play golf”, the Inspector tells Birling. “I didn’t suppose you did”, the industrialist replies: a brief exchange that makes a clear point about class, and the battle between egalitarianism and privilege

Question 50

describe the Inspector

Answer 50

in the play’s penultimate twist, the Inspector is revealed not to be a police inspector at all, yet, as Eric states, “he was our Police Inspector all right”. Details about him are scant, but he seems less like a person and more like a moral force, one which mercilessly pursues the wrongs committed by the Birlings and Gerald, demanding that they face up to the consequences of their actions. In a way, who he is is unimportant: his message is all that matters.

Question 51

how does the Inspector’s message culminate?

Answer 51

in a speech that is a direct expression of Priestley’s own view of how a just society should operate, and is the exact antithesis of the speech Arthur Birling made in Act 1: “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. We don’t live alone. Good night”

Question 52

explain the confusion around “Old Joe Meggarty”

Answer 52

when Gerald first met Eva, as he describes it, she was trapped in a corner by “Old Joe Meggarty, half-drunk and goggle-eyed”. Sibyl Birling, scandalised, asks ‘surely you don’t mean Alderman Meggarty?”. An unsurprised Sheila tells her mother “horrible old Meggarty” has a reputation for roping young women: the younger characters are either more knowledgeable or frank about the dark secrets of the supposedly respectable city of Brumley, whereas the older Birlings live in a dream world of respectability, or hypocritically turn a blind eye to any disreputably behaviour by supposedly respectable people.

Question 53

What happens after the Inspector leaves and they find out that he is not a real policeman?

Answer 53

the play begins with the characters’ corrupt, unpleasant natures safely hidden away (a respectable group in a respectable home, enjoying that most respectable event, an engagement party); it ends with naked displays of hypocrisy. When it is confirmed that Goole is not really a policeman, Arthur, Sibyl and Gerald immediately regain an unjustified sense of outrage. “Then look at the way he talked to me”, Arthur Birling complains. “He must have known I was an ex-Lord Mayor and a magistrate and so forth”. Once it is confirmed that there is no suicide lying on a mortuary slab, they forget the immoral, uncharitable behaviour that they have recently admitted too and begin talking about getting away with things.
Only Sheila and Eric recognise and resist this hypocritical behaviour. “I suppose we’re all nice people now!” Sheila remarks sarcastically. Earlier she broke off her engagement to Gerald, telling him “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here”. Likewise, Eric angrily accuses his father of “beginning to pretend now that nothing’s really happened at all”.

Question 54

is Eva Smith a real person? Does it matter?

Answer 54

The play leaves open the question of whether Eva Smith is a real woman (who sometimes uses different names, including Daisy Renton), or multiple people the Inspector pretends are one. This is deliberate on Priestley’s part: the element of doubt could have been introduced in order to give the audience a vague impression of Eva as both a single entity, and multiple people combined into one, allowing them to see her both as a victim, and as a construct to represent the “millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths” that are being similarly abused by society. However, this topic is still very much up for debate, and in terms of Priestley’s message it is beside the point: because his socialist principles demand that everyone should be treated the same, in his opinion abusing one working-class woman is equivalent to abusing all working-class women. Eva Smith is therefore, not an individual victim, but a universal one.

Question 55

Why might Priestley have included the final twist?

Answer 55

• It seems a bizarre coincidence with which to end the play, but if we consider An Inspector Calls as a moral fable, and not as naturalistic theatre, it begins to seem much more like a logical, even inevitable, conclusion. The characters have been confronted with the error of their ways; some have repented, some have not. Now this is the time for judgement, and for the watching audience to ask themselves, according to Priestley’s design, are any of these people like me?
• Priestley could have been employing part of Brecht’s alienation effect, often used in epic theatre, in order to distance the audience from the story, encouraging critical thought. The reminder that the story isn’t real causes the audience to be more likely to come away considering the messages and morals of the play, as opposed to the characters and storyline.

Question 56

which of the 7 sins does Mrs Birling represent?

Answer 56

wrath and pride

Question 57

what does Mrs Birling represent?

Answer 57

1. capitalism
2. ignorance (towards lower classes)
3. selfishness

Question 58

how is Mrs Birling represented in the stage directions?

Answer 58

• “cold” - adjective symbolises and foreshadows her behaviour towards the lower classes, more specifically towards Eva - coupled with her age being “fifty” we have a notion that the older generation are arguably narrow minded and are reluctant to change
• “husband’s social superior” - her position within society is made clear and outlines the pride she will later display when refusing Eva Smith charity.

Question 59

key quotations for Mrs Birling:

Answer 59

• “I don’t suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class…”
• “a girl of that sort”
• “i used my influence to have it refused”

Question 60

“I don’t suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class…”

Answer 60

• dehumanisation of Eva Smith and all girls of the lower classes
• “Girls seems to be a huge generalisation, and could have the implication that all poor, or less fortunate girls will try to commit suicide
• lack of understanding
• apathy displayed - linking back to “cold”

Question 61

“a girl of that sort”

Answer 61

• use of the determiner “that” reiterates disdain and a huge disregard for the “girls”, foreshadowing the way she will treat Eva at her charity.
• also a sense of detachment
• feels morally superior - is Priestley saying that capitalism promotes/encourages moral corruption?

Question 62

“I used my influence to have it refused”

Answer 62

• shows Mrs Birling abuses her position
• shows she is freely admitting what she’s done, but still not taking responsibility (“perfectly justified”) - Priestley highlighting difference to audience

Question 63

when does Mrs Birling show remorse? What does this say about her character?

Answer 63

Mrs. Birling only shows a hint of remorse when she discovers that Eric is the father (stage directions: “very distressed now”) - shows she is selfish - only cares when it directly affects her family. However, her remorse is short-lived and she quickly returns to her “cold” nature (“triumphantly” comes not long after) - as part of the morality play she shows a lack of conscience - is this Priestley’s message about capitalists?