An Inspector Calls - Quotes

Question 1

BIRLING - Act 1

But take my word for it, you youngsters - and I’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience - that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own

We hear the sharp ring of a front door bell.

Answer 1

Birling is taking an individualist, capitalist point of view about personal responsibility, and his lines here provide the general attitude of his speeches since the play began. According to him, experience proves that his point of view is correct, in contrast to the possibly more idealistic “youngsters.” Yet, the bell marks the moment at which the Inspector arrives, and it is no accident that the socialist-leaning Inspector arrives at precisely this moment.

Question 2

SHEILA - Act 1

[laughs rather hysterically]

Why - you fool - he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see. She looks at him almost in triumph.

Answer 2

Sheila, shortly before the end of Act One, crucially understands the importance of the Inspector and the fact that he has more information than he is revealing. She is the first person in the play to really begin to understand the Inspector which, in turn, leads her to see her relationship with Gerald in a more realistic, more sceptical way.

Question 3

INSPECTOR - Act 1

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.

Answer 3

This is an unusually personal moment from the Inspector, who gives us one of the first insights into Eva Smith’s feelings and personality. He claims, of course, that he has found a diary in Eva Smith’s room, though many interpretations have argued that the Inspector in fact has a more personal connection to Eva Smith: perhaps he even is her ghost, or a ghoulish embodiment of her dead child? Priestley never tells us, but there is certainly opportunity for the actor in this part to suggest a more personal connection. Note, too, the interest in time on Eva’s part, keeping a diary and making a point of remembering the past nostalgically.

Question 4

BIRLING - Act 2

You’ll apologize at once … I’m a public man -

INSPECTOR [massively]

Public men, Mr. Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.

Answer 4

Here the Inspector, who by this middle act of the play is gaining in power and control over the situation, “massively” silences Birling with a putdown. It is not the first or last time that Birling is cut off mid-thought. It is also important because Priestley points an extra finger of blame at Birling not just for his actions, but for his failure to see that his public position entails a duty of responsibility to other people. Interestingly, this attitude draws on the traditional notion of the upper classes taking responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes, but in the newer, more democratic life of Britain, the “public men” are not necessarily of higher social class even if they have more public privileges; at any rate, their position of power comes with responsibility.

Question 5

INSPECTOR - Act 3

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.

Answer 5

The Inspector’s final lines, from a longer speech he makes shortly before his exit, are a blistering delivery of Priestley’s socialist message. Moreover, his promise of “fire and blood and anguish” also looks forward to the First and Second World Wars, a resonance, which, to Priestley’s 1946 audience, must have been quite chilling

Question 6

BIRLING - Act 3

… we’ve been had … it makes all the difference.

GERALD

Of course!

SHEILA [bitterly]

I suppose we’re all nice people now.

Answer 6

These lines illustrate the mood of this last part of the play, as well as the split between the Birlings and their children. Sheila and Eric realize the importance of the Inspector’s lesson, notably that they need to become more socially responsible whether or not the particular scenario was a valid example. In contrast, their parents absolutely fail to learn such a lesson, arguing that the failure of the example invalidates the Inspector’s argument. Why still feel guilty and responsible? It also is significant that Gerald Croft takes Birling’s side (uncritically) rather than Sheila’s.