inspector quote Flashcards
(8 cards)
inspector Goole
“sharp” ring of the door bell +
“cutting in” when the Birlings speak
“I don’t play golf”
“chain of events”
“millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths”
People who don’t learn their “lesson” will be taught it in “fire and blood and anguish”
Mrs Birling
Tells Mr Birling what he “ought to” and is “supposed to” do
Calls Eric a “silly boy” and Sheila a “hysterical child”
Calls Eva Smith a “girl of that class / that sort”
Inspector Goole says Mrs Birling metaphorically “slammed the door” in Eva’s face
Calls the inspection and Eva’s death “silly” and “nonsense”
Mr Birling
Thinks the Titanic is “unsinkable absolutely unsinkable”
“a man has to look after himself and his own”
Interrupted by a “sharp ring of the door bell”
Calls Sheila and Eric “child”
Calls the Inspection a “joke”
Sheila Birling
Described in the stage directions as “very pleased with life”
Calls her mother “mummy”
“we must not build a wall”
Both Sheila and Eric begin to speak sharply” and “cut in” to their parents
At the end of the play, both Sheila and Eric criticise their parents for “pretend[ing]” nothing has happened.
“naïve”
Eric Birling
In the stage directions, described as “half shy, half assertive”
Called “squiffy” by Sheila
Infantilised by his parents, who call him a “silly boy”
Says he was in a state where a chap “easily turns nasty”
After he has been told about the consequences of his actions, Eric realises that “we all helped to kill her”
Gerald Croft
In the stage directions, described an “easy, well-bred” man
Says to the Inspector “we’re respectable citizens, not criminals”
Is mocked by Sheila for his foolish and ignorant hubris when she calls him a “fairy Prince”
Thinks the inspection was a “bluff” and a “hoax”
At the end, says “everything’s all right now Sheila… what about this ring?”
An Inspector Calls, JB Priestley
1)written in 1945 post-war
2)set in 1912 Edwardian era
3)inspired by Marx, who wanted the “forcible overthrow” of the bourgeoisie
4)wanted to avoid social and political regression
5)
wanted to destabilise the status quo
KEY TERMS
bourgeoisie / proletariat
individualism / collectivism
capitalism / socialism
