About the characters

GCSE English

An Inspector Calls – J.B Priestley

List Of Characters

Mr Arthur Birling

Mrs Sybil Birling

Sheila Birling

Eric Birling

Gerald Croft

Inspector Goole

Edna (Family maid)

Daisy Renton (A.K.A Eva Smith)

About the characters

Mr Arthur Birling:

prosperous factory owner, not the social equal of his wife. He is 'a self made man'
First priority is to make money 'It's my duty to keep labour cost down'
Welcomes Croft into his family as he represents a business link between his firm and that of Gerald Croft's father (a rival)
Has an honest approach to life, he tells the Inspector that he wouldn't listen to Eva Smith's demand for a wage rise 'I refused, of course' and is surprised why anyone should question why.
Strongly believes that 'a man has to make his own way'. He does not consider the harm he may cause to other people because of his attitude. He is a 'hard headed business man '
He is a magistrate and former mayor who is looking forward to receiving a knighthood
He is very aware that Gerald's mother is rather against her son's marriage because she believes him to be marrying beneath him socially
He is optimistic about the future, yet we know that what he predicts will not become true (NB dramatic irony)
He refuses to accept any responsibility for Eva 's death. He becomes increasing annoyed by the Inspector's questioning and Eric's unsympathetic attitude
He tries to threaten the Inspector by talking about his friendship with the Chief Constable
The most disturbing part of the play for Birling is the scene in which he learns that his own son is shown to be a thief, a drunkard and is responsible for fathering a child. When he learns of all this he exclaims 'You damned fool - why didn't you come to me when you found yourself in this mess?'
Eric's reply indicates that Mr. Birling was never close to his son 'Because you're not the kind of chap a man could turn to when he's in trouble'. Such a response indicates that things aren't going to improve much after the play ends
He represents a very unattractive sort of person. At the end of the play he grudgingly wishes things were better but even here he still thinks in terms of money 'Look, Inspector - I'd give thousands'
He continues to ignore the shameful things that his family has done. When it appears that the Inspector might be a hoaxer he is happy to believe that everything is as it was a few hours ago. He copies the Inspector and laughs when he remembers the faces of Eric and Sheila and accuses them of being 'the famous younger generation who know it all'. This is an example of pride coming before a fall, a moment later of course he is panicking as the phone rings again
Mr. Birling represents Priestley's hatred of businessmen who are only interested in making money. He will never alter his ways and it is left to the younger generation to learn from their mistakes

Mrs. Sybil Birling

Wants to stick to the rules, concerned about manners (tells what the others shall do or not). She is only interested in the family-reputation.

She’s very conservative, old-fashioned, selfish, cold-hearted, snobbish& egoistic.

Sheila Birling

At the start of the play she is 'very pleased with life'. She is young, attractive and has just become engaged
Her happiness is soon to be destroyed as is her faith in her family
Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She ...

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Mrs. Sybil Birling

Wants to stick to the rules, concerned about manners (tells what the others shall do or not). She is only interested in the family-reputation.

She’s very conservative, old-fashioned, selfish, cold-hearted, snobbish& egoistic.

Sheila Birling

At the start of the play she is 'very pleased with life'. She is young, attractive and has just become engaged
Her happiness is soon to be destroyed as is her faith in her family
Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She is genuinely upset when she hears of Eva's death and learns from her own behaviour
She is very distressed by the girl's suicide and thinks that her father's behaviour was unacceptable. She readily agrees that she behaved very badly and insists that she never meant the girl any harm.
The Inspector says that she is only partly responsible and later on, when he is about to question Gerald, he encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say so that she doesn't feel entirely responsible
Not only is she prepared to admit her faults, she also appears keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, 'I'll never, never do it again'
She is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him
She is mature about the breaking up of her engagement and remains calm. She won't be rushed into accepting the ring back once the Inspector has left
She is unable to accept her parent’s attitude and is both amazed and concerned that they haven't learned anything from the episode. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner
She learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself (the idea of the community) and is sensitive. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents

Eric Birling

Start: makes jokes, behaves silly, lives an easy-going live, and doesn’t care about anything. He behaves half shy and half assertive (amassed).

End: starts thinking, accepts his guilt, might stop drinking that much.

Gerald Croft

Is good-looking, rich& clever: man about town! He’s engaged to Sheila and also son of an industrial.

He doesn’t change lot during the story; stays a capitalist (just interested in money& profit). He seems to agree completely with Mr. Birling, quite the same attitude of live.

Inspector Goole

(Goole= Geist; spirit in death) isn’t a real inspector; more something like god because he makes them all fell guilty. His manners are quite extraordinary, rude& assertive. One of the main reasons to visit the Birling family is to make them realise, what responsibilities they have& that their behaviour has an influence on others (opposite to Mr. Birling’s moral).

Edna (Family maid)

No relevant Information

Daisy Renton (A.K.A Eva Smith)

Links to Daisy/Eva

Mr. Arthur Birling:

Employed her at his company. Eva Smith was employed and was beginning to demand a pay rise and was also encouraging others to do so. Mr. Birling had her fired

Mrs. Sybil Birling:

Eva Smith came to see her at the Brumley Women’s Society. She told Mrs. Bring that she was pregnant and needed money to survive. When Mrs. Birling asked her what her name was, she replied, Mrs. Birling, The real Mrs. Birling became angry and threw her out, without offering help or money.

Sheila Birling:

Eva Smith got another job at 'Milwards' a reputable clothing shop. One day Sheila Birling was shopping there and was trying something on, everyone else had told her it would not suite her but she tried it on anyway. When she tried it on it looked awful, and so she thought she saw Eva laughing at her. Then Eva tried it on and looked stunning. Sheila reported her to the manager and had her sacked.

Eric Birling:

Dated Eva and got her pregnant.

Gerald Croft:

Dated Eva

Inspector Goole:

Not Known.

Edna (Family maid):

None known.

Points to Include

References to –

1. The Titanic

2. The emergence of Russia as a world power

3. The outbreak of World War One

4. The writings of H G Wells

Act One

The family& Gerald are celebrating Gerald& Sheila’s engagement in the dining room. Sheila& Eric are arguing in a not really serious way, while Gerald& Mr. Birling are talking about business, politic (titanic), Mr. Birling’s way into the next honour list by getting an knighthood and about Lady Croft’s (Gerald’s mother) attitude of social classes (it looks like she isn’t too happy about the fact, that her son is engaged to a girl of a lower class). Just before the ring bells& the inspector arrives, Mr. Birling shows his outlook on life, what he had learnt in the good hard school of experience to Gerald& Eric (important sentence for the rest of the story!): “...a man has to make his own way, has to look after himself and his family.” The inspector enters and tells about the suicide. He shows a photograph to Mr.B. and starts questioning him. It turns out that Eva Smith had been one of Mr.B. employees and later on was discharged because she asked for more money, had been refused& went on a strike (as one of the ringleaders).

Sheila enters into the dining room and gets the next to be questioned. Her fault: she had been jealous of Eva because she looked better in a specific dress. She went to the manager and told him that this girl had been very impertinent so, indirectly she made Eva lost her job.

The inspector goes on& tells that Eva Smith had changed her name into Daisy Renton. Now Gerald’s faults get cleared up. He has had an affair with her the previous summer.

Important questions& points about this act

Why is Mr.B happy about Sheila’s engagement to Gerald?
Because Gerald’s father had always been his rival.
Birlings outlook of live -> the author thinks B. is wrong and will prove him wrong later in the play.
Why might the inspector investigate a suicide?
Because there seems to be a lot of reasons, which have driven the victim into suicide. He might think there’s a crime behind and also because he wants to made the B.family realise that they’re responsible for others. A further aspect is the author intention to show, that the whole story isn’t real.
Eric’s attitude to the strike? He would have given the employees the money; to him strikes are something good.
Relationship Sheila - Eric: typically brother-sister relationship, behave rude& unfriendly to each other but in principle like each other very much.
What have Sheila and the inspector in common?
Both of them want to know the truth, both think in a social way and also that Eva’s death had been unnecessary.
Relationship Sheila- Gerald: Sheila loves him; to her he’s a ‘good catch’. On the other hand Gerald; sees mostly the business aspect of the connection-> no deep feelings!
Why did Eva Smith change her name into Daisy Renton?
She might had to hide something or might has wanted to start a new, better live

Act Two

Mrs Birling came along and was told that Eric often drinks. Gerald talks about his relationship towards Daisy Renton (alias Eva Smith). After that, he went out for a walk…and the inspector turns towards Mrs B., her crime: she failed her “job” as a member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation by not helping deserving cases. She refused Eva’s ask for help (she was pregnant and had no money), because she don’t like her.

Important questions& points

The state of the engagement after Gerald confessed his affair: Sheila solved the engagement, she broke up, but actually she isn’t very angry anymore but she needs some time to think.
The inspector’s behaviour, Sheila stares at him ‘wonderingly and dubiously: because he seems to know all answers in advance.

Act Three

Eric comes back and became the next victim of Inspector Goole: he is more or less forced to confess his relationship towards Eva. He met her first in the Palace bar (as Gerald did) and stood her a few drinks, later on he was quite drunk and they went to her lodgings. After a few more dates, Eva was going to have a baby. She didn’t want Eric to marry, so he gave her enough money to keep her going, but finally she refuses even this (because she had found out that it has been stolen). The problem about the money (about fifty pounds): Eric got it from his father’s office, without asking in advance! The inspector left- the family is arguing (parents- children) and discussing until Gerald returns and exposes the inspector as not real. And after a call to the local Infirmary (no girl has been brought in this afternoon who had committed suicide by drinking disinfectant) it’s seems clear that the whole thing had been a bluff. The family is relieved… but right then the phone rings: it’s the police, a girl had committed suicide& an inspector is on the way to ask some questions…

Important questions and points

Mood in the dining room: feeling of guilt, wish to learn something.
The growing feeling effect of the evening’s events on the Birling family as a whole: they start to feel involved, start arguing amongst themselves, and feel bitter. They make each other responsible for what has happened.
For Sheila it doesn’t matter whether the inspector is real or not because what’s important to her is that she now knows the truth. But to her parents it’s seems to make a big difference because the confession to a real policeman would have meant a public scandal.
Sheila& Eric: they learnt form their mistakes, they become more mature and ‘real grown-ups’.
Mr. & Mrs. Birling as well as Gerald gets on the point of accepting some responsibility not for very long, all in one they haven’t learn anything! They want to forget everything, pretend nothing had happened. They become self-confident again and that’s why the second phone call takes place: the author wants to prove them wrong!
The 2nd call: shows the audience clearly the moral of the play, should make think about the play in general.

Short Summary

This story takes place in 1912, right before the 1st World War in Brumley, an industrial city in the North Midlands (fictive town-> associations to other real industrial towns, like e.g. Bradford, Birmingham or Burnley). The B. family is celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft, when inspector Goole arrives and tells about a girl’s (Eva Smith) suicide. After lots of questions, it turns out that they are all, more or less responsible for this tragically death.

After the inspector left they find out that he wasn’t a real inspector and that no girl died on the way to the Infirmary, after swallowing some disinfectant!

General Things

Who is the inspector? No real person of interest, more something like a personified bad conscience of guilt and internal voice.
Moral of the play: refute Mr.Birling’s confession of faith / philosophy of live: ‘…community and all that nonsense....’, ‘...A man has to mind his own business &look after himself and his own....’ by his moral demand for: ‘...One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smith still left with us…We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.

Significant Quotes