At the time he mentions, there is World War 1 going on. Priestly knew this, and that makes it ironic.
Mr Birling is a “hard headed businessman” who is trying to go up in the world. You can tell this, as he says, “this is the same port as what your father has” to Gerald Croft. He is trying to go up in the world, because he tries to impress Gerald.
Mrs Birling is her husbands’ social superior, which means that she was born into a high class. You can tell this as she says, “You’re not supposed to say such things”. Mr Birling worked to get to the higher class, and earn his money.
Sheila is a “young and attractive girl”. You can’t tell much about her at this stage in the play. You can tell from her general attitude that she is happy with life and is excited about her engagement to the very rich and hansom Gerald Croft.
Eric you can tell is used to drinking as after Mr Birling has made a short speech, then he laughs and doesn’t know why. Sheila says that he is "squiffy". He is also “half shy and half assertive”, which means that at that point in the play he is not completely drunk.
Gerald Croft is “too manly to be a dandy” He was missing for a summer so that is a bit suspicious, and can also be used to question how well the characters in the play really know each other.
The main theme of “An Inspector Calls” is of responsibility. The speech that makes this most prominent is Mr Birlings speech in which he says to Eric and Gerald Croft about “...make his own way...” Mr Birling also makes a point of saying that “...a man has to make his own way- has to look after himself- and his family, of course...” This makes you think that he is saying that men have to ignore the outside world and just concentrate on internal, family matters. There is another example of this where Mr Birling says, “We employees are at last coming together to see that our interests- and the interests of Capital- are protected”. This also shows that the family, and Mr Birling in particular, only seems to care about the matters of profit and their own business, rather that their family and the outside world.
At this point the doorbell rings. When the inspector comes in, the mood colour goes from a soft pink to a harsh yellow. This is to represent the outside world crashing in on the family. You can also sense a mood change. When he first comes in, he starts by shocking them by telling them that “...a young girl has just died after drinking strong disinfectant”. He then goes on to intrude on the individuals’ worlds by tearing down the intricate web of secrets each hold.
And so we discover that each of the characters had a hand in Eva Smith's suicide. Mr Birling started everything off by sacking her from her job at his factory. Then, after she got a job at Milwards, an "rich persons" clothing store, Sheila got her sacked from that job as she was jealous of her. At this point in her life, Eva did what a lot of young girls in her position would do; she turned to prostitution. By this time, she had changed her name to “Daisy Renton” That is where Gerald met her. Gerald took her home and she became his mistress. He made her happy for a time but then he had to leave her. Eric then came along and made her pregnant. He gave her stolen money from his father’s office. Eva found this out and she refused his money. She then went to Mrs Birling's “Brumley Woman's Charity Organisation” for help and someone to listen to her. Mrs Birling used her prominent position and made sure that her plea for help was refused, as she was “incompetent” and “used” the Birlings family name.
We find out later in the play that she only did this to protect Eric, and the news of his involvement in the play. Mrs Birling didn’t know this and she thought that Eva was using her name to spite her.
Then Priestly goes on to look at how each character responds to their guilt.
Sheila is the most upset as when The Inspector shows her the photo and Sheila then runs out of the room in tears. Most of what she is feeling is written in the parts that are in italic. One part that we know that she was upset though is where is says, "distressed " just before she speaks.
Eric is also distressed. I think this is mainly because the child Eva was pregnant with was his, and then she went and committed suicide. The part that shows that he is upset is where he walks back into the room and The Inspector says, “He needs a drink now, just to see him through”. The Inspector knows that Eric is an alcoholic but still says that he needs it.
Gerald is startled at the beginning, as when the name Daisy Renton is mentioned, he starts and gives himself away immediately. As soon as he realises that there is no need to feel guilty about it, as the inspector wasn’t real, he goes on the side of the parents. This is noticeable, as he doesn’t seem to care if it was the same person or not. He believes, like the parents, that he had no involvement with the death of Eva Smith.
Mr Birling seems to think that it was a terrible shame that he died but he is just ignoring what has happened. He is not taking any responsibility for his actions at all.
Mrs Birling is the least affected by the whole business. She seems to think that she has “done my job...not my responsibility...responsibility of the father of the father of the child”. Even at the end of the play, she doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of it. The only that seems to make an impact on her is just after she says, “The father should be made to announce his responsibility”. She doesn’t seem to realise that it is Eric, even when Sheila does, and tries to get Mrs Birling to stop making a fuss about the punishment of an illegitimate child. I think that the only thing Mrs Birling was upset about is the part about a possible public scandal.
The Birlings have power and an important status in society. Eva didn’t. You can tell this as Mrs Birling refers to her as “girls of that class” as if the girls of the “working class” are not people, just things. The Inspector implies that, at the end, people in power do have a responsibility to care for others, not just their own class.
The reason I get this impression is that, just before The Inspector leaves, he says that, “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 in fire and blood and anguish”.
Eva is the only character with moral. We can tell this from the brief insight into her life that we get from the other characters. When she meets Gerald, Eva doesn’t tell him that it was his fiancée who got her fired from her best job at Milwards. She also did not make a fuss when he left her. She also could have also criticised the Birlings in front of Gerald. Eva had other times in the play to pay back the Birlings for what they did to her. For example, when Eva went to the committee for help and she could have gone to the house and made a big fuss.
There are a lot of relationship problems between the characters that we can see early on in the play. Mrs Birling doesn’t know her children i.e.: she did not know that Eric was a drunk. She also keeps on referring to both Sheila and Eric as “only children”.
There was also a problem with Sheila and Gerald’s relationship as Sheila says “...except for last summer when you hardly came near me”. This looks a bit suspicious as they are supposed to be engaged.
The only two to seem like they had a good relationship are Eric and Sheila. This is because, at the end of this play, they are the only two who really regret what they have done. Gerald goes completely to the side of the parents.
The play was set in the time of change. We have learnt that this play is a moral play. We know this is true as, after the Inspector says “We do seem to make a better impression on the younger ones”, only Sheila and Eric seem to realise that “There millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still among us”. They are the only ones of all five to also realise that the “Eva and John Smiths” aren’t to be dismissed as “people of that class”. They, at the end of the play, are left alone as if they are “just being hysterical”.
In fact, even Gerald goes completely to the side of the parents. It is hard to know really what Gerald is like, as he keeps changing his character.
The Inspectors speech was totally different to Mr Birlings because he said that “...men will learn...in fire and blood and anguish”. This would be the 2nd World War. The play that we saw at the Theatre Royal showed that the Inspector was from 1942-1945. We know this as at the Inspectors entrance, he is wearing the clothes of the time. Mr Birling’s speech basically said that a man should only look after his family and not worry about the world outside. He doesn’t know how wrong he was at the start of the play.
Mr Birling does seem to take a very small part in actually accepting the news of each members involvement, but after they find out that it wasn’t a real police inspector, then he seemed to think that the family could go back on as before, but only Sheila and Eric can accept the consequences of what they have done.
This play does try and make you think. Was the photo that the Inspector showed each of them the same or different? I think that Priestly made his Inspector seem to have the insight of the future, and so it seems that he is warning the family that society should care for each other, rather than exploit each other, as the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer from the poor' taxes.
