An inspector calls - summary

Authors Avatar

GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSEWORK

AN INSPECTOR CALLS

An inspector calls is a play about a very mysterious inspector who is investigating the suicide of a young woman, Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton. This mysterious inspector, Inspector Goole, while investigating, puts pressure on the Birling family, a middle classed family, to reveal the truth about this young woman. It turns out that every member of the Birling family has a secret to connect them to this woman’s death.

This play, ‘An Inspector Calls,’ was written in 1945, during World War Two. J.B.Priestley, who is the author of this play, set this play deliberately in 1912. This was just before the sinking of the Titanic and World War One. He set this play in 1912, as the audience would have had an insight of the background.

The main message of this play is of social responsibility. Many times during the play characters from the Birling family acted in such a manner that it hurt other people. In this case it ended up with the killing of a person whose live was a struggle. This play also portrays that the control you have over your own behaviour can get out of hand and could end up injuring or even killing an individual.

The character I believe who changes most in the play is Shelia Birling. She is a character that I will be analyzing as she changes from a selfish spoilt child to a person who learns from her mistakes. I also will be looking at how J.B.Priestley uses different dramatic techniques to create his character’s personalities and building up his play.

Sheila Birling, the daughter of Mr and Mrs. Birling, is the character who converts in the play. She is one of the characters who feels as though she has done wrong and is ready to change her ways and change her attitude. It is her parents and her fiancé to be, Gerald Croft, who force Sheila to think that she has done nothing wrong but she is not ready to think that. She says, “Between us we drove that girl to commit suicide.” This shows that she is devastated for what her family and she have done to make Eva’s/ Daisy’s life a misery.

Sheila from the beginning of the play was a very posh and a very complacent person. It is as though she has everything in life as she is from a middle-class family. You can see this behaviour as she is just about to put the engagement ring on her finger. She says, “ Careful! I’ll never let it go out of my sight for an instant.” Here you can see Sheila’s complacency, as she is pleased with life.

After the arrival of the inspector we finally get to see the real Sheila Birling. While the inspector is questioning Mr. Birling, Shelia finds out that Eva was sacked from her father’s factory, as she was one of the ringleaders to cause a strike to demand more money. Sheila says, “ But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people.” Here we see Sheila’s caring and compassionate side. At this point we find Sheila has some good qualities as well as some bad ones.

Join now!

Following the questioning Mr. Birling, the inspector questioned Sheila. The inspector showed her a photograph. Upon seeing this she runs away. Sheila comes back to the inspector saying, “ You knew it was me all the time didn’t you.” Sheila has obviously recognised the picture. As the questioning of Sheila began, we find out more about Sheila. She says, “ It just didn’t suit me at all…. had held up the dress, as if she was wearing it. And it just suited her.” Here, we find out Sheila feels jealous as well.

We also discover Sheila is a selfish spoilt ...

This is a preview of the whole essay