Mrs Sybil Birling is described at the beginning as “about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior.” From the start we can tell that class is very important to her “Girls of that class...” which shows she is very snobbish. She thinks that she is superior to working class people like Eva Smith. She still treats her daughter Sheila as a child and speaks to her in a very patronising way. She tends to deny that some things are true for example Eric’s heavy drinking. This shows that she wants her family to be perfect and feels ashamed to admit anything that is wrong. She is also prejudiced about working class people as when Eva Smith came to ask her for financial help with her unborn child, she turned her down, in the belief that the father should deal with financial problems.
Sheila Birling is described as “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.” She is very inquisitive and wants to know all about the situation. She appears to be naïve and shallow at the beginning of the play, however, when she remarks to Gerald “last summer when you never came near me” she is seen in a different respect. She feels guilty and frustrated for being so stupid like Eric Birling.
Eric Birling is “in his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive.” He is a heavy drinker which his mother tries to deny. From the start he is embarrassed and uncomfortable and looks as if he has something to hide.
Eva Smith is the most important character. The audience never sees her on stage or talking, however, we find out lots of information about her. Four of the characters say that she was pretty. Her parents were dead and she was working class. We also know that she was from the country, Mr Birling says she was ”country bred.” We know also that she kept a diary which helped the inspector work out the last two years of her life.
Gerald Croft is described as “an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred man-about town.” He is an aristocrat, had genuine feelings for Eva and is unwilling to admit he had a role in her death. Inspector Goole is a very mysterious and suspicious person that no one knows anything about. He often looks at his watch as if he is waiting for something to happen or for someone to enter. This makes the tension very high for the audience and the characters. He has great power upon the family and talks to them firmly; he cuts through Mrs’ Birling’s obstructiveness. He knows too much for the family’s liking, causing them to be very nervous and uncomfortable around him.
The Birling family are celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft by having a dinner party. Everything is going well, however, the doorbell suddenly rings and it is an inspector, inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl – Eva Smith. It so happens that everyone at the party has a link to her death. In Act two Gerald admits to have known Daisy Renton (Eva Smith). He met her at a variety theatre and rescued her from Alderman Meggarty - a local dignitary. Daisy had no money so Gerald let her stay with him and work as his mistress. He had to go away for work so he left her with some money. Mrs Birling also finally admits that Eva Smith came to ask for financial help, but Mrs Birling turned her down. She refused as she believes that the father should always be there for financial support. They all realise that Eric is involved and the curtain falls.
Tension is built as most of the family feel guilty and disturbed. All the characters become different people to who they were at the beginning of the evening. Their evening has changed as a result but so too have their futures. The relationships have changed during Act Two as true feelings and past actions are revealed. The question that is on the audience and the characters’ minds is “who is inspector Goole?” The fact that the audience knows nothing about him makes it tense and mysterious. He knows about everyone and what they have done. This gives an edge to the play; it is quite disturbing and makes the characters feel edgy around him.
At the end of act one, the characters find out that Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton. Gerald gives away by his actions that he also knew her. The audience is poised to find out what part Gerald had to play in her death. The audience is prepared for the end of Act Two as they know that at that time they will find out that someone else had a role in the death of Eva Smith, following a similar revelation at the end of Act One.
Priestley uses the structure and pace of the play to build up tension, at the beginning all the characters’ speech was made long and relaxed which contrasts to how it is in Act Two as the speech is very short because the characters start to panic. The punctuation also creates tension as there are many commas and dashes. Priestley uses the name “Inspector Goole” to introduce suspense and tension, this name makes the audience and the family relate to him being intimidating and mysterious as it reminds them of how the name is said - “Ghoul”. He fails to show the photograph of Eva Smith to more than one person at a time, this allows the information to be revealed as slowly as possible, contributing to the tension in the room. Each of the characters appears to have a guilty secret and they assume that the inspector is talking about the same person. Suspense is created at the end of the scene when we know that a character is going to be exposed. At the end of Act Two, Eric is exposed. Priestley uses dramatic irony here as the audience and Sheila know that Eric is the father of Eva Smith’s child whilst Mrs Birling rants on about how the father must be held totally responsible for his actions.
The tension throughout the play is created as the audience wait to see how each member of the family is involved in the death of Eva Smith. Mrs Sybil Birling is aggravated in act two with Sheila’s fiancé, Gerald. She is scandalised with what Gerald has done and is more infuriated at him than Sheila is. We soon find out that she is a hypocrite as, when faced with the inspector, she has to admit that she had seen the girl two weeks previously. She refuses to admit that her incident with Eva Smith related to her death in any way, however, she is willing to blame everyone else for what they did, “I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all.” The tension is built between the characters in this act as everyone is infuriated at Mrs Birling for being so hypocritical and as the audience feel involved in the play, they also feel the heightened tension. The audience and Sheila guess that Eric is the father of the girl’s child when Mrs Birling says “the father was only a youngster - silly and wild and drinking too much.”
In Act Two, Sheila begins to understand the nature of responsibility and warns Gerald that if he covers things up and lies all the time, there will be consequences. She explains to her mother how she must be honest “you mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl”. She also agrees with the inspector most of the time in this act “yes. That’s true. You know - I don’t understand about you.” Sheila does not want to get anybody into trouble; she is only being honest for example when she tells everyone about Eric’s heavy drinking. All the way through the act emotions run high for her, she is terribly upset and wants to protect her family. She also realises that the inspector is very powerful and perceptive; he can see through the family’s pretensions so Sheila decides to be more honest. The tension builds up as she tells the inspector the truth. The emotions are overwhelming for the family and this too gets to the audience, they feel the tense, apprehensive atmosphere.
The inspector seems to be on Sheila’s side in Act Two. Mrs Birling does not like how Sheila has changed into being an honest person, “you seem to have made a great impression on this child, inspector.” She also does not like Sheila knowing a lot about the situation and tries to get rid of her “you’re looking tired.. you ought to go to bed.” The inspector acts quite spitefully towards Mrs Birling and seems to behave in a way that gets Mrs Birling frustrated and agitated, “Mrs B: I don’t understand you inspector”, “Inspector: You mean you don’t choose to do, Mrs Birling” he adds to the tension a lot in the way he pushes her until she gives in. The audience therefore, feels frustrated and tense like Mrs Birling.
Emotions run high continuously throughout Act Two which contributes to the tension. Sheila is the most emotional and the most affected by the circumstances. She is honest to the inspector and is angry at her family for pretending to have nothing to do with the death and supports the inspector instead of her family, whereas at the beginning of the play she did not. Sheila is often silenced by her mother and father and is often patronised. She wants to rebel against her family, with the inspector there she finally can. Stage directions are very important for building atmosphere and suspense. In Act Two, they explain a lot and help the tension build, “Inspector holds up a hand. We hear the front door. Eric enters, looking extremely pale and distressed. He meets their inquiring stares.”
Dramatic tension is constantly built throughout the play. The audience is constantly in trepidation and suspense. The conflict between characters is constantly changing and the atmosphere changes rapidly; information is gradually revealed and the stage directions build the tension further. These aspects are especially shown at the end of Act Two where the tension seems to be at the highest point in the play.