Stage directions, on several occasions, have helped to bring out the real Arthur Birling, bad tempered and impatient. Before he finds out what the inspector is calling about he is very impatient and this is how Priestly wanted Birling to be portrayed as is evident in the stage directions, ‘(After a pause, with a touch of impatience) well, what is it then?’ After Birling is told of the horrific news of Eva Smith’s death he is still very impatient. ‘(Somewhat impatiently)’ this shows that Birling is a cold, steely and unemotional man.
Sheila Birling is a young woman in her early twenties, at the beginning of the play she is very pleased with life, she is young, beautiful and recently engaged, but things soon turn around when the Inspector arrives. Inspector Goole explains to the family the tragedy of Eva’s death and Sheila, the only decent family member, is sincerely upset, this is in contrast to her father who didn’t see it any of their business. As the story of Eva’s death unfolds Sheila gets very upset and distressed at the terrible things her family has done. She shows bona fide remorse when she learns of how she has contributed to Eva’s death. This shows that this character is indisputably a normal woman who unlike the rest of her family gets upset by things affecting people whom she does not know. It’s seems that the fact that her background is middle class she still understands the rest of Britain, she likes to show her feelings and share her thoughts. She is a very loving character and she loves her family but can not understand all the things that they have done.
Stage directions are very important in showing the loving side of Sheila, Priestly tells the actress playing Sheila just how to say each of the lines, to give the right impression of Sheila’s personality. He uses phrases like, ‘(quite distressed)’ and ‘(with feeling)’, to show how Sheila is, that is that she is a caring and kind person. Sheila is the only member of the family to not just admit their faults but to promise to change for the future ‘I’ll never, never do it again’ this shows her anguish at what she has done.
Sheila is very mature, especially when it come to her engagement, she breaks it off calmly and doesn’t rush into accepting her ring back once the Inspector has departed. She is shocked, amazed and upset that her parents haven’t learnt anything from the Inspectors visit, she thinks that just because the Inspector was a confidence game, this doesn’t mean that he wasn’t to have been taken seriously. This is another sign of Sheila’s maturity.
Inspector Goole is a false inspector who for some strange reason knows what will happen in the future. He goes into the Birling household and questions each family member concerning the suicide of a young girl, Eva Smith. Each member of the household is individually responsible for the death of Eva and the inspector explains to each person why they are at fault. Inspector Goole is the main character of the play and is a mystery to the audience and the characters. Priestley depends a lot on lighting to set the mood for the inspector, he describes that ‘the light should be pink and intimate until the inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder.’ This shows that the character of the inspector is a character, which is supposed to feel big, although a four-foot tall person could play him and he would still feel big. This is an important stage direction used by Priestly. Priestly says that the Inspector gives an ‘impression of massiveness, solidarity and purposefulness’, he uses his eyes to fix people in a very subdue way before his interrogations.
The inspector is very mysterious but he seems like a very calm man. He remains composed whilst Birling inadvertently has a go at him. He is a very refined man with very upper-class speech and good manners he says please and thank you even when Birling looses his temper. This once again shows us how calm he is.
Properties are also very important as the part of the inspector, particularly the photograph of Eva Smith, later Daisy Renton. He uses this against each member of the family except Eric who needs not the photo to remind him of Daisy, as she was then known. Each time he produces the photograph it is in private so that no other member of the family see it, the audience also do not see the photo through out the play. This is an effect that Priestly uses and uses well. It is to try to get the imaginations of the audience working to try and work out an identity for Eva. Each person’s version will be different so like the inspector Eva Smith remains a mystery. The inspector reveals that Eva has left a letter and a diary but he doesn’t bring to light what is in the diary or letter too much.
I have now talked about the tree main characters from act one and a bit about Eva Smith. I will now go on to discuss the social and historical content of the play.
‘An Inspector Calls’ was written in 1945 but was set in 1912, this give Priestly the chance to use such techniques as dramatic irony. He uses this in a speech made by Birling in Act One, Birling says that the Titanic sets sail next week and that she is totally unsinkable, Priestly know that the Titanic sunk but used this as an effect. The audience knows this also and this gives them a sense of superiority over the Birling family. It was typical of a person at this time to be very optimistic of the future because they don not of the two world wars and the nuclear bombs so they feel they have nothing to worry about. As well as the optimism the Birling’s also have the comfort of being middle class. They don’t understand that at this time of the twentieth century in Britain eight million people had to get by on less than 25s a week. Because of this people were under-housed, under-fed and insufficiently clothed, their growth was stunted, their mental powers were cramped and their health was undermined. This was a terrible was to grow up but it was reality to people like Eva Smith and people like the Birling family didn’t perceive this. Eighty seven per cent of Britains money at this time was owned by only five per cent of the population, which was very excruciating for working class people who knew where the country’s wealth was.
At this time the whole nation was divided into distinctive social classes, those born into money were upper class. Those who have made their own money and worked for a living were middle class and the majority were those like Eva, uneducated and unqualified working class people. These people around this time decided to create unions which would protect a member if thrown out of work, unfortunately they had very little power so people like Eva were treated very badly. If someone was sacked from a job they would be ‘blacklisted’ which meant they wouldn’t get a job again in that trade. This happened to Eva when she was fired from Birling’s factory.
So in summing up this essay I would like to comment on the characters I have studied. I have found that Birling is an ignorant man who doesn’t mean harm, Sheila Birling is a kind, gentle woman and about the inspector I have found not much. But what I have found out about is the terrible conditions of Edwardian Britain and the things that working class people had to live with. I think that J. B. Priestly portrays the ignorance of merchants of the day very well, he shows us that people matter even if you do not know them and that everyone could be connected with something terrible, indirectly.
