The Inspector makes more of an impression on the younger characters than the older ones. Show two contrasting characters
The Inspector makes more of an impression
on the younger characters than the older ones. Show two
contrasting characters
From reading the play 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B.Priestley, I have come to believe that the inspector makes a greater impression on the younger characters than he does on the older characters. This can be shown by looking at the two characters Sheila Birling and her mother Sybil Birling. Mrs Sybil Birling is the mother of the Birling family. She is born of an upper-class family and is her husbands (Arthur's) social superior. In the period in which this play is written social status was very important, if you were upper class you would have everything you need where as if you were lower class you would probably be struggling to stay alive, especially if you had no job. It would have been strange for the time that the play was written that the mother of the family was the superior because in 1912 men were still the dominant sex. Mrs Birling has one daughter called Sheila and a younger son called Eric. Sheila is engaged to Gerald Croft who is the son of Lord Croft a very wealthy businessman and Lady Croft. You can tell that Gerald is of upper class as his mother and father are Lord and Lady and that title would not have been given to them unless they were very wealthy and had a lot of power.
Sheila and Sybil can be seen to act very differently while the Inspector is questioning them. In my essay I will be showing how Sheila's reactions to the investigation is in great contrast to the reactions of Mrs Birling.
At the time of the Inspectors entrance, neither Sheila nor Sybil were in the room. It is not until the Inspector has finished interviewing Mr Birling that Sheila first enters. This helps to show that the inspector likes to interview people one at a time, a quote that also shows this can be found on page 12,
"It's the way I like to work, one person and one line of inquiry at a time. Otherwise there's a muddle."
At first she does not notice the Inspector, she enters very merrily and gaily. She seems curious to know what her farther, fiancé and brother are talking about. When she sees the Inspector she almost stops and changes her character from relaxed and happy to that of what she would have been taught to behave like in the presence of company. As Sheila is from an upper class family she would have been taught to behave respectfully when in the company of strangers. You can see from this quote taken from page 16 including stage directions that Sheila did not notice the Inspector straight away.
(Sheila)"(gaily) What's all this about streets (Noticing the Inspector) Oh-sorry."
Sheila had entered to ask her farther why he did not come in to the drawing room to be with Sybil, Arthur's response to this was
"We shall be along in a minute now. Just finishing."
By doing this he is implying that he and the Inspector have finished and no longer need to talk. The Inspector then says
"I'm afraid not"
Mr Birling then protests and says that he has told the Inspector everything, but the inspector then turns to Sheila ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
(Sheila)"(gaily) What's all this about streets (Noticing the Inspector) Oh-sorry."
Sheila had entered to ask her farther why he did not come in to the drawing room to be with Sybil, Arthur's response to this was
"We shall be along in a minute now. Just finishing."
By doing this he is implying that he and the Inspector have finished and no longer need to talk. The Inspector then says
"I'm afraid not"
Mr Birling then protests and says that he has told the Inspector everything, but the inspector then turns to Sheila and tells her about the death of a young pregnant girl who committed suicide. Before Sheila knows about the death of the girl she is very curious to see why the Inspector is there. After she has been told of Eva's death she feels pity for her even though she did not know her, you can see this from her reaction "Oh how horrible."
Although Sheila feels sorrow for the girl she keeps asking the Inspector questions about her. This shows that Sheila trusts the Inspector to tell her the truth. Also Sheila may feel respect towards the Inspector as he told her of Eva's death with out hiding any information and for treating her more like an adult. Sheila probably would have appreciated this as her father treated her like a little girl and tries to protect her from anything bad. You can see this from 2 quotes from Mr Birling on page17 "...Nothing to do with you Sheila. Run along." And "...there isn't the slightest reason why my daughter should be dragged in to this unpleasant business."
When the Inspector questions Sheila about the death he shows her a photo. Sheila instantly recognised Sheila and ran out of the room. This shows that Sheila is feeling guilty and upset, the Author probably did this to make the audience sympathise with her and see her as one of the good characters. When she re-enters the room the Inspector questions her about her involvement with Eva. Sheila answers all the Inspectors questions without seemingly trying to hide anything, she is frank with the answers and does not seem to be prepared to be loyal to her family if it is seen as lying or false. She may have done this because she believed that the Inspector was very resourceful and would get the information out of her one way or another so why try to deny that she knew Eva. Sheila is very courteous and polite to the Inspector, this may be because she was brought up to be polite to strangers. Sheila is not annoyed that the Inspector is questioning the family in the way that Mr Birling is, she may feel that the Inspector is not to blame and he is just doing his job. The Inspector had managed to gain so much of Sheila's trust that she too believed the family should be interviewed to help solve the mystery of Eva's death although at this point in the play I doubt Sheila would think that Gerald had ant thing to do with it.
This can be seen when Mrs Birling is being questioned. The Inspector is finding it hard to get information out of Mrs Birling, this can be shown with the quotes taken from page 41, just after the Inspector has shown Mrs Birling a photograph of Eva.
(Inspector)"You recognise her?"
(Mrs Birling)"No. Why should I?"
Later in the play the truth comes out that Mrs Birling had meet the girl in the photo.
Sheila helps persuade her mother to talk to the Inspector, this makes the audience view Sheila as morally correct character as she always wants to know the truth and has a strong sense of right and wrong. Sheila uses a metaphor to explain what she believes the Inspector would do if the family hid information from him. The metaphor is "you must not build up a wall between you and that girl. If you do, then the Inspector will just break it down. And it'll be all the worse when he does."
Even after the inspector has left and the Birlings have discovered that the Inspector is a fake, Sheila still believes that the Inspector taught the family a very good lesson. The inspector made a very large lasting impression on Sheila, he made her respect him, trust him and almost believe in the same values as he did such as truth and responsibility. The Inspectors values can be seen in the last speech he makes, such as,
"We are all members of one body, we are responsible for each other".
In contrast to some of Sheila's reactions to the Inspector, are her mother Sybil's reactions.
For the majority of the play Mrs Birling is not in the room with the Inspector, this may have been done so that the audience concentrates only on the characters that are on stage. When Sybil first meets the Inspector she is very charming and polite. She says that her family has nothing to hide and there was not much point in him being there. This is shown when she says, "...we'll be glad to tell you anything you want to know, I don't think we can help you much."
Sheila then tells her mother not to be so confident as I will make it worse when the Inspector asks questions. Mrs Birling then says to the inspector, "You seem to have made a great impression on this child, Inspector"
To which he replies "We often do on the young ones, They're more impressionable."
From this it seems that Mrs Birling feels the Inspector is threatening her superiority and starts to feel resent towards the Inspector. When the inspector agrees with Sheila about the questioning Mrs Birling feels that the Inspector is rude and impertinent. She uses the fact that Mr Birling was the town mayor and is a magistrate to pressurise and intimidate the Inspector,
" ...You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago and that he's still a magistrate".
Mrs Birling is using Arthur's social power to almost 'scare off' the Inspector and it seems that from this point onwards that the Inspector and Mrs Birling are battling for superiority. In 1912, the more power you had the greater influence you could have on people. When the Inspector questions Mrs Birling she is very rash and abrupt, she answers him with short sharp answers. This indicates that she dislikes answering the questions and is trying to hide some thing. Finally when the Inspector gets Mrs Birling to admit that she knew Eva Smith she still tried to keep some dignity by saying that it was her duty to do what she did. By trying to outwit the Inspector and keep an air of dignity Mrs Birling make it worse for herself. She believes that the Inspector should question the father of Eva's baby and he should be named and shamed.
When Mrs Birling finds out that her son Eric was an alcoholic and that it was him that got Eva pregnant she wont let her self believe it. "Eric, I can't believe it. There must be some mistake. You don't know what we've bee saying."
Sybil is ashamed of Eric and almost blames it on the Inspector for uncovering so much scandalising information.
When the Inspector has left and they know that he was a hoax, Mrs Birling as well as Mr Birling want to forget about everything the family said while the Inspector was there. Mr Birling wants to forget he even existed, that is if he did ever exist, this shows the inspector didn't make much of an impression on him or on Mrs Birling.
By looking back and reviewing the play I have found that my first statement was correct. I found that the Inspector had a bigger impression on the younger character, Sheila a great deal more than he did with Sybil, the older character. Sheila was much more influenced by the Inspectors presence, she was much more willing to accept responsibility for playing a part in Eva's death. Where as Mrs Birling was much more willing to forget everything the Inspector had told her and her family rather than observing the fact that she helped to drive Eva/Daisy to committing suicide.
