Quotes

• Goole. G- double O-L-E


  INSPECTOR

  Supernatural.

  Sounds like 'ghoul' or ghost - is the inspector a spectre?
• We'll have to share our guilt


  INSPECTOR

  Law - Morality - Guilt - Responsibility

  Inspector tells everyone they are guilty in some way - even if it's just not thinking about Eva / Daisy.
• Public men have responsibilities as well as privileges


  INSPECTOR

  Responsibility

  Inspector tells Mr Birling that he can't just take. He tells him that he has to take care of people, not just himself and his family.
• I haven't much time


  INSPECTOR

  Time

  Does the Inspector control time? Has he come back from the future?
• Fire and blood and anguish


  INSPECTOR

  Revolution - Fairness - Responsibility

  A warning about World War 1 and 2. The audience know that wars are coming.

  He is also warning everyone that poor people will suffer more and more unless we treat everyone fairly.
• There are millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives.


  INSPECTOR

  Responsibility

  The Inspector makes it clear that Eva was just representative of the working class - & the Birlings' (and the audience's) duties are now to be more socialist & responsible for others. Look at the repetition of "we" which makes it clear that 'we' are a society - not a group of 'I' individuals.
• We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.


  INSPECTOR

  Responsibility

  The Inspector tells us we must look after everyone, not just our family and friends.
• I speak as a hard-headed businessman


  MR BIRLING

  Money - Power - Materialistic (cares about things not people / passions)

  Mr Birling believes his advice and opinion should be taken on everything because he owns a business. He is very proud to be a capitalist (money maker) and wealthy.
• The Titanic... unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable


  MR BIRLING

  Lack of awareness

  Priestley shows the audience how wrong Mr Birling is. If he's wrong about The Titanic, he's wrong about everything else (like looking after only yourself, Socialism and taking care of poorer people).
• Girls of that class...


  MR BIRLING

  Class

  Mr B shows that he thinks less of working class people, and that he is above them. He thinks "they" behave differently (and worse) than those of his class.
• I'd give thousands


  MR BIRLING

  Money - Regret - Responsibility

  Mr Birling uses money to demonstrate how much he'd like things to be different. It shows he is money-centred. It shows he takes some responsibility, but only a bit.
• A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.


  MR BIRLING

  Responsibility

  Mr B says we only have to look after our family and friends - but nobody else. This is exactly the opposite of what the Inspector says about looking after everyone.
• If you don't come down hard on these people, they'll soon be asking for the earth.


  MR BIRLING

  Class - Money

  Mr Birling talks about working class as "these people" like they're different to and less than him.

  He also misses the point that these people have nothing and Eva was only asking for a little extra money.
• A fair chance I might find my way into the next Honours List.


  MR BIRLING

  Class - Money - Power

  Mr Birling is expecting to be made a knight or a sir. It shows that he is powerful. However, it also shows that he is worried about his status and knows he's 'below' Lord & Lady Croft.
• The whole story's just a lot of moonshine.


  MR BIRLING

  Responsibility - Law

  He is relieved when it appears that the Inspector is not real and the story was made up.

  He thinks he can just carry on as before (unlike Sheila and Eric) as the "public scandal" was the thing he really cared about.
• Public scandal


  MR BIRLING

  Money - Power - Class

  Mr Birling is terrified there will be a scandal which drags his name through the mud. He cares more about what people think of him than he does a girl's death.
• You talk as if we were responsible.


  SHEILA

  Responsibility

  Birling has brought his children up with his views about responsibility - Sheila agrees with Birling. This allows The Inspector to change her's and Eric's mind, showing that his new ideas about society and responsibility are better and good enough to convince younger people. It also allows The Inspector to show more power and control over Birling as his own children will have their minds changed by The Inspector.
• These girls aren't cheap labour - they're people.


  SHEILA to INSPECTOR

  Socialism v Capitalism

  Sheila is starting to come round to The Inspector's way of thinking, and starts seeing Eva and others as people rather than a commodity or a machine.
• So I'm really responsible?


  SHEILA

  Responsibility - Guilt

  Sheila takes (some) responsibility for Eva's death.

  ~ Compare her reaction to her mum and dad's ~
• I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel worse.


  SHEILA

  Responsibility - Guilt

  Sheila talks about getting Eva sacked. She feels guilty and responsible.
• I'll never, never do it again to anybody. I'm desperately sorry.


  SHEILA

  Responsibility - Guilt

  Sheila promises that she's mended her ways.
• You used the power you had... to punish the girl?


  INSPECTOR (to SHEILA)

  Power - Responsibility

  The Inspector shows his anger at Sheila for getting Eva sacked and abusing her power.
• You mustn't try to build up a wall between us and that girl. If you do, the Inspector will just break it down.


  SHEILA (to Mrs Birling)

  Responsibility - Class - Power

  Sheila knows that the Inspector knows everything and won't allow the Birlings to not take responsibility for Eva's fate.
• You don't seem to have learnt anything


  SHEILA

  Responsibility

  Sheila is shocked that the others just want to go back to how it was now they think the Inspector was a fake.
• Miss Birling has just been made to understand what she did to this girl. She feels responsible. And if she leaves us now, and doesn't hear any more, then she'll feel she's entirely to blame, she'll be alone with her responsibility.


  INSPECTOR about BIRLING

  Responsibility

  Inspector argues that Sheila should stay in the room (against Mr Birling's wishes, showing the Inspector's power over him).

  Inspector is showing Sheila (and everyone) is capable of change & taking responsibility. He also encourages them to be together to support one person (like others should've supported Eva).
• She's got a nasty temper sometimes - but she's not bad really.


  ERIC about SHEILA

  Responsibility

  Foreshadows Sheila being responsible for having Eva sacked.

  Suggests that she can learn from her mistakes.
• We'll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations


  BIRLING

  Socialism v Capitalism

  Mr Birling talks about the labour struggle and assumes capitalism will have won by 1940. When juxtaposed with his pronouncements on future events (Titanic, war, etc), the dramatic irony makes the audience less likely to trust him on these issues. It makes him look silly.
• Talking nonsense, you'll hear some people say that war's inevitable. And to that I say - fiddlesticks!


  MR BIRLING

  Lack of awareness

  Sets up dramatic irony: Priestley shows the audience how wrong Mr Birling is. If he's wrong about World War I, he's wrong about everything else (like looking after only yourself, Socialism and taking care of poorer people).
• There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere - except of course in Russia, which will always be behind

  MR BIRLING

  Lack of awareness

  Sets up dramatic irony: Priestley shows the audience how wrong Mr Birling is. If he's wrong about Russia & USSR, he's wrong about everything else (like looking after only yourself, Socialism and taking care of poorer people). It also shows Priestley's hope for a truly socialist society which was - it seemed at the time - a dream being realised; Priestley could not have known about the terrible acts USSR carried / would carry out on its own people
• I have an idea that your mother - Lady Croft - while she doesn't object to my girl - feels you might have done better for yourself socially


  MR BIRLING to GERALD

  Class System

  Birling believes in the strict class system which keeps him above Eva and other workers, but he is also a victim of it: he knows he'll never be seen as being equal to Lord & Lady Croft, but hopes his grandchildren will be part of that class thanks to Sheila's marriage.
• Clothes mean something quite different to a women. Not just something to wear - and not only something to make 'em look prettier - but - well, a sort of sign or token of their self-respect.


  MR BIRLING

  Foreshadows Sheila's story. Shows why Sheila may have taken such offence to Eva in the dress shop.
• They worked us hard in those days and kept us short of cash.


  MR BIRLING

  Foreshadows Eric's story. Shows why Eric may have stolen from the business.
• What so many of you don't seem to understand now, when things are much easier,..


  MR BIRLING

  Responsibility - Lack of awareness - Money

  Birling lectures Eric & Gerald, making him sound pompous & officious. Talking about things being "much easier" makes him sound uncaring or not understanding the lives of real people beneath him in the working class.
• A man has to make his own way - has to look after himself - and his family too, of course


  MR BIRLING

  Responsibility - Socialism

  Birling sets out his responsibilities: he is only responsible to and for himself; therefore, if other people can't build up a business and make money, that's there problem, not his.

  This comes just after the dramatic irony set up by The Titanic etc, so the audience doesn't trust his views already.
• What does Mr. Birling imply about the concept of community?


  He considers it "nonsense."
• How does Mr. Birling refer to those who believe in a society?


  He uses pejorative terms like "cranks" and "nonsense."
• What effect does the dramatic irony related to The Titanic have on the audience's perception of Mr. Birling's views?


  It causes the audience to distrust his views.
• What does the simile comparing people to bees suggest about Mr. Birling's view of socialism?


  It suggests he believes socialism is beneath humans and animalistic.
• How does Mr. Birling's language reflect his attitude towards social responsibility?


  His use of negative language shows he dismisses social responsibility.
• What literary device does Mr. Birling use when he compares society to bees in a hive?


  A simile.