An Inspector Calls Quotes

• Mrs Birling - "when you're married you'll realise"


  This is Mrs Birling showing how she wants to emulate the expectations of marriage and how she has adopted patriarchal ideas of thinking that its normal to be under stricter controls from the husbands once the women are married to them
• Sheila - "look mummy - isn't it a beauty? Oh - darling"


  The use of the child-like word "mummy" is Priestly's way of projecting Sheila's infantile behaviour which is caused by being sheltered from the hardship of life.

  [beauty] could show that she's mesmerised by the ring and that the fairy tale dream of marriage is coming true
• Eric - "yes, I know - but still-"


  This is a prime example of Eric's oppression in Act 1, He doesn't agree with Mr Birling's beliefs of the Germans not wanting to go to war with England but when he's trying to contradict his fathers views he is quickly silenced and put back into his passive oppressed role

  This can also be a prime example of how Mr Birling is portrayed as selfish as he loves to hear his own voice to the point that he doesn't even want to listen to his own son.
• Birling - "A man has to make his own way - has to look after himself - and his family of course"


  This is Priestley personifying capitalism within Birling as he has adopted these capitalist views from 1912, the audience would have a negative reaction as in 1945 the society was more socialist due to labours landslide victory in the parliament.
• Sheila - "But these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people"


  You can tell that Sheila has strong sympathy from the start of the play unlike her father who denies any responsibility throughout the play.

  Sheila is used as the voice of socialism by Priestley as she believes the complete opposite to her father and that girls shouldn't just be used as "cheap labour" as she is passionate.
• BIrling - "A heavy-looking rather portentous man in his middle fifties"


  As he's depicted by "quote" this allows him to be a microcosmic representation of the older generation

  "heavy-looking" this is Priestley showing the audience that Mr Birling is wealthy without explicitly saying it. In 1912 having a plumper frame would reflect on your wealth.

  His heaviness could be deeply metaphorical as it is a physical assertion of the solidity of his status whilst also standing to represent his undisciplined tendencies and showing lack of control.
• Gerald - "well-bred young man about town"


  This stage direction might foreshadow the literal action of Gerald going "about town" to find a mistress

  By using the phrase "well-bred" might be Priestley implying that the socialites are bred for a specific purpose.
• Gerald - "I suppose it was inevitable. She was young and pretty and warm-hearted"

  This could display Gerald as an active supporter of capitalist views as the audience could interpret the fact that Gerald helped Daisy Renton knowing that she was going o end up as his mistress as when the inspector questions Gerald about it he said "it was inevitable" indicating that he knew it was going to end up as an imbalanced affair.

  However, the honesty that Gerald brings when he was being interrogated may bring a positive light into the audience's perception of him
• Mrs Birling - " Girls of that class-"


  This is evidence of Mrs Birling's snobbery towards all the lower classes

  However she does get cut off by Sheila which shows her development of a voice that she lacked at the begining of the play.
• Sheila - "In some odd way, I rather respect you more than I've ever done before"


  This is ironic coming from Sheila as at the beginning of the play they didn't know each other well as she was oblivious to the fact that Gerald was cheating on her.

  The increase in complex sentences of Sheila shows that he's come across her silencing and oppression that society forced her into