An Inspector Calls Quotes

• [Mr Birling] "heavy looking, rather portentous man...provincial in his speech"


  unmovable in viewpoint, unsophisticated
• [Sheila] "pretty girl...very pleased with life and rather excited"

  naive, trapped in her own bubble, subject to societal standards for women
• [Gerald] "rather too manly to be a dandy...well-bred young man about town"


  euphenism for a womaniser
• [Eric] "half shy, half assertive"


  hiding something, conflicted with his identity
• "I hope it won't be too long before you're married" - Birling


  uses Sheila + Geralds' marriage to benefit himself - personal pronouns
• "There's a lot of wild talk about labour trouble...we've past the worst of it" - Birling


  he is a personification of capitalism

  dramatic irony of Great Unrest + 1926 strike proves his supreme confidence
• "war's inevitable. And to that I say - fiddlesticks!"- Mr Birling

  dramatic irony of world wars - presents himself as wise but couldn't be more wrong
• "Just let me finish Eric" - Mr Birling


  condescending and almost discriminatory against the younger generation
• "I am a hard-headed, practical man of business" -Mr Birling


  Birling thinks he is presenting himself as a role model but his description has negative connotations of stubbornness
• "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" - Mr Birling


  repetition - emphasises arrogance

  Titanic is a metaphor for the family's downfall
• "Just a knighthood of course" - Birling


  Compensating for Gerald's social superiority + desperately wants to seem upper class - inferiority complex

  No social etiquette + brings up inappropriate topics
• "clothes mean something quite different to a woman...a sort of token of their self-respect" - Mr Birling


  Belittles women + enforces stereotypical gender roles
• "As if we were all mixed up in a hive - community and all that nonsense" - Mr Birling


  Individualist - opposite of communism

  Doesn't want society to change + not accepting of those different to him
• "Unless Eric's been up to something" - Gerald (uneasy) - Eric


  Eric is suspicious and maybe hiding something - foreshadowing
• "Burnt her insides out, of course" - Inspector


  Graphic imagery to emphasise seriousness of their actions
• "(impatiently) yes, yes. Horrid Business" - Mr Birling


  Shock factor as he diminishes serious issue

  Hyperfixated on business
• "this is Mr Gerald Croft - you know, Crofts Limited" - Mr Birling


  uses connections to take back control of the situation

  tug of war of morals vs. scared to accept blame
• "If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody it would be very awkward, wouldn't it?"


  juxtaposition of Inspector's message

  Rhetorical question - opposes communism
• "If you don't come down sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth" - Mr Birling

  "It's better to ask for the earth than to take it" - Inspector


  biblical allusion - "blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth"

  poor people will get their rewards in heaven whilst greedy people (like Mr Birling) won't go to heaven
• "I don't play golf" - Inspector

  golf - symbolic of cronyism

  worked for his job + not intimidated by Mr Birling
• "It's about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities" - Mr Birling


  Ironic - doesn't take responsibility for treatment of others

  Thinks Eric is privileged when he was the one who put him in that mindset through his upbringing
• "But these girls aren't cheap labour...they're people" - Sheila


  marked difference between Birling + Sheila

  First instance of Sheila echoing the Inspector
• "sometimes it would do us all a bit of good if we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting pennies in their dingy little back bedrooms" - Inspector


  highlights how middle/upper class ignore the suffering of those less fortunate

  deliberately bleak to evoke sympathy
• "Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child?" - Mr Birling


  diminishes Sheila

  same age as Eva but he has no sympathy for her
• "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse" - Sheila


  taking responsibility - progressive younger generation
• "She was a very pretty girl too" - Sheila


  values looks over everything - product of her materialistic + patriarchal society

  embodies jealousy - 7 deadly sins
• "You gave yourself away as soon as he mentioned her other name" - Sheila


  connecting dots

  upturns patriarchy by questioning Gerald
• "Why should you? It's bound to be unpleasant and disturbing." - Gerald


  ironic - cares about Sheila but never cared about Eva

  highlights his double standards
• "I'm afraid you'll say/do something that you'll be sorry for afterwards" - Sheila

  foreshadowing Mrs Birling's part

  perceptive - opposite to her presentation at start of the play
• "You musn't try to build up a wall between us and that girl" - Sheila


  exposes absence of community in capitalism

  flips generational roles
• "I have gathered he does drink pretty hard" - Gerald


  at first seems like he will lean towards the truth

  breaks past the good reputation the parents were trying to build
• "It's a favourite haunt for women of the town" - Gerald


  euphenism for prostitution - diminishes seriousness of actions
• "I hate those hard-eyed dough-faced women" - Gerald


  sexist + derogatory

  ironic - he chose to go to the Palace Bar
• "She looked young and fresh and charming" - Gerald

  rule of three -distasteful + objectifying description

  trying to justify himself
• "I didn't install her there so I could make love to her" - Gerald


  not telling the truth - unspoken agreement

  paints Eva as an object - upper-class men can get away with exploiting younger women
• "You were the wonderful fairy prince. You must have adored it Gerald" - Sheila


  Exposes patriarchy + overturns it

  Metaphor - highlights Gerald's selfishness
• "I don't dislike you as I did half an hour ago" - Sheila

  proves marriage is financial + being unmarried is taboo

  has a respect for the truth
• "Public men have responsibilities as well as privileges" - Inspector


  highlights idea of collective responsibility

  exposes selfishness of capitalism + how it negatively impacts the most vulnerable
• "She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position" - Mrs Birling


  trying to portray herself as more charitable when she's much the opposite

  implies lower people can't have morals - classist + opposite of communism
• "As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse any money!" - Mrs Birling


  has no concept of moral conscience nor understanding of other people

  separates herself from working class - unrealistic