An Inspector Calls

• Edna is another example of the invisible working class and she helps to create an impression of the Birling’s wealthy lifestyle.
• Edna illustrates the themes of inequality, power, responsibility and class.
• She is allowed a seldom moment away from her domestic obedience and delivers the Inspector into the room readily, even stopping the Birlings from finishing their conversation.
• Eric has the most active social conscience, stating at the start of the play that “he could have kept her instead of throwing her out”.
• Priestley could be commenting that wealth does not replace goodness and integrity, as there needed to be a more even distribution of wealth so people like Eric become socially aware.
• Prestley does this so the Inspector’s presence is felt on stage and a reminder to the audience to look at their own conscience.
• Eric’s character develops through stage directions, for example, ‘uneasily’/’unease’; ‘suddenly guffaws’.
• By the end of the play, Eric is shouting.
• There is potential for change, as demonstrated by Eric’s transformation from blaming his mother for Eva’s death to accepting responsibility.
• When the Inspector leaves Eric emulates the Inspector using the Inspector’s harsh, commanding language.
• Gerald Croft is presented as a weak character, the most emotional and demonstrative of all, leading the audience to question whether he can change his ways for good or is he too dependent on his parents.
• Priestley effectively uses the semantic field of heaven and hell when Eric describes what he did to Eva Smith: “that’s the hellish thing”.
• Her connection to the characters in the play is what prompts their confessions.
• Eva is described in terms of objectification, often referred to as ‘the girl’, which highlights her youth and innocence.
• Eva represents ordinary people who can be destroyed by indifference when society fails to grant them the right of basic human dignity.
• Eva promotes the idea that we have collective social responsibility.
• The fact that Eva is presented in a highly idealized way which makes her an unrealistic character could be seen as a criticism of Priestley’s views.
• The fact that Eva was pregnant suggests that the way we treat people can affect the next generation but also shows how hard it was to escape poverty.
• Priestley presents his socialist ideas of equality and equal rights for all through the character of Eva.
• The hagiographical deification of Eva creates a lack of respect for Eric and further highlights the corruption of the upper class.
• Despite her lower social class and death, Eva could be said to have the upper hand in the play as she is the one who has shown the others who they really are.
• Mrs Birling refers to her as ‘that sort’ etc.
• The Inspector also says that Eric treated her like ‘an animal, a thing.’
• I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end.
• Sheila Birling uses sarcasm when she is appalled by her parents’ attitudes to carry on as before: 'I suppose we’re all nice people now'.
• It’s his responsibility.
• But I accept no blame at all.
• He certainly didn’t make me confess…I had done no more than my duty.
• Mrs Birling uses imperatives as she commands the Inspector and other characters which conveys her superiority, confidence and self-assurance.
• Mrs Birling uses imagery when she warns her mother not to try and build up a kind of 'wall' - the wall being a symbol of a barrier/pretence.
• She was giving herself ridiculous airs…claiming elaborate fine feelings…that were simply absurd in a girl in her position.
• He ought to be dealt with very severely…make sure that he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility.
• Sheila Birling uses imagery when she talks of her mother’s attempts to 'build up a kind of wall'.
• The dashes could also represent the breakdown in their relationship.
• As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money!
• The fragmented speech echoes the collapse of self-confidence and complacency of these very comfortable, middle class, wealthy characters.
• Mrs Birling puts on a pretence of respectability by her use of euphemisms: e.g. 'a girl of that class' who has found herself in a 'particular condition'.
• Eva is described in an idealized way in Priestley’s play, as an innocent victim, pretty, a good worker, and is presented as a martyr.
• Eva refuses to treat others as they have treated her, even though she is in a position to create scandal for them all in Priestley’s play.
• The character’s dramatic power in Priestley’s play lies in the fact that his identity as a hoaxer or as some kind of ‘spirit’ would have spoilt the unresolved tension that is so effective at the end of the play.