Plot

• The Birlings own the factory called the Milwards, which is a huge success.
• Act one:

  Birling family are celebrating Shelia's engagement

  Shelia suspects Gerald lost interest last summer

  Arthur gives a speech to Gerald and Eric about the business

  Inspector arrives saying Eva Smith has taken her own life by drinking disinfectants

  Turns out Arthur sacked Eva for protesting over low pay

  Shelia sacked her from the department store

  Eva smith changed her name to Daisy Renton - this shocks Gerald
• The Inspector represents Priestly’s views on socialism and his belief that society needs to change
• Priestley uses dramatic irony when the audience knows more than the characters do
• Priestley shows the class divide between the working-class Inspector and the upper-middle-class Birling family
• Priestley uses symbolic objects such as the clock and the telephone to show how time is running out for the characters to make amends
• Priestley uses symbolism to show how the upper classes have power over the working class
• Priestley uses foreshadowing to hint at what will happen later in the play
• Priestley uses stage directions to create tension and suspense
• Priestley uses soliloquies (monologues) to allow characters to express their thoughts directly to the audience
• Act two:

  Gerald says he spend last Summer with Daisy Renton (his mistress)

  Gerald is upset and Shelia returns the ring

  The inspector gets sybil to confess that she persuaded the Women's Charity Organisation to reject Eva's appeal for help

  Eva was pregnant at the time

  Sybil blames the father of Eva's baby for her death

  Shelia guesses that Eric is the father
• Sheila realises that they all share responsibility for Eva Smith’s suicide
• Birling family are left alone with their conscience and regret
• In act three, Priestly shows us the consequences of the family’s actions on themselves and society as a whole.
• At the end of the play, we see the family members are changed by their experiences
• Act three (part 1)

  Eric returns and the inspector has come to conclusion eric is the father so Eva's unborn child

  Eric describes how he drunkenly met Eva and forced her to have sex

  Once she was pregnant Eric stole money off his father to pay her

  Eva rejected the stolen money and turned to Sybils Charity for help

  Eric stated Sybil murdered her own grandkid for turning her away

  Inspector remind them they are responsible for each other

  And what will happen if we don't learn our lesson
• Act three (part 2)

  Gerald returns after speaking to the police who has never heard of an inspector Goole . Birling calls the station to confirm

  Gerald calls the hospital and no-one has died from suicide

  The family begin to relax

  Shelia and Eric argue they are still guilty

  Then the phone rinks

  A young lady has been found to have drank disinfectant and they are sending an inspector around to question them