inspector calls

Cards (43)

  • Burling family

    Wealthy family celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to Gerald Croft
  • Arthur Burling
    • Pleased about the engagement as the Crofts own a successful business
    • Set to receive a Knighthood
    • Societal image and reputation are very important to the family
  • Eric Burling
    • Acts strangely and drinks more than he should during the evening
  • Arthur Burling's speech

    1. Emphasises the importance of looking after oneself rather than worrying about the needs of others in society
    2. Interrupted by the arrival of Inspector Goole
  • Inspector Goole
    Reveals that a young woman named Eva Smith has died by suicide and that she was involved with the Burling family
  • Eva Smith used to work at the Burling factory but was fired for instigating a strike for higher wages
  • Arthur Burling's reaction
    Not really sorry about his part in Eva's death, more concerned about protecting his profit margins than giving people a decent living wage
  • Sheila Burling
    • Becomes visibly upset when shown a picture of Eva Smith, admits to having her fired from a clothing store due to jealousy
    • Accuses Gerald Croft of having an affair with Eva (known as Daisy Renton)
  • Gerald Croft admits to having an affair with Eva/Daisy Renton
  • Sybil Burling
    • Two weeks earlier, turned away an unmarried pregnant woman (Eva Smith) from her charity because she used a fake name
    • Refuses to take responsibility for Eva's death, blames the father for not supporting her financially
  • Eric Burling is revealed to be the father of Eva Smith's child, got her pregnant while heavily drunk
  • Inspector Goole: 'Reminds the Burlings that they are all responsible for each other's welfare, warns that if this lesson is not learned, society will be taught the hard way in "Fire and Blood and anguish"'
  • The Burlings begin to doubt whether Inspector Goole was a real police officer
  • Gerald discovers there have been no recent reports of suicide at the morgue
  • The Burlings have still done horrendous things to people, whether or not it resulted in suicide and public scandal
  • At the last moment, Mr Burling learns that a woman has just died by suicide and an inspector is on the way to question the family
  • This video will be very useful in understanding the ideas of the writer and what motivated him at the time he wrote it in 1945
  • J.B. Priestley
    Born in Yorkshire in 1894 at the end of the Victorian era, first worked for a war firm when he was 16 and stated that the next four years had a huge influence on his ideas and writing
  • These pre-World War One years were full of political upheaval and uncertainty
  • Priestley sets his play in 1912 when Britain had a patriarchal society in which women were fighting for the right to vote in public elections
  • The suffragettes were very active in direct action and civil disobedience, and women had won the right to vote in several other countries by the end of the 19th century
  • The death of one suffragette, Emily Davison, when she ran in front of the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby made headlines around the world
  • At the start of the play, we see how Sheila is being used by her father to gain power and influence in society and business with her engagement to Gerald
  • Eva Smith is exploited in the workplace by Birling and then treated poorly by both Eric Birling and Gerald Croft, in what could be seen as sexual abuse by Eric and sexual exploitation by Gerald
  • Women are asked to leave the room at times in the play and treated like second-class citizens by Birling, Mrs Birling's attitude to women, particularly the poor, clearly undermines the suffrage movement
  • Sheila changes during the course of the play into a more assertive and independent woman of 20th century Britain, and this modernization is explored using dramatic irony with the post-World War II audience observing the overconfidence in technological progress by industrialists like Birling resulting in the sinking of the Titanic
  • Priestley's father had a big impact on him as a socialist, and he had strong beliefs about how the world should work, even though trade unionism had been established in the previous century
  • We can still see how workers were exploited by unscrupulous bosses like Birling, included with other businesses to keep wages low, conditions poor, and working hours long, which is why Eva Smith is dismissed and ends up at the mercy of charity before her death
  • At the 1892 general election, Keir Hardie, a liberal politician who had joined the Scottish Labour Party, was elected as an independent Labour MP, and this gave him the spur to found a UK-wide independent Labour Party in 1893
  • The early 20th century saw a number of socialist groups and movements in Britain, the Fabian Society and other more radical groups such as the Socialist Labour Party were challenging the assumption that capitalism benefited everybody, they recognized that power and privilege belong to the few in the form of the upper and middle classes with the working class used to create the wealth
  • Birling is a social climber, his heart is set on a knighthood, he infiltrates the upper classes by marrying Mrs Birling and holding several establishment positions such as Lord Mayor, Alderman and Magistrate
  • Priestley clearly uses Birling to represent capitalism, while Inspector Goole is there to represent Priestley's own socialist ideas
  • Priestley served in the British infantry in World War One, which would have been traumatic, and he almost lost his life on at least two occasions, this experience also influenced his ideas about the causes and consequences of war which were explored in the play
  • Britain was an imperialist power in the years leading up to the outbreak of First World War, colonies may have military and geopolitical advantages but their main purpose is economic
  • Prior to World War One, the world's largest, richest and most dominant imperial power was Great Britain, which occupied one quarter of the globe, other imperial powers included France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Austro-Hungary, USA, Italy and the Ottoman Empire
  • These nations soon began to rush for new colonies, particularly on the African continent, leading to growing tensions, Germany wanted a share of the imperial pie so it became a sizable military power, an arms race ensued between the global powers all scrambling to produce and stockpile weapons and ammunition
  • Inspector Goole: 'We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other, and I tell you that the time will soon come when if men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish'
  • This is a warning on two levels, firstly to the unscrupulous bosses who exploit the workers that if they continue to be greedy the working classes will rise up against them, secondly to the greedy and brutal rulers of the imperial nations that in trying to carve up the world for profit it will only end in many years of war and misery
  • arthur biring did..

    fired eva from first job for organising a strike against the unfair low wages
  • sheila birling did...

    got her fired from her good stable job at milwards for looking "too pretty"