Characters

• Mr Birling:

  • Priestley uses dramatic irony to reveal Mr B's short sightedness
  • Mr B's optimism for the future is superficial and his predictions demonstrate his complacency
  • This suits him as he has much to lose if things were to change
• Mr Birling:

  • Mr Birling contrasts the inspector and his children:
  • He is brusque towards the Inspector and treats Eric and Sheila as foolish and naïve
  • Mr B refuses to accept any responsibility and is unwilling to change by the end of the play
  • Mr B does not change as his personal beliefs do not allow him to do so
  • He is blind to the consequences of his actions and repeatedly defends himself, directs the blame onto others and tries to cover up the tragedy
  • Mr B tries to limit the damage to himself and his family but he can only do so by distorting or minimising the truth
• Mr Birling:

  • While he is indifferent to the plight of his workers, it could be argued that there's nothing dreadfully abhorrent about the treatment of his workers
  • Priestley does not indicate that Mr B delights in punishing his workers but simply and empathy towards them is severely lacking
  • At the beginning of Act 1, he delivers several lengthy monologues which reveal his self-centredness
  • He is not sympathetic for those less fortunate than himself
• Mr Birling:

  • Mr B is hoping to obtain a knighthood which reveals his obsession with public reputation, status and titles and the reassurance they provide him with
  • By the end of the play, Mr B faces exposure to a public scandal and loss of his reputation which would present a terrible downfall for him
  • As a wealthy factory owner, Priestley presents Mr B as an caricature of a Capitalist businessman which is in direct opposition to Inspector Goole's Socialist aspiration
• Mr Birling:

  • Mr B is the patriarch of the family and is presented as an arrogant character throughout the play
  • He is first described as a "heavy-looking, rather portentous (arrogant) man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech
  • Priestley's description conveys Mr Birling's self importance
  • His regional accent signifies his lower-class status in comparison to Mrs B and Gerald
• Mrs Birling:

  • She is first presented as "a rather cold woman and her husband's superior"
  • Her demeanour throughout the play is unchanged and she remains snobbish, uncaring and dismissive of others
  • Priestley depicts Mrs B as a symbol of the privileges of the upper classes and their selfish conduct
  • Similar to her husband, she is extremely arrogant, dismissive and prejudiced than him
  • She treats the Inspector as socially inferior
• Mrs Birling:

  • Due to her elevated social position, she views the working class as morally inferior
  • She refuses to believe Eva would turn down stolen money as she is not capable of the same level of morality as the upper classes
  • She refuses to use Eva's name and only refers to her as a 'girl', as though she is not worth being recognised as an individual
• Mrs Birling

  • She is portrayed as one of the least compassionate characters in the play
  • She is a prominent member of a local women's charity but her role is not due to the concern of others, but as a symbol of status
  • She's indifferent to the fact she refused assistance to Eva and her grandchild s devoid of an empathy for them
• Mrs Birling:

  • In act 3, her cruelty is further revealed
  • When she realises Eric is the father of Eva's child, she still maintains that the charity ought to deny assistance to people it considers undeserving of aid
  • To an audience her appalling behaviour and cold detachment would be incomprehensible
  • This would be heightened as she is both a woman and a mother
  • When confronted by the revelation that she indirectly contributed to the death of Eva and her grandchild, she comforts herself by insisting she'd done her duty
• Mrs Birling:

  • By the end of the play, Sybil remains deeply entrenched in her prejudiced ways and unchanged:
  • She is the least affected character by the tragedy, and could be perceived to be the most resistant to the Inspector's message
• Sheila

  A pretty girl in her 20's, very pleased with life and rather excited
• Sheila at the beginning of Act 1

  • Self-interested
  • Relishing her engagement to Gerald
  • Aligns her with her family's shallow and materialistic outlook
• Sheila

  • Sympathetic
  • Courageous
  • First character (except the Inspector) to empathise with Eva's predicament
  • First to confess her poor treatment of her
• Sheila exits the stage


  When first shown the picture of Eva
• Sheila

  • Quick to show greater maturity
  • Accept responsibility
• Sheila:

  • She conveys a greater sense of intuition than the other characters and her dialogue in Act 1 foreshadows future events:
  • Comments how Gerald stayed away from her all the previous summer, alluding to his affair with Eva/Daisy
  • She comments how Eric is drunk; foreshadowing his drinking problem
  • Is the first to understand the inauthenticity of the Inspector
• Sheila:

  • Sheila's language becomes increasingly emotional:
  • This is sharply contrasted with the pompous language of her father and the condescending tone of her mother
  • Her dialogue reveals her sensitive nature and her compassion and empathy for others less fortunate
  • Similarly, her dialogue demonstrates her increasing assertiveness towards her parents
• Sheila:

  • Both Sheila and Eric develop more than the other characters in the play, it is Sheila who is transformed more than any other character
  • Eric echoes many of his sister's sentiments, Sheila is much more assertive and alluring character than her brother
  • By the end of the play, she refuses to continue her engagement with Gerald even though he claims "everything's all right now"
  • She represents the younger generation and provides an element of hope
• Gerald Croft:

  • Although he is still culpable, Gerald could be perceived to be the least blameworthy character in the play:
  • While both Gerald and Eric exploit Eva/Daisy, Gerald's behaviour wasn't cruel and he was concerned for her
  • While Gerald feels genuine regret for his treatment of Eva, it is short-lived and he ultimately fails to change
  • His guilt is only temporary and he celebrates with the Birling's on avoiding a scandal
  • By offering the ring again to Sheila at the end of the play, he shows he has not learned anything from the Inspector
• Gerald Croft:

  • His affair could be perceived to demonstrate upper-class sexual hypocrisy (behaving in a way suggest one has higher standards that is the case) and irresponsibility
  • He discards Eva when he loses interest in her
  • He first attempts to hide details of his affair from Sheila
  • His first reaction to Eva's death is to distance himself even though he still shows empathy towards her
• Gerald Croft:

  • He is a relatively passive character:
  • This is in sharp contrast to Mr and Mrs Birlings confrontational behaviour
  • He can be viewed as a more sympathetic character:
  • He's open to the Inspector's questioning and to some extent to present an honest account of his dealings with Eva
  • He presents himself as having rescued Eva, though this could be viewed as self-justification for his actions
• Gerald Croft:

  • First described as "an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well bred young man about him"
  • His description presents him in a positive light and he is shown to be confident, amiable and polite
  • As the social superior of the Birling family, he represents immense privilege
  • Gerald presents little dissension to both Mr and Mrs Birlings attitudes and behaviour
  • He agrees with Mr B's dismissal of Eva because of her participation in a pay strike
• The Inspector:

  • Priestley's stage directions reveal that the Inspector "need not be a big man" but that he must create an "impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness"
  • He is presented as a powerful figure with an imposing presence
• The Inspector:

  • Priestley intentionally names the Inspector Goole, which introduces an almost supernatural or ghost-like element to the play:
  • Priestley deliberately presents the Inspector as a mysterious character and this is further heightened by the series of revelations at the end of the play
  • Priestley enables the Inspector to have an apparent awareness of Eva's death before it has occurred, which also adds an almost supernatural element
• The Inspector:

  • His entrance in Act 1 makes an immediate impact and changes the tone of the evening:
  • The lighting changes from 'pink and intimate' to 'brighter and harder' to suggest that the Inspector will place the characters under great scrutiny
  • He exudes an air of authority through his language and actions
  • The Inspector controls when each character sees the photo of Eva, creating intrigue and suspense
  • He also controls the unfolding of events and the characters themselves
  • The Inspector's language is carefully composed and moralistic in tone
• The Inspector:

  • He delivers the most important statements within the play:
  • The Inspector speaks purposefully and with great assurance which conveys an impression of great knowledge
  • All of the characters are judged by him but he offers neither punishment nor forgiveness as the characters must judge each other
• The Inspector:

  • Ideas relating to social responsibility are interwoven throughout his dialogue
  • The Inspector tries to prevent the group from evading responsibility
  • He delivers the most significant and weighty statements in the play
  • He is a catalyst in the play, bringing about change despite not changing himself
• Eric's description at the beginning of the play

  In his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive
• Eric's description at the beginning of the play

  • Denotes his lack of confidence and social awkwardness
• Eric's description at the beginning of the play

  In stark contrast to the other characters on stage, especially Gerald
• Eric attempts to challenge some of his parents' views in the early stages of the play


  However, he struggles to confront them to any great extent and they are largely dismissive of any opinions he puts forward
• Eric contradicts his parents on many occasions in Act I
• Eric's retorts to his parents

  May simply be due to his hostility towards them rather than displaying sympathy towards the strikers in his father's factory
• Eric


  • Presented as a weak character
• Eric plays a largely insignificant role in the first two acts of the play
• It is not until Act III when Priestley forces Eric to confess his affair with Eva and to admit she was pregnant with his child
• Eric develops at the end of the play


  Becomes more assertive towards his parents
• Eric: 'you killed them both – damn you, damn you'
• Eric's confession

  Sharply contrasted with that of his parents'
• Eric heavily criticises his mother's treatment of Eva Smith