An inspector calls

• Stage Instructions: "pink and intimate" until the Inspector arrives. Then it is "brighter and harder".


  The stage instructions clearly state the arrival of the inspector marks a significant change in the atmosphere on stage. The choice of adjectives gives us further clues about why this is. Before the Inspector arrives the adjectives "pink" and "intimate" suggest the cosiness of the Birlings in their privilege. The words "brighter" and "harder" suggests a link with truth (light is often equated with truth), but also suggests that the truth will be difficult for the Birlings to accept.
• Mr. Birling: "lower costs and higher prices"


  Both Birling and Gerald Croft look to combine their companies. Here we see that the intention is to reduce costs (wages) and to increase prices (profits). We see that self-interest leads to inequality and exploitation.
• Mr. Birling: "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable"


  Priestley uses dramatic irony here. We, the audience, know that Birling's confidence in the Titanic is misplaced as the Titanic famously does sink. We are made to feel that if Birling is wrong about this, then his other opinions are likely to be wrong-headed also.
• Mr. Birling: "all mixed up together like bees in a hive"


  Birling intends this to be an insult but Priestley wants us to see this image as an ideal. Bees work together for the common good of the hive. They achieve more together than they could as individual, self-interested animals.
• Mr. Birling: "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own"


  This is an important quotation. Mr. Birling is setting out the key principle of his moral code, and its interruption by the Inspector is symbolic. Priestley is telling us that the Birling's idea that a man's responsibility is only to himself and his immediate family is something that has to change. Here we see Birling use an indefinite article ('a man') and the third person ('his') to show that this is a principle that he believes applies to everyone. He believes only in personal responsibility and that man has no duty towards others.
• Inspector Goole: "swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant"


  The inspector tells us of Eva Smith's suicide. The strong disinfectant is symbolic as disinfectant is used to clean wounds and prevent infection. In An Inspector Calls, unregulated capitalism is the infection that is responsible for the death of Eva Smith.
• Mr. Birling: "a good worker too"


  This is significant. Birling tells us that Eva Smith is a good worker. She is sacked purely because she organises the workers to work together to protect their interests.
• Sheila: "These girls aren't cheap labour, they're people."


  Sheila can see the truth. She recognises that Birling's capitalism makes workers like Eva Smith into a commodity. It dehumanises them. Sheila is able to see the truth - that the workers are people and are deserving of respect and fair treatment.
• Inspector Goole: "One line of inquiry at a time"


  The Inspector insists on interviewing the witnesses one at a time. This is symbolic. Birling and those like him argue that their actions cannot be linked with negative outcomes in others' lives. By following one line of inquiry at a time the inspector can show how selfish actions can have cumulative effects. Also worth mentioning is that the interviewing of suspects one by one is a convention of the Whodunnit? genre. Finally this strategy enables the Inspector to show the picture to one person at a time and this opens the possibility that Eva Smith is not one person, but is composite of several people.
• Gerald: "Nearly any man would have done."


  When Sheila accuses Gerald of enjoying having Daisy Renton adoring him, Gerald uses the argument that "any man would have done". Opponents of socialism often make the point that it is just human nature to use the power we have to exploit others. However, the auxiliary verb "would", shows that this is not a fact, only Gerald's opinion.
• Sheila: "He's giving us the rope so that we'll hang ourselves."


  Here Sheila is able to see that the Inspector knows the truth already. The macabre choice of image indicates the guilt that the wealthy classes should feel for the plight of workers.
• Mrs. Birling: "I didn't like her manner"


  Mrs. Birling rejects Eva's application for charitable assistance. Eva calls herself 'Birling', which Mrs Birling regards as 'impertinence'. The quotation shows that the rich cannot be relied upon to provide charity and support. The phrase 'I didn't like' shows that in 1912 charitable assistance was arbitrary, at the whim of the individual and was not given purely on the basis of need. The word 'manner' is nebulous and difficult to define, further reducing clarity.
• Eric: "I was in that state where a chap easily turns nasty"


  Eric's state is brought on by drink. He acknowledges his weakness, but is reluctant to say directly that he pressured Eva Smith into having sex with him. He uses the indefinite article (a chap) to make is sound like a normal way of behaving.
• Inspector Goole: "millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths"


  The Inspector's final speech is the most important lines of the play. The inspector is the moral centre of the play. He is right about everything! In this quotation he makes it explicit to the audience that Eva Smith is a symbol. She represents the whole of the working class. The inclusion of John Smiths shows that Eva Smith is not representing the plight of women but of the whole working class.
• Inspector Goole: "fire and blood and anguish"


  Also from the Inspector's final speech. He says that if people like the Birling's do not learn a lesson then they will learn it in 'fire and blood and anguish'. This could be read in two ways. On one level the Birlings could go to Hell and be punished for their crimes in the eternal fires of Hell. On another level, this could be threat of rebellion and revolution. In this interpretation the Birlings run the risk of being punished by revolutionaries like those in Russia, during their own lifetimes.
• Mr. Birling: "Probably a socialist or some sort of crank"


  Here, Birling dismisses the Inspector as a 'socialist' . Birling dismisses the Inspector with a label. He is not able to defeat his arguments. Birling uses the word "crank" to dismiss socialism as madness, not for normal people. Priestley hopes that by this stage, the audience believe that it is in fact Mr. Birling who is the real crank.
• Mr. Birling: "By Jingo! A fake!"


  When Birling discovers that there is no Inspector Goole his excitement is clear. The use of short exclamatory sentences shows this. The use of an upper class colloquialism ('By Jingo') makes him seem out of touch with normal people.
• Sheila: "It frightens me the way you talk"


  Sheila is frightened by how quickly Birling returns to his old life and values when he thinks the consequences of his actions have gone. This suggests that the young have responsibility to ensure that those with power are forced to help society as they will not do on their own.
• Gerald: "Everything's all right now, Sheila... What about this ring?"


  Once he exposes the Inspector as a fake, and the threat of negative consequence is taken away, Gerald too believes that he can continue to behave just as he always has. He continues to patronise Sheila, speaking to her as if she were a child. His proposal "What about this ring?", has no apology and demonstrates Gerald's arrogance and sense of entitlement.
• Mr. Birling: "On his way here - to ask some - questions -"


  Significantly, the play ends with the word 'questions'. Priestley wants the audience to ask meaningful questions of the world they live in and to change the world for the better. The use of the dash shows that Birling is nervous and implies that if people work together for change they will be successful. Finally we see a circular structure implied, which shows that the problem will not go away. Eva Smiths have always been with us and are still with us today.