Inspector calls

• Seven deadly sins

  • Birling = greed
  • Eric = Gluttuny ( which causes lust due to his alchol abuse)
  • Gerald = Lust ( and captalistic greed)
  • Sheila = envy
  • Mrs birling = pride

  In the morality play Priestly uses each character as a construct for one of the seven deadly sins. This is to undermine what they stand for in capitalism and the patriarchy suggesting that what they stand for is the root of all evil and against christianity.
• "we are all members of one body"- priestley is deliberately making a biblical reference to the bible as it links back to the breaking of bread to share the body of christ in christianity.

  • "we" adresses the whole of society
  • "one body" collective responsibility, refers to the fact how the human body works in unison, if one part doesnt function it will affect the rest of the body.
  • "One body" christian symbolism, majority of audience practicing Christians - - >linking the message of the bible to the message of socialisim - - > if audience is truly Christian they should also be socialist
• Opening stage directions:

  "Edna is just clearing the table"

  The contrast between Edna, a symbol for the working class being made to work while the privileged Birlings celebreate idly. Focus on "Just" as it suggests that its a regular occurance.
• Opening directions:

  "the table has no cloth"

  suggests that the birlings do not have proper etiquette, not only should their be cloth but rather white cloth. The white cloth could perhaps symbolise goodness and purity which the Birlings do not have.
• Stage directions (Sheila, patriarchy, capitalism,younger generation):

  "a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited"

  portraying sheila as a "girl" -->shocking to the modern audience as Sheila is in her "early twenties". ---> lack of agency and political views she cant be labeled as a "woman" -->(link to sufferagette movement)

  "rather excited" --> unable to control emotions --->undermining what she stands for in the Patriarchal society. Wealth and status which makes her pleased with life which mirorrs her father
• Eva is an allusion to Eve, as the mother of all humanity. it is in the latin for of Eve. This matches Priestley's Christian message : if "we are all members of one body" then we are all connected through our orginal mother in Eve, furthermore Eva is a name which exsist in nearly every european language, and so again symbolises every woman.

  smith is a common english surname which is used to symbolise women around the world and convey to the reader that it could occur to anyone what happened to Eva
• daisy renton = "daisy" symbolises the fresh start which she had as it provides connotations of freshness ,A flower is also , vulnerable and innocent ; easily picked which is why eric and gerald chose her due to her outwards appearance.

  daisy renton is a rare name --> renton is symbolic for how she will "rent " for the rest of her life and further more once she loses her job her body is literally for rent.
• “These girls aren't cheap labour - they’re people.”

  • adjective "girls" can be seen as insulting as the patrionizes the workforce even though they were likely to be her age or older, suggests that is not yet fully accustomed to her socailistic views as she uses condescending lanuage. "girls " also connotes to innocence
  • "cheap labour" juxstaposes her fathers comment of keeping costs "low" while products high -> suggests that Sheila sympathises with the working class-> further emphasised by refering to the working class with the noun "people" contrasting the dehumanising of Eva in the play
• "I wasn't in love with her or anything- but I liked her - she was pretty and a good sport" - Eric

  • "sport", In sports there are winners(men) and losers(women). Sports are also games which come to an end suggesting that Eric toyed with Eva-> links to the objectification of women.
  • Reduced her to her physical appearance and ability to be entertaining. Reflects how Rich and privileged men in 1912 could do whatever they want. Clear patriarchal society. corrborated by Gerald stating what he did with no backlash demonstrating how this was standard practice.
• "We've been had, thats all"
• "fire and blood and anguish"
• "millions and millions of Eva smiths and john smiths still left with us"
• "mind his own business and look after himself and his own"

  • expresses his individualism and self-preservation, dismissing the idea of social responsibility
  • Repetition of "own" emphasizes his focus on personal gain providing a stark contrast to the inspectors socialistic views
  • Rule of 3 emphasizes his individualism.
  • the order of the quote sums up capitalism as the two things which are most important are wealth and yourself. creates a society were its inhabitants are selfish
  • "sharp ring " foreshadows how Mr Birlings world is about to be brought crashing down due to his views
• "You don't seem to have learned anything."

  • expresses her dissapointment in her family not having learnt anything and not willing to take responsibility
  • "learned anything" reflects the educational purpose of the inspectors visit and how important it is so reflect on ones actions
  • emphasizes the generational divide between the characters, reflecting the changing attitudes towards social responsiblity-> done by Priestly to convey how the younger generation will lead us to a more just society
• "fairy prince"

  • sarcasm to adress Gerald after finding out about the affair
• "girls of that class"

  • Condescending tone and langauge towards the lowerclass. "that" highlights the dismissive attitudes of the upper class towards the working class. positioning them as inferior and unworthy of consideration
• "she had only herself to blame"

  
  

  • pronoun "she" was used by Mrs birling to distance herself from Eva and in turn the responsiblity of her death.
  • the phrase "only herself to blame" suggests that responsibility lies solely with Eva, absolving the upper class from any wrong doing. This attitude conveys the rigid Class system of Edwardian England which allowed the privileged few to wield power over the vulnerable many without any consequences.
  • Even though it lead to the death of her grandchild she refuses to admit that she did "anything wrong" class barriers are to high
• Priestley creates these young characters in 1912 because they will have the most power in this capitalistic soceity through their inheritance and wealth. They represent the ruling classes of 1945.
• "we try for higher profits, why shouldnt they try for higher wages "
• "too soon"

  • ends her engagement to Gerald even though she will not find a better economic match in the patriarchal society of Edwardian England. Could also suggest how Sheila has not learnt her lesson and instead comment on how entrenched the patriarchy is.
• The arrogance of Mr birling is represented by him believing that "we will never be war with the Germany" which leads to the second world war. The refusal to learn his lesson leads to the second death which is a metaphor for the second world war. Birling is a symbol of the ruling classes refusing to learn their lesson from the first world war
• " men with important work to do sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on their business"

  Mrs. Birling has accepted the social norms of the Edwardian period. This shows that it's not only men telling women what to do hit rather that women such as Mrs birling have been ideologically compelled to follow the patriarchal ideology entrenched in society.

  The words "get used to that" give a sense of resignation as there is nothing that can be done about it which speaks to the fact that the patriarchal ideology has been passed down through generations.
• "clothes mean something quite different to a woman"

  This quote highlights the theme of gender roles and the idea that society has different expectations and perceptions of men and women. Mr. Birling suggesting that clothing is more significant to women than it is to men connotes to the fact that women were judged more harshly based onto their appearance which could link back to the time period 1912 were the value of a women was her beauty, femininity and obedience.
• Women did not have the ability to study and develop as during the play Eric was stated to attend an expensive university while Sheila didn't this suggests that her jealousy towards Eva was not just created by her personality but rather was manufactured by the rules of patriarchal society which don't allow women in general do develop in any other way instead women are implanted with the idea that attractiveness is what's most important
• "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable "

  • Presents him as ignorant and at the very least at the wrong side of history. commonly belived in 1912 before the ship set sail the audience would be astounded by how wrong he was. The words used and allteration highlights the dramatic irony, leaves the audience to wonder if he was wrong abour the titanic and World war 2 then his capitalistic views also ought to be wrong
• Edna - - > similar to Eva, symbolises working class - - >comes from Ireland and Scotland, which historically invaded and opressed by the English. Symbolic of the oppression from the Rich.
• Further more the original Latin name which Sheila comes from I's Cecilia. By appearing to change Sheila's political views by the end of act 2, Priestley is linking it back to the symbolic meaning of saint Cecilia who was a martyr, sentenced to death for refusing to worship Roman gods instead opting for the christan God. - - >begins to see the truth of the need to be socially responsible, and that we are all members of one body - - - > death of saint Cecilia by the hands of Roman's symbolises Sheila's powerless because she is young, furthermore due to her gender.
• Gerald came to Britain from the normans as well which again symbolic of the power and conquest which the upper class holds. - - >derived from the germanic words "rule of the spear" this suggests that unlike any character it is Gerald who is directly responsible for the death of Eva due to the connotations of his name. This suggests that the male sexual exploitation of Eva which Gerald caused alongside Eric is far worse than the rest.