An Inspector Calla

• Priestley uses dramatic irony to great effect in the play
• Sheila


  • Allows Priestley to show his opinions on youth
  • Deeply affected by Eva's death
  • Accepts responsibility straightaway and promises to never behave in such a way again
• Older characters (Mr and Mrs Birling, Gerald)

  • Do not accept responsibility
  • We do not get the impression they will change
• Eric Birling


  Lacks confidence
• Evidence of Eric Birling lacking confidence

  • "I don't know - really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh."
• Eric Birling


  • Can be assertive
  • Emotional
• Evidence of Eric Birling being assertive


  • "No, I mean about this girl - Eva Smith. Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices. And I don't see why she should have been sacked just because she'd a bit more spirit than the others."
• Evidence of Eric Birling being emotional


  • "(bursting out) What's the use of talking about behaving sensibly. You're beginning to pretend now that nothing's really happened at all. And I can't see it like that. This girl's still dead, isn't she? Nobody's brought her to life, have they?"
• Priestley uses Eric to suggest the young people of post-war Britain would be the answer to a hopeful future
• Priestley also addresses concerns about the dangers of immoral behaviour through Eric
• Gerald Croft


  • Confident
  • Evasive
  • Honest
• Evidence of Gerald Croft being confident


  • "Sure to be, unless Eric's been up to something."
• Evidence of Gerald Croft being evasive

  • "All right. I knew her. Let's leave it at that."
• Evidence of Gerald Croft being honest


  • "The girl saw me looking at her and then gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry for help."
• Priestley uses Gerald to attack the upper-classes of post-war Britain
• Priestley suggests the upper-classes saw themselves above the problems of the working-classes
• Inspector Goole


  • Imposing
  • Emotive
  • Prophetic
• Evidence of Inspector Goole being imposing

  • ...he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.
• Evidence of Inspector Goole being emotive

  • "Her position now is that she lies with a burnt out inside on a slab."
• Evidence of Inspector Goole being prophetic

  • "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. Good night."
• Priestley uses the Inspector to make the audience question their own behaviour and morality
• The issues the Inspector highlights are just as relevant to a modern day audience
• Eva Smith/Daisy Renton


  • Strong willed
  • Sense of humour
  • Sensitive
• Evidence of Eva Smith being strong willed

  • Birling: "...she'd been working in one of our machine shops for over a year. A good worker too. In fact, the foreman there told me he was ready to promote her into what we call a leading operator - head of a small group of girls. But after they came back from their holidays that August, they were all rather restless, and they suddenly decided to ask for more money."
• Evidence of Eva Smith having a sense of humour


  • "Well, when I tried the thing on and looked at myself and knew that it was all wrong, I caught sight of this girl smiling at Miss Francis - as if to say: 'doesn't she look awful' - and I was absolutely furious."
• Evidence of Eva Smith being sensitive


  • Inspector: "She kept a rough sort of diary. And she said there that she had to go away and be quiet and remember 'just to make it last longer'. She felt there'd never be anything as good again for her - so she had to make it last longer".
• Priestley never lets the audience or the Birlings and Gerald forget Eva Smith's gruesome death
• Priestley's lesson is that there are millions of Eva Smiths being exploited and this must not continue
• Eva: '"doesn't she look awful"'
• Eva


  • Has a good sense of humour and a human side
  • Audience empathises with her
• Sensitive


  Felt emotions very deeply
• Eva Smith kept a diary after her affair with Gerald ended
• Inspector: '"She kept a rough sort of diary. And she said there that she had to go away and be quiet and remember 'just to make it last longer'. She felt there'd never be anything as good again for her - so she had to make it last longer".'
• Eva Smith was emotionally sensitive
• An Inspector Calls was first performed in the UK just after the end of World War Two, in 1946
• During the early 20th-century there was no government support for the poor
• Priestley wanted to address the issue of lack of welfare support and felt that if people were more considerate of one another, it would improve quality of life for all
• Social responsibility is a key theme of the play
• Sheila feels socially responsible


  Sheila is shocked when she learns that she had a part to play in Eva's death
• Mr Birling does not feel socially responsible


  Mr Birling refuses to take any responsibility for Eva Smith's death