An Inspector Calls - Characters

Characters = Sybil Birling : Lyuba Eric Birling : Jackie Arthur Birling : Stefano Gerald Croft : Nadia Sheila Birling : Carlotta Inspector Goole: Andre Edna and narrator: Lu

• • •

• • •

•

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • •

• •

•

• •

•

Arthur Birling He’s a prosperous factory owner (businessman), his first priority is to make money & get power! He strongly believes that “a man has to make his own way”. He’s looking forward to receiving a knighthood. He refuses to accept any responsibility for Eva’s death. Sybil Birling Wants to stick to the rules, concerned about manners (tells what the others shall do or not). She is only interested in the family-reputation. She’s very conservative, old-fashioned, selfish, coldhearted, snobbish& egoistic. Sheila at the begin she’s snobbish, egoistic& self-confident, but in the end she thinks more clearly, critical, accepts criticism, nice, honest& responsible: she likes to change herself and feels sorry for what she had done. Her readiness to learn from experience is in a great contrast to her parents. Eric Start: makes jokes, behaves silly, lives an easy-going live, and doesn’t care about anything. He behaves half shy and

half assertive (anmassend). End: starts thinking, accepts his guilt, might stop drinking that much. Gerald Croft Is good-looking, rich& clever: man about town! He’s engaged to Sheila and also son of an industrial. He doesn’t change lot during the story; stays a capitalist (just interested in money& profit). He seems to agree completely with Mr. Birling, quite the same attitude of live. Inspector Goole (Goole= Geist; spirit in death) isn’t a real inspector; more something like god because he makes them all fell guilty. His manners are quite extraordinary, extraordinary, rude& assertive. One of the main reasons to visit the Birling family is to make them realise, what responsibilities they have& that their behaviour has an influence on others (opposite to Mr. Birling’s moral). Eva Smith sprechender Name als Hinweis auf die Vertreterin der Mitmenschen schlechthin..

Short summary This story takes place in 1912, right before the 1st World War in Brumley, an industrial city in the North Midlands (fictive town-> associations to other real industrial towns, like e.g. Bradford, Birmingham or Burnley). The B. family is celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft, when inspector Goole arrives and tells about a girl’s (Eva Smith) suicide. After lots of questions, it turns out that they are all, more or less responsible for this tragically death. After the inspector left they find out that he wasn’t a real inspector and that no girl died on the way to the Infirmary, after swallowing some disinfectant! 1st Act

The family and Gerald are celebrating Gerald and Sheila’s engagement in the dining-room. Sheila and Eric are arguing in a not really serious way, while Gerald& Mr. Birling are talking about business, politic (titanic), Mr. Birling’s way into the next honour list by getting an knighthood and about Lady Croft’s (Gerald’s mother) attitude of social classes (it looks like she isn’t too happy about the fact, that her son is engaged to a girl of a lower class). Just before the ring bells& the inspector arrives, Mr. Birling shows his outlook on life, what he had learnt in the good hard school of experience to Gerald& Eric (important sentence for the rest of the story!): “...a man has to make his own way, has to look after himself and his family..”. The inspector enters and tells about the suicide. He shows a photograph to Mr.B. and starts questioning him. It turns out that Eva Smith had been one of Mr.B. employees and later on was discharged because she asked for more money, had been refused& went on a strike (as one of the ringleaders). Sheila enters into the dining-room and gets the next to be questioned. Her fault: she had been jealous of Eva because she looked better in a specific dress. She went to the manager and told him that this girl had been very impertinent (unverschämt)…so, (unverschämt)…so, indirectly she made Eva lost her job. The inspector goes on& tells that Eva Smith had changed her name into Daisy Renton. Now Gerald’s faults get cleared up. He has had an affair with her the previous summer.  Important questions& points about this act 

Why is Mr.B happy about Sheila’s engagement to Gerald? Because Gerald’s father had always been his rival. Birlings outlook of live -> the author thinks B. is wrong and will prove him wrong later in the play. Why might the inspector investigate a suicide?Because there seems to be a lot of reasons, which have driven

the victim into suicide. He might think there’s a crime behind and also because he wants to made the B.family realise that they’re responsible for others. A further aspect is the author intention to show, that the whole story isn’t real. Eric’s attitude to the strike? He would have given the employees the money; to him strikes are something good. Relationship Sheila - Eric: typically brother-sister relationship, behave rude& unfriendly to each other but in principle like each other very much. What have Sheila and the inspector in common?Both of  them want to know the truth, both think in a social way and also that Eva’s death had been unnecessary. Relationship Sheila- Gerald: Sheila loves him; to her he’s a  ‘good catch’. On the other hand Gerald; sees mostly the business aspect of the connection-> no deep feelings! Why did Eva Smith change her name into Daisy Renton? She might had to hide something or might has wanted to start a new, better live. 2nd Act Mrs Birling came along and was told that Eric often drinks. Gerald talks about his relationship towards Daisy Renton (alias Eva Smith). After that, he went out for a walk…and the inspector turns towards Mrs B., her crime: she failed her “job” as a member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation by not helping deserving cases. She refused Eva’s ask for help (she was pregnant and had no money), because she don’t like her.  Important questions& points

The state of the engagement after Gerald confessed his affair: Sheila solved the engagement, she broke up, but actually she isn’t very angry anymore but she needs some time to think. The inspector’s behaviour, Sheila stares at him  ‘wonderingly and dubiously: because he seems to

know all answers in advance. 3rd Act Eric comes back and became the next victim of Inspector Goole: he is more or less forced to confess his relationship towards Eva. He met her first in the Palace bar (as Gerald did) and stood her a few drinks, later on he was quite drunk and they went to her lodgings. After a few more dates, Eva was going to have a baby. She didn’t want Eric to marry, so he gave her enough money to keep her going, but finally she refuses even this (because she had found out that it has been stolen). The problem about the money (about fifty pounds): Eric got it from his father’s office, without asking in advance! The inspector left- the family is arguing (parents- children) and discussing until Gerald returns and exposes the inspector as not real. And after a call to the local Infirmary (no girl has been brought in this afternoon who had committed suicide by drinking disinfectant) it’s seems clear that the whole thing had been a bluff. The family is relieved… but right then the phone rings: it’s the police, a girl had committed suicide& a inspector is on the way to ask some questions…  Important questions and points

Mood in the dining-room: feeling of guilt, wish to learn something. The growing feeling effect of the evening’s events on the Birling family as a whole: they start to feel involved, start arguing amongst themselves, and feel bitter. They make each other responsible for what has happened. For Sheila it doesn’t matter whether the inspector is real or not because what’s important to her is that she now knows the truth. But to her parents it’s seems to make a big difference because the confession to a real police man would have meant a public scandal. Sheila& Eric: they learnt form their mistakes, they become more mature and ‘real grown-ups’. Mr. & Mrs. Birling as well as Gerald gets gets on the point of 

accepting some responsibility not for very long, all in one they haven’t learn anything! They want to forget everything, pretend nothing had happened. They become self-confident again and that’s why the second phone call takes place: the author wants to prove them wrong! The 2nd call: shows the audience clearly the moral of the play, should make think about the play in general.

Autobiography John Boynton Priestley was born in 1894 in Bradford, a industrial city in the north of England (refers to Brumley) and died in 1984. He was an ‘all-round writer’ what means he wrote all different sorts of literature. He’s childhood was all in one a peaceful time in a moderate socialistically atmosphere. Mostly all of his stories were influenced by the 1st World War, where he had been a frond- soldier. He often describes the live of simple people by turning it dramatically into an ethical and political position. After this experience, he went to Cambridge studying history, politic and literature. 1929 he broke through because of his novel ‘the Good Companions’. In ‘an inspector calls’ (written right after the 2nd World War; 1945) he shows his attitude towards a human socialism. Typically for his work is the criticism towards all antisocial attitudes, e.g. greed (Habgier) and inconsiderate power struggle (rücksichtsloses (rücksichtsloses Machtstreben).

General Things Who is the inspector? No real person of interest, more something like a personified bad conscience of guilt and internal voice. Moral of the play: refute (wiederlegen) mr.B’s confession of faith / philosophy of live: ‘…community and all that nonsense....’, nonsense....’, ‘...A man has to mind his own business

&look after himself and his own....’ by his moral demand for: ‘...One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smith still left with us…We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.