Inspector Calls
Act 2
Characters
Sheila
Events
Themes
Women
social responsibility
Mrs Birling
Matures and stands up for herslef
breaks away from her 'weak' female stereotype
patronising
Audience sees her as arrogant and self-centered
classist "girls of that class"
She wants to keep the relationship with her children childlike "he's only a boy"
the Insperctor
Becomes more annoyed with the Birling family " [cutting in with authority] "
"girls of that class"
"Women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things"
Supernatural
"women of the town"
" no he's giving us a rope - so that we'll hang ourselves" - metaphore
"she looked young and fresh and charming"
"Your daughter isn't living on the moon"
"You were the wonderful Fairy Prince"
"favourite haunt"
"Public men, Mr Birling, have responsiblilities as well as privileges"
- Sheila gets angry with Gerald for cheating on her with Eva Smith
"Go look for the father of the child. It's his responsibility"
"I can accept no blame for it all"
- Mrs Birling continues to prove her power whilst Sheila and even Gerald try to stop her
- They start to talk about Eric and how he drinks too much - which Mrs B tries to cover up
- Mr Birling enters and asks the inspector to get Eric's questionings "over and done with" so that Eric can go to bed, which is then denied by the inspector
- Mrs Birling enters and immediately shows her power to the Inspector and treats Sheila like a child
- Geral;d tells the story of how he met Eva Smith
- Sheila breaks up with Gerald
- Gerald leaves
- Mrs Birling is shown the photo of Eva, she then denies that she knows her and is then told of by Sheila and the Inspector for lying
- The Inspector continues to question her until Mr B confesses that she turned down Eva's claim to money at her charity but Mrs B doesn't feel responsible or guilt for her actions
- The inspector tells everyone how Eva was going to have a child. Mrs B says that it was all the fathers fault and still feels no guilt
- Mrs B and Mr B continue to blame the father. Sheila figures it out and pleads them to stop. Eric (the father) enters the stage, then the curtain falls
Quotes
Characters
Themes
Mrs Birling
Mr Birling
Sheila
hypocrisy
Guilt/Shame
class
gender
age
power
prejudice
time
responsibility
Gerald
Eric
the inspector
"Women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things"
"she looked young and fresh and charming" - rule of three
"girls of that class"
"Public men, Mr Birling, have responsiblilities as well as privileges"
"I can accept no blame for it all"
" no he's giving us a rope - so that we'll hang ourselves" - metaphore
"Go look for the father of the child. It's his responsibility"
Act 1
Act 2
"he's only a boy" - thinks of the younger generations as children
"We’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity"
‘We’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity’ - confidense
‘the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else’ - Mr Birling's view on society
Key
Bold = technique
Italics = note/description
"It's my duty to keep labour costs down" - Thinks that capitalism is better than socialism
"She's had a lot to say - far too much - so she had to go" uses dashes and repetition
"It's better to ask for the earth than to take it" - metaphore
"these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people" - dashes - Sheila's mature socialist side
"a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather exited" - beginning
"I'm sorry that she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all" - Mrs Birling is ignorant to her own arrogance
"each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it." - Short sentances
" you're not that type"
"naturally was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case"
"We often do on the young ones. They're more impressionable"
"[He looks at Gerald, then at Eric, then at Sheila]
"we're in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity"-dramatic irony
"the famous younger generation who know it all" - sarcasm
"don't get into a police court or start a scandal - eh?" - question and dash
"half shay, half assertive"
"Because you're not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble"
"An attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man around town"
"[cutting in, with authority] : He must wait his turn."
"yes" - allows Eric to drink shows his liberal side
"He creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness" - rule of three
"he had some affection for her and made her happy for a time"