An Inspector Calls Character Revision Name 1 The

An Inspector Calls Character Revision Name: ___________________ 1

The big ideas in the play Attitudes to women: Priestley challenges the idea that men are strong and women weak and need protecting. He presents Sheila at the start of the play as a stereotyped woman of her time and class but as the play progresses she rejects this role and is shown to be stronger than the male characters. He uses Eva to show the double standards regarding women at the time. Social class: Priestley thought the class system was bad for the working classes as upper classes have all the power and money and exploit the working classes as can be seen by the way the Birlings and Gerald treat Eva; he felt class doesn’t make you more important or more moral and shows this by presenting Eva as being more moral than the upper classes. Generations: Priestley shows that the older generation (represented by Mr & Mrs Birling) have old-fashioned views and don’t want anything to change. They feel that authority shouldn’t be challenged and that the younger generation should respect and obey their elders. The younger generation (represented by Sheila and Eric) start off accepting the beliefs and views of their parents but change and accept that there needs to be a fairer and more equal society). Gerald is part of the younger generation but doesn’t change. Priestley is using him to show that change isn’t bound to happen and that people have to choose to do the right thing Responsibility: Priestley shows our actions affect others so we should think carefully about them; we should all be responsible for the welfare for everyone in our society otherwise we will all suffer in the long run Selfishness: Priestley thinks we should act in a way that doesn’t hurt others rather than in a way that only benefits ourselves. He uses the characters to show the terrible impact selfish behaviour has. 2

Colour code the quotations to show who says them or who they are about. Write on them the name of the person they are speaking to. Key: Mr Birling Mrs Birling Sheila Eric Gerald The Inspector ‘a rather cold woman’ p. 1 ‘very pleased with life’ p. 1 ’not quite at ease’ p. 2 ‘You’re squiffy’ p. 3 ‘lower costs and higher prices’ p. 4 ‘Isn’t it a beauty? (Kisses Gerald hastily) p. 5 ‘there isn’t a chance of war’ p. 6 ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’ p. 10 ‘burnt her inside out, of course’ p. 11 ‘(rather impatiently) ‘Yes, yes. Horrid business’ p. 12 ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ p. 14 ‘Look – Mummy’ (Act 1); ‘But Mother’ (Act 2) ‘you used the power you had, as the daughter of a good customer’ p. 24 ‘I feel I can never go there again’ p. 25 ‘It’s bound to be unpleasant and disturbing’ p. 27 ‘That – I consider – is a trifle impertinent’ p. 30 ‘didn’t blame me at all’. P. 39 ‘I did my duty’ p. 44 ‘As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money’ p. 47 ‘I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty’ p. 52 ‘not the kind of father a chap could go to’ p. 54 ‘all intertwined with our lives’ p. 56 ‘We are members of one body’ p. 56 ‘fire and blood anguish’ p. 56 ‘a public scandal’ p. 58 ‘It’s a hoax of some kind’ p. 67 ‘You’re pretending everything’s just as before’ p. 71 3

Eva Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. )) 1. How old (roughly) is Eva? ________________ 2. Who else in the play is a similar age? ___________ 3. What job did Eva have first? ______________ 4. Why did she leave this job? ____________________________ ‘_____ her _______ out, of course’ p. 11 5. She then went to work at Milwards. What is Milwards? ________________ ‘a _______ worker’ p. 14 6. Why did she lose this job? ___________________________ 7. Eva changes her name at this point. What did she now call herself? ________________ 8. Gerald met her at the Palace Bar. Why had she gone there? _____________________ 9. Why did Gerald finish their relationship? ____________________________ 10. Who did Eva meet at the Palace Bar next and what happened? ____________________ 11. Why did Eva go and ask Mrs Birling’s committee for help? _____________________ 12. Who did Eva refuse to take money from and why? ___________________________ 13. Which of the ‘big ideas’ does Eva refusing money link to? ________________________ 14. How did Eva kill herself? _______________________ 15. Eva is meant to represent the working classes. Which of the ‘big ideas’ does this link to? ____________ ‘this _____ had been very __________’ p. 24 ‘As if a girl of that _____ would ever refuse ________’ p. 47 ‘all _________ with our lives’ p. 56 ‘Just _______ her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she were an ______, a thing, not a ________’ p. 56 4

Chain of events: what happened to her to make her want to kill herself? Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 What is Eva meant to represent? Quote Key words Step 4 Eva Smith Step 5 How does she link to the big ideas? Why is this important? ‘burnt her inside out, of course’ p. 11 ‘a good worker’ p. 14 ‘this girl had been very impertinent’ p. 24 How does she link to Priestley’s message? ‘As if girls of that sort would ever refuse money’ p. 47 ‘all intertwined with our lives’ p. 56 ‘Just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she were an animal, a thing, not a person’ p. 56 5

Mr Birling Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct 1. What does Mr Birling do for a living? ____________________ 2. Name two things Mr Birling says that the audience know are wrong: • __________________ • _________________ 3. What is this method called? ____________________ 4. Why is Mr Birling happy about the engagement? _________________ 5. What does Mr Birling tell Gerald he is hoping to receive in order to impress him? _____________ 6. Which of the big ideas does this link to? _________________ 7. What interrupts Mr Birling when he is saying that a man is only responsible for himself and his family? ______________________ 8. What is Mr Birling’s reaction on hearing about the death of a young woman and what does this tell us about him? ________________________ 9. Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. ) ‘______ costs and _______ prices’ p. 4 ‘there isn’t a _______ of war’ ‘a man has to _______ his own business and _____________ himself and his own’ p. 10 ‘I can’t accept any ____________’ not the kind of ______ a chap could ______ to’ p. 54 ‘a ______ scandal’ p. 58 How is Mr Birling involved in the death of Eva? _________________ 10. Which of the big ideas does this link to? _____________________ 11. Mr Birling worries about ‘a public scandal’. Why does he and how will the audience react to him? _______________________ 12. How does Mr Birling react when he finds out that it was all ‘a hoax’? ___________________ 6

Who is he? What is this character like? Quote Key words Role in Eva’s death? Why is this important? How does he link to the big ideas? Reaction to Inspector and his questioning ‘lower costs and higher prices’ p. 4 ‘there isn’t a chance of war’ ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’ p. 10 ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ How does he link to Priestley’s message? not the kind of father a chap could go to’ p. 54 ‘a public scandal’ p. 58 7 Mr Birling

Mrs Birling Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct 1. What is Mrs Birling’s first name? _____________ 2. How does Mrs Birling speak to her husband children? __________ 3. What does she not realise about Eric? __________________ 4. What is the Inspector doing that Mrs Birling considers to be ‘impertinent’? _________________________ 5. Which of the quotes opposite show that Mrs Birling is prejudiced about the working classes? ________________________ 6. Which of the big ideas does this link to? _________________ 7. What does Mrs Birling do when she sees the photograph of Eva? _______ 8. What did Eva call herself when she went to Mrs Birling’s committee for help and how does Mrs Birling react to this? ___________________ 9. Who does Mrs Birling say should be responsible for helping Eva? ________ 10. How does Mrs Birling feel about her role in Eva’s death? ________________________________ 11. Who or what may Mrs Birling represent in society? ________________________ Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. ) ‘A rather ______ woman’ ‘That – I consider – is a trifle ________’ p. 30 ‘I did my ________’ p. 44 ‘As if a _______l of that sort would ever ______ money’ p. 47 8

Who is she? What is this character like? Quote Key words Role in Eva’s death? Why is this important? How does she link to the big ideas? Reaction to Inspector and his questioning ‘A rather cold woman’ ‘That – I consider – is a trifle impertinent’ p. 30 ‘I did my duty’ p. 44 How does she link to Priestley’s message? ‘As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money’ p. 47 9 Mrs Birling

Eric Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct 1. What does the quote ‘not quite at ease ‘ suggest about how Eric feels about his family at the start of the play? _____________________________ 2. How do we know right at the beginning of the play that Eric has a drink problem? _______________________ 3. Where does he meet Eva? ________________________ 4. What does he do when he takes her home at the end of the evening? _________________________________ 5. Which of the big ideas does this link to? __________________ 6. Why does Eric steal money from his father’s business? __________________________________ 7. Which of the quotes opposite suggest that Eric doesn’t have a close relationship with his father? __________________________ 8. What is Eric’s reaction to hearing that it was all ‘a hoax’? _____________ 9. How might Eric be said to offer hope for the future of society at the end of the play? ____________________________________ Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. ) ’not _______ at ease’ p. 2 ‘You’re ______’ p. 3 ‘I was in that state when a chap easily _________’ p. 52 ____ the kind of ______ a chap could go to’ Just _____ her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she were an animal, a thing, not a _____’ p. 56 10

Who is he? What is this character like? Quote Key words Role in Eva’s death? Why is this important? How does he link to the big ideas? Reaction to Inspector and his questioning ’not quite at ease’ p. 2 ‘You’re squiffy’ p. 3 ‘I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty’ p. 52 not the kind of father a chap could go to’ Just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she were an animal, a thing, not a person’ p. 56 How does he link to Priestley’s message? Eric 11

Sheila Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. ) 1. Why is Sheila ‘pleased with life’ at the start of the play? _______________ 2. What is Sheila suspicious about at the start of the play? ________________ 3. When he gives her the ring, Sheila kisses Gerald ‘hastily’. What could this suggest? ________________________ ‘Isn’t it a beauty? (Kisses Gerald ______) p. 5 4. How does Priestley show her to be childish at the start of the play? ______________________ ‘Look – Mummy’ (Act 1); ‘But ______’ (Act 2) 5. What is Sheila’s reaction when she hears a girl has committed suicide? __________ 6. How is she involved with the death of Eva? ________________ 7. What is she most upset about when she first realises that her actions have led to the death of a girl? _______________________ 8. Which of the big ideas does this link to? __________________ 9. How does she react to finding out about Gerald’s affair with Eva? ____________ ‘very ________ with life’ p. 1 ‘I feel I can never ____ there _____’ p. 25 ‘you ______ the ______ you had, as the daughter of a good customer’ p. 24 ‘You’re ______ everything’s just as before’ p. 71 10. Priestley has Sheila call Mrs Birling ‘mother’ by the end of the play? What does this suggest? _________________________________ 11. How does Sheila react to hearing that it was all ‘a hoax’? ________________ 12. How might Sheila be said to offer hope for the future for society at the end of the play? ____________________________________ 12

Who is she? What is this character like? Quote Key words Role in Eva’s death? Why is this important? How does she link to the big ideas? Reaction to Inspector and his questioning ‘very pleased with life’ p. 1 ‘Isn’t it a beauty? (Kisses Gerald hastily) p. 5 ‘Look – Mummy’ (Act 1); ‘But Mother’ (Act 2) ‘I feel I can never go there again’ p. 25 ‘you used the power you had, as the daughter of a good customer’ p. 24 How does she link to Priestley’s message? ‘You’re pretending everything’s just as before’ p. 71 Sheila 13

Gerald Quick Questions: answer from memory first before checking if you’re correct Quote Quiz (Fill in the blanks from memory first before checking if you’re correct. ) 1. What lie does Gerald tell Sheila at the start of the play? ____________ 2. Who are Gerald’s parents and what does this tell us about him? __________________ 3. What does the fact that his parents haven’t come to the engagement party suggest? _________________________________ ‘It’s bound to be ______ and _______’ p. 27 4. Gerald reassures Mr Birling that he was right to sack Eva. What does this suggest about him? ___________________________ ‘didn’t ______ me at all’. P. 39 5. How does he react when he hears that the girl who died changed her name to Daisy Renton? ______________________________ ‘It’s a _____of some kind’ p. 67 6. What argument does Gerald make for Sheila not hearing about the details of his affair? _________________________ 7. What might be the real reason be? ___________________ 8. Gerald says that the Palace Bar is where the prostitutes go? What does this suggest about his reasons for going there? __________________ 9. Gerald keeps Eva as his mistress but then finishes the relationship when it no longer suits him? Which of the big ideas does this link to? ____________ ‘I was awfully _____ at the _______ all that time’ 10. He says that Eva ‘didn’t blame me at all’ for finishing the relationship. Does this suggest he feels any responsibility for what he has done? ______________________ 11. Like Mr Birling, he wants to believe that it was all ‘a hoax’. What does it suggest about the way he will behave in the future? ________________________ 14

Reactions to the Inspector Who is he? What is this character like? Quote Key words How does he link to the big ideas? Why is this important? ‘A chain of events’ ‘It’s better to ask for the Earth than to take it’ ‘One Eva Smith has gone- but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, ‘We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. ’ ‘they will be taught it in fire and blood anguish’ How does he link to Priestley’s message? The Inspector