The opening stage directions

Reread detailed stage directions at the start of the play and then answer the following questions.

Support your answers with brief quotations where applicable.

1. What type of furniture adorns the room?

2. What kind of mood did Priestley want this furniture to create?

3. Priestley specifies instructions with regard to lighting. How is it meant to be before the arrival

of the Inspector?

4. How is it meant to change after the arrival of the Inspector? What does this type of lighting

remind you of?

5. Make a list of props that hint at the upper middle class status of the Birlings.

6. Which phrase in these opening stage directions creates a sense of foreboding?

The opening until the Inspector’s arrival

1. What’s the first thing that Birling says in an attempt to impress Gerald?

2. Sheila contradicts her father when she reveals that his boast about the port is shallow. Find the

quote.

3. Who does not take a drink until asked to do so?

4. Who is the only character in the extract that Mrs. Birling does not reprimand or give instructions

to? Explain why.

5. Mrs. Birling advises Sheila of the role she must accept as the wife of a businessman. Does Sheila

accept this and what does this show?

6. From the stage directions, we are told that: ‘ERIC suddenly guffaws. His parents look at him.’

What might Eric know about Gerald that makes him laugh out loud?

7. Why do Eric’s parents ‘look at him’?

8. Sheila accuses Eric, calls him ‘squiffy’. What does this mean?

9. Mrs. Birling appears to ignore what Sheila says about Eric being drunk. What does she do instead

and what does this reveal about her?

10. Find a brief quote by Mrs. Birling which shows that she tends to treat Eric and Sheila like young

children.

11. Who is absent from the party and what’s the official reason that’s been given for their absence?

12. What might be the real reason for the absence of Gerald’s parents?

13. How do we know that Birling is nervous – particularly with regard to Gerald’s mother.

14. How do the characters try and deal with this snub?

15. How do we know that Eric has no patience with his father’s pompous behaviour?

16. What two things does Mrs. Birling reprimand Birling about?

17. Who does not join the toast to Gerald and Sheila and who reprimands him for it?

18. Eric’s eventual toast is humorous, serious and is not done properly. Find the quote and explain.

19. Gerald tends to agree with Birling. Eric seems more ready to question his father. Find and

explain two examples.

20. Find a line by Birling which shows his patronizing attitude to his son?

21. As Sheila and Mrs. Birling leave the room, Mrs. Birling says: ‘Eric – I want you a minute.’ What

might she want?

22. From pages 6 – 11, how many times does Birling make reference to the youth of his children and

Gerald Croft? What does this emphasize?

23. Both the Birlings and the Crofts are wealthy. However, there is a difference in how they attained

their wealth. What is this difference?

24. How does Birling show awareness of this?

25. Which comment by Birling shows that he accepts his ‘inferior’ status?

26. What does Birling tell Gerald that he hopes will impress Lady Croft?

27. In order to impress Gerald, Birling lists a number of positions he’s held. What are they?

28. Do you think Birling has confided his chance of a knighthood to Eric? What does this tell you

about the relationship between father and son?

29. What does Birling say that his chance of a knighthood hinges on? Does this give you a clue as to

what might happen later in the play?

30. How does Birling react when Eric enters and what does this show?

31. How does Birling define women’s clothes? Explain this in terms of the theme of class.

32. What does Eric say that suggests that he might be hiding something? What do you think it is?

Explain your answer.

33. What moment of potential tension is broken when Gerald makes a joke? Explain the moment

and identify the line by Gerald.

34. Which comment by Eric could be seen as a criticism of Birling’s ‘good advice’?

35. Gerald and Birling share a joke about Birling’s knighthood. Who is made the butt of the joke and

how does he react?

36. Though Birling asks Eric: ‘What’s the matter ...?’, the stage directions which accompany the line

suggest a different subtext. Find and explain this.

37. How does this extract end and what, in this moment, is revealed about the relationship between

the Birling and Eric?

Mrs. Birling Propriety and Manners

‘(smiling) Very well, then. Just a little, thank you.’ Mrs. Birling has very few lines in the opening

act of the play; indeed, most of her lines from

Act One are reprinted in the left column.

You should notice that many of them are

either (giving instructions) or offer

reprimands (a telling off). Her motives here,

and elsewhere in the play, are linked, very

closely, to her perception of what’s right and

what’s wrong, to behaviour and manners.

For each quotation make a note of who Mrs.

Birling might be speaking to, and why. What

might have been said / happened before she

delivers the line and / or what might have

been said / happened after it?

‘(reproachfully) Arthur, you’re not supposed to say

such things – ’

‘Now, Sheila, don’t tease him.’

‘What an expression, Sheila! Really the things you

girls pick up these days!’

‘Now stop it, you two.’

‘Much nicer really.’

‘Now, Arthur, I don’t think you ought to talk

business on an occasion like this.’

‘Eric!’

‘Well, it came just at the right moment. That was

clever of you, Gerald.’

‘Arthur!’

‘Eric – I want you a minute.’

Entrances and Exits

In order to heighten the suspense, tension and dramatic action, entrances and exits are perfectly

timed within the play.

ACT ONE

Page Entrances / Exits Who’s on stage? What happens? Key quotes / Stage directions

7Mrs. Birling, Shelia and Eric exit.

Birling and Gerald Croft

In an attempt to impress the absent Lady Croft, Mr. Birling tells Gerald of his hopes of receiving a knighthood.

‘Eric – I want you a minute.’ (Mrs. Birling)‘ – so long as we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal – eh?’ (Birling)‘You seem to be a nice well-behaved family - ’ (Gerald)

9 Eric enters.Birling, Gerald and Eric

The banter and chat continues; women and clothes, ‘laddish’ behaviour, Eric’s ‘slip’, the generational differences. Birling’s speech about community.

[They both laugh. ERIC enters.] (SD)‘Yes, I remember – [but he checks himself.] (Eric)‘ … a man has to make his own way -’ (Birling)‘ – community and all that nonsense.’ (Birling)

Add to this table for each of the significant entrance / exits throughout the play

Dramatic Irony

‘silly talk’

The term dramatic irony refers to the situation that arises when a character in a play

speaks lines that are understood in a double sense by the audience, though not by

the characters on stage. J. B. Priestley makes use of dramatic irony in the play,

particularly through Birling’s first major speeches. Remember, the play is set in the

spring of 1912 – before the First World War. Its first UK audiences would have

viewed it in 1946 – after the Second World War.

What impression do these quotations create of Mr Birling?

‘silly

pessimistic

talk’

‘wild talk’‘talking

nonsense’

‘fiddlesticks!’‘facts like

that’

‘ … scaremongers here making a fuss about nothing.’

Dramatic Tension

With the arrival of Inspector Goole, tension mounts. The following quotations / comments are

relevant to the opening moments of this part of the play.

put the events into the order, starting with the least tense moment.

‘Give us some more light.’ (Priestley’s earlier stage directions are written into the script. The brighter light suggests that an interrogation is about to begin.)

Before the entrance of the Inspector, Birling and Gerald share a ‘joke’ and Eric is then described as speaking ‘sharply’ and feeling ‘uneasy’.

Edna enters to announce that there’s an Inspector at the door: ‘Please, sir, an inspector’s called.’

The Inspector enters, is welcomed and offered a drink, which he refuses.

Birling’s boasts about his many positions in society fail to impress the Inspector. Birling realizes, almost immediately, that the Inspector is not like the other ‘Brumley police officers’ and he reacts with a ‘touch of impatience’.

The Inspector announces that ‘a young woman’ – Eva Smith - has committed suicide.

Both Eric and Gerald are ‘surprised and rather annoyed’ when the Inspector stops them from seeing the photograph. Birling shares their feelings.

The Inspector enters, is welcomed and offered a drink, which he refuses.

The commanding tone and control of the Inspector unnerves Birling, and he takes his frustrations out on Eric – which reveals cracks in the family circle and its underlying tensions.

We find out that Eva Smith used to work for Birling.

Explain the effect the 3 most tense moments create.

Responsibility

‘You’ll be able to divide the responsibility between you when I’ve gone.’

Following the Inspector’s exit, one of the play’s central themes comes to the fore – the idea of responsibility. However, while some characters are ready to consider their involvement and accept responsibility for their part in Eva Smith’s death, other characters appear to have other concerns.

Read the following quotes from the closing pages of the play. Colour code the quotes so that you

know who said them. On them, make a note of who is speaking to whom. Select the top 3

quotations for each of the following categories:

The character who is most willing to accept responsibility.

The character who is most willing to accept that they are jointly responsible.

The character who is most ready to blame others.

The character who is most affected by the death of Eva Smith / Daisy Renton.

The character who is most interested in preserving his / her own public position.

The character who is most interested in proving that the Inspector wasn’t real and that

there was more than one girl.

The character whose response is most sympathetic whilst also being logical and

considered.

‘You’re the one I blame for this.’ ‘There’ll be a public scandal.’

‘I was almost certain for a knighthood.’ ‘There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did.’

‘Eric, I’m absolutely ashamed of you.’ ‘I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it.’

‘ … there’ll be a public scandal – unless we’re lucky – and who here will suffer from that more than I will?

‘I told him quite plainly that I thought I had done no more than my duty.’ ‘We’re all in it – up to the neck.’

‘You’ve confessed to theft … and he can … carry it to court. He can’t do anything to your mother and Sheila and me – expect perhaps make us look a bit ashamed of ourselves in public –’

‘That man wasn’t a police officer.’ ‘Didn’t I say I couldn’t imagine a real police inspector talking like that to us?’

‘There isn’t any such inspector. We’ve been had.’

‘I do take some interest in it. I take too much, that’s my trouble.’

‘ … the fact remains that I did what I did. And mother did what she did. And the

rest of you did what you did to her.’

‘It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters.’

‘They just won’t try to understand our position or to see the difference between a lot of stuff coming out in private and a downright public scandal.’

‘And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her –’ ‘ … we all helped to kill her.’

‘I did keep a girl last summer. I’ve admitted it. And I’m sorry, Sheila.’

‘Between us we drove that girl to commit suicide.’

‘We’ve no proof it was the same photograph and therefore no proof it was

the same girl.’

‘ … there’s no proof it was really the same girl.’

‘I don’t see much nonsense about it when a girl goes and kills herself. You lot may be

letting yourself out nicely, but I can’t.’

‘There were probably four or five different girls’.

‘No police inquiry. No one girl that all this happened to. No scandal –’

‘Well, here’s to us. Come on, Sheila, don’t look like that. All over now.’

‘Everything we said had happened really happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then

that’s lucky for us.’ ‘Everything’s all right now Sheila.’

Act One – Who Said It?

‘When you’re married, you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business.’

‘We can’t let these Bernard Shaws and H. G. Wellses do all the talking’

‘You’re squiffy’‘Steady the Buffs!’

‘I’m delighted about this engagement and I hope it won’t be too long before you’re married’

‘What about war?’

‘I say there isn’t a chance of war’

‘Please, sir, an inspector’s called.’‘Somebody at the front door’

‘You seem to be a nice well-behaved family’

‘A man has to make his own way- has to look after himself -and his family too, of course.’ ‘Sounds a bit fishy

to me’

‘It’s the way I like to go to work’

‘Look here, sir. Wouldn’t you rather I was out of this?’

‘It’s my duty to ask questions.’

‘Oh - how horrible!’

‘Can’t blame her’

‘You didn’t just come here to see me, then?’

‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people’

‘Yes. We can keep it from him’

‘I said she changed her name to Daisy Renton’

‘What’s the matter with her?’

‘So I’m really responsible?’

‘My God, it’s a bit thick, when you come to think of it-‘

‘It’s too late. She’s dead.’

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1) Write a plan for each question in timed conditions (10min max)2) Write a response in exam conditions (45min)

How does Priestley present change in the play and how does he show that the Inspector is at the centre of the changes that occur?

‘An Inspector Calls explores the consequence of the truth always coming out in the end.’ How does Priestley present the consequences that come from lies being uncovered to reveal the truth.

How do you respond to Mrs Birling? How does Priestley make you respond in this way?

In Act 3 Birling says: “He wasn’t an Inspector.” Shelia replies: “Well, he inspected us all right.” How does Priestley present the effect the Inspector had on members of the Birling family.

Shelia says: ”You don’t seem to be learning anything” to which Birling replies “Your wrong I’ve learnt plenty tonight.” How does Priestley present what Sheila and Birling learnt from the evening’s experiences?

How do you respond to Gerald and Sheila’s relationship? How does Priestley make you respond in this way?

An Inspector Calls is full of lies and deceit. Write about the ways Priestley exposes weakness and wickedness, not only in the characters on stage, but also in society?

The Inspector’s inquiries make the Birling’s quarrel among themselves. How does Priestley develop these internal conflicts during the play?

How does Priestley present the contrasting attitudes of Birling and the inspector throughout the play?

It has been suggested that An Inspector Calls illustrates the meaning of ‘pride before a fall’ . How does Priestley present character’s pride and the negative consequences it brings?