Ouspensky – You relive your life again and again until you learn.

Dunne – You get to see a glimpse of your future before it happens, so that you can learn, and do it
right.

Microcosm – where one person or thing represents a larger body

JB Priestley: An Inspector Calls

Either 0 1

How does Priestley use Gerald to explore ideas about responsibility?

Write about: • what Gerald says and does • how Priestley uses Gerald to explore ideas about
responsibility. [30 marks] or

0 2 How far does Priestley present society as unfair in An Inspector Calls? Write about: • what can
be seen as unfair in the play • how far Priestley presents society as unfair.

Mr Birling says, ‘…a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’. How far
does Priestley present Mr Birling as a man who cares only for himself and his family? Write about: •
what Mr Birling says and does • how far Priestley presents Mr Birling as a man who cares only for
himself and his family. [30 marks]

AO4 [4 marks] 7 OR

0 2 How far does Priestley present male characters as irresponsible in the play? Write about: • one
or more of the male character(s) • how far Priestley presents one or more of the male character(s)
as irresponsible

How does Priestley present selfishness and its effects in An Inspector Calls? Write about: • examples
of selfish behaviour in the play • how Priestley presents selfishness and its effects. [30 marks] AO4 [4
marks] or

0 2 How does Priestley present Sheila as a character who learns important lessons about herself
and society? Write about: • some of the things Sheila learns in the play • how Priestley presents
Sheila as a character who learns important lessons about herself and society

How does Priestley present Mrs Birling?

Priestley presents Mrs Birling as an unsympathetic character that dismisses any act of responsibility
that is connected to those of low class. Mrs Birling is shown to be ‘her husband’s social superior’
which reveals her reasoning behind her sudden disputes when she hears anything that she doesn’t
agree with since she is of upper class. This in a way indicates how she rejects socialism because of
her inability to cope with circumstances that does not go her way revealing her stubborn and
obstinate attitude despite being a woman who has never had rights in society. Perhaps Priestly
presents Mrs Birling as the microcosm of upper-class women to highlight how determined they can
be once they are in power so they can keep it that way.
Firstly, Priestley presents Mrs Birling in act one as particular about manners and people knowing
their place indicating her aversion towards characteristics that are seen as improper. This is seen
when she consistently scolds Mr Birling when he is speaking about business or anything political:
‘Now, Arthur, I don’t think you ought to talk business on an occasion like this.’ and the exclamative
‘Arthur!’. The noun ‘occasion’ could subtly imply how Mrs Birling is indicating her anger at Arthur,
because of his consistent talk of business, in a way that only he can tell, so as to not draw any
attention from Gerald. Furthermore, the exclamative connotes her frustration rapidly increasing her
emotions making it come out as more apparent. Perhaps the audience understands how she feels
because she may want her daughter to be engaged to Gerald so that they can advance further with
their relationship however her persistent complaints make her somewhat annoying. Another
possible reason why she is overparticular about this event is because she could want the
engagement between Sheila and Gerald to work out so that they enhance their social standing and
her way of doing it is to show how perfect her family is. Perhaps Priestley designed her as a
superficial character to present her as a woman who only cares about social standing. This may
reflect what upper class citizens during that time were like so that the audience could dislike her and
develop a reason to hate capitalism.

Secondly, Mrs Birling is presented as being defiant in behaviour in act two when she refuses to
acknowledge that she was one of factors of Eva’s death and attempts to assign the blame on to
someone else. This seen when the Inspector asks for Mrs Birling’s side of the story to which she
answers and then states ‘I’ve done nothing wrong’ and ‘Girls of that class’. The adjective ‘wrong’
indicates her refusal in admitting responsibility in her action of rejecting Eva’s proposal for help. Her
prejudiced comment suggests how ignorant Mrs Birling is to those who are suffering and also implies
how she conforms to society’s class system and hierarchy which divided the rich and the poor
unfairly at the time. It also shows her lack of sympathy towards the lower-class since she has a
higher status than them making her view them as worthless and repugnant. After refusing
responsibility, she asks the Inspector to ‘blame the young man who was the father of the child she
was going to have’ and that ‘he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility’. The verbs ‘blame’
and ‘confess’ connote to Mrs Birling deliberate attempt to avoid responsibility by condemning the
father of Eva’s child. The dramatic irony is structurally introduced here when Mrs Birling was at her
most confident by averting the blame away from her but only realise gradually that she
unintentionally placed the blame upon her son. Her demeaning behaviour soon transforms into one
of shock and anxiety when she states ‘But surely … I mean … it’s ridiculous’ which shows her sudden
change of behaviour when she understands that her own child was the cause of such a repulsive act.
Perhaps the audience may feel resentment at Mrs Birling’s insolent behaviour when she was the one
demanding respect and they may also feel satisfaction when Mrs Birling was humiliated through her
own action. The irony may be designed to expose the naivety of the upper-classes and how little
they know about the lower-classes.

Finally, Priestley presents Mrs Birling in act three as forgetful and heedless of the lessons she had
just learnt prompting her haughty attitude to the poor to start rising again. This is clearly shown
when she states that she ‘was the only one who didn’t give in to him.’ After the revealing of Eric’s
part to Eva’s death, Mrs Birling instantaneously loses all sense of arrogance and is shown to have
become uneasy. However, the verb ‘give in’ connotes to her ignorance at the fact that she lost all of
her composure and couldn’t resist not hearing what happened with Eric although she explained that
her family is blameless. She seems to have completely forgotten about the Inspector’s revelations
about Eric which had shaken her. Sheila then says unenthusiastically that ‘We can all go on behaving
just as we did’ to which Mrs Birling replies ‘Well, why shouldn’t we?’ implying her apathetic attitude
towards admitting her wrong doings revealing how she is not willing to change her ways and to start
having a socialist mindset. The audience would feel furious after seeing her neglect all responsibility
making the Inspector waste his time in trying to convince them to change and to adopt a socialist
mindset. Perhaps Priestly designed Mrs Birling as an ignorant character to emphasise how the
upper-class older generation citizens are much more worried about their social position rather than
the overall status of those who are suffering.

In conclusion, it can be said that Mrs Birling is presented as a character who would never accept any
responsibility if it would place her in a negative aspect. Perhaps she is designed in this way to show
her appeal towards society’s hierarchy system because it gives her power, meaning that she can live
in luxury, while ignoring those living in poverty, such as Eva Smith, highlighting her grotesque
behaviour as the representation of upper-class women at the time. Perhaps Priestly decided to have
Mrs Birling represent those of upper-class to prevent the class system from being recreated after
war causing an even wider division between upper and lower classes.

How does Priestley use Gerald to explore ideas about responsibility?

Priestley uses Gerald to explore ideas about responsibility through his lack of developing any form of
it due to his capitalistic upbringing interfering with his sense of rationality and honesty. Gerald is
firstly introduced in the play as being already engaged to Sheila. Despite being technically part of the
younger generation, he consistently throughout the play holds older generation characteristics such
as being unable to set aside his status for socialist traits and being stubbornly fixed on his ideals.
However, he is characterised as being quite genuine with his feelings on the outside yet having a
manipulative nature later on instigating his unfaithful personality.

This is primarily shown during the beginning of the play when Gerald’s presence creates an uneasy
atmosphere between him and Sheila foreshadowing events that occur later on in the play. It is
stated that Gerald is an ‘attractive chap’ who is a ‘well-bred young man-about-town’. The idiomatic
phrase could connote his natural talent of being able to confidently socialise with others.
Alternatively, this phrase could foreshadow Gerald’s disloyalty when he literally goes ‘about-town’
into the Palace bar to conveniently finding and building a sexual relationship with Eva Smith. This
interpretation can be authenticated when Sheila insistently does not reply to Gerald’s proposal to
‘being one of the family’ which could suggest an unfriendly tension between them. She then states
how Gerald ‘never came near’ her all summer which he replies to as him being ‘awfully busy at the
works all the time.’ An engaged couple should primarily be around each other without regarding
anything else in their life to represent their implicit loyalty to each other. However, the verb ‘busy’
could make Sheila believe that he was busy with work since but in actuality, he was busy having an
affair with Eva. Mrs Birling tries to disregard Sheila’s hesitant behaviour possibly because of Gerald’s
high social status being able to financially secure them. The audience during this point of the play
would think just like Sheila, who believes Gerald was busy because of work, and would not think of
him as being able to cheat because of his polite and genuine attitude. Perhaps Priestly designed
Gerald in this way to show how his good nature that over-shadows his unfaithful nature relating to
his Capitalistic upbringing.

Secondly, Priestley exposes Gerald’s sexual relationship with Eva Smith causing disarray between
Gerald and Sheila’s relationship which emphasises his disloyalty. This is seen when Gerald question’s
the Inspector’s accusation of him knowing Eva Smith as Daisy Renton: ‘Where did you get the idea
that I did know her?’. The apprehensive question reflects Gerald’s desire to being ignorant to the
fact that he knew Daisy. He instantaneously admits that he did have some sort of relation with Daisy
and then asks Sheila ‘to leave’ so that he can keep his history away from her. This clearly shows his
hesitancy in revealing the story in front of Sheila because he knows that it will break apart their
relationship which shows his lack of trust and inability to show responsibility for his actions. It is then
revealed that he kept her as his ‘mistress’ and he unambiguously admitted that he loved Daisy when
he said ‘he did for a time’ and further tries to back that up when he said that ‘nearly any man would
have.’ This again reveals how he was irresponsible when he installed Daisy as his ‘mistress’ which
suggests that he truly loved and cared for her but he did not think about Sheila and even tried to
keep the secret away from her. The audience would be appalled by Gerald’s vulgar deception and
would hope that this event might make him more responsible.

Thirdly, Gerald is shown in the last act as being clever and logical with his methods in finding out
who the Inspector is. Despite this, he still obstinately rejects the Inspector’s message of being
responsible by trying to persuade Sheila to marrying him. This is shown when