An Inspector Calls

Main Characters

Photo courtesy of adplayers (@flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution
 Lesson Objective
To understand the main characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’.

Success Criteria
• To explore the main characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’.
• To understand how key characters change throughout the play.
 To Begin
By now, you should have read the play ‘An Inspector Calls’.

You may be asked a question in the exam about the characters in the play.

Think back over the play – which characters can you remember?

Choose a character and write down five facts you remember about them.
Compare this with a partner. Which character did they pick?
Can you think of anything to add to your description now?
 The Question
The exam question may revolve around something that a major character
experiences in the story, how they are portrayed in the play or how they
change over the course of the play. You must be prepared to talk about
any of these aspects of the central characters in the story.
 The Characters
If you were asked to list the
main or central characters of
the play who would you
include in your list? Is every
character in the play central
to the action?
Make a list of the characters
you can remember now.
Who did you include? Did you
remember all of the following
characters?
• Arthur Birling
• Sheila Birling
• Sybil Birling
• Eric Birling
• Gerald Croft
• Inspector Goole
• Edna
There is also one person mentioned
in the play who never appears. She
functions as a character even
though we never see her:
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
 The Characters
The characters we have listed are all central to the plot apart from Edna,
the maid. Use your work books or the Main Characters At a Glance sheet
to record what you already know about these people.

Think about why they are important to the plot, what they look like, what
their behaviour is like etc.
 Inspector Goole
Inspector Goole can be seen as the central character of
the play. This character is sometimes termed the
protagonist.
It is clear from the opening of the play that his presence
will be the cause of all the coming action of the play.

The Inspector is a strange character, a bit of a mystery.

He speaks ‘carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting
habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before
actually speaking.’ Gerald investigates his credentials
and finds out that there is no Inspector Goole on the
police force.

We are left at the end of the play wondering if the

Inspector is real or not. Was he a real policeman? Does
he represent another, more omniscient being – a God?
The entire play could be described as a morality play in
which the Inspector forces the other characters to come
to terms with their actions.
 Inspector Goole
The Inspector’s presence is integral to the action of the plot and he can
be seen as a major element in the theme of judgment being played out
in it. His very name, ‘Goole’, implies a ghost-like or mysterious creature.

A key question that you might be asked in an exam is: How does the
playwright present particular characters? Look at the following
quotations from the play and consider how they could be used to talk
about the presentation of Inspector Goole.

The Inspector need not be a big man but But don’t you see, if
he creates at once an impression of all that’s come out
massiveness, solidity and tonight is true, then
purposefulness. it doesn’t much
matter who it was
We don’t live alone. We are members of who made us
one body. We are responsible for each confess … That’s
other. And I tell you that the time will what’s important –
soon come when, if men will not learn and not whether a
that lesson, then they will be taught it in man is a police
fire and blood and anguish. inspector or not.
 Arthur Birling
Arthur Birling is the father figure in the patriarchal
society of ‘An Inspector Calls’. He is father to Sheila
and Eric and husband to Sybil. He is described by
Priestley as, ‘a heavy looking, rather portentous
man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners
but rather provincial in his speech.’

He is clearly a well known industrialist of the area

and prides himself in being a ‘hard-headed business
man’. He has married someone who is his social
superior and is pleased with the arrangement of
Sheila marrying Gerald Croft since this also means a
rise in social status for himself.

Arthur is often seen to be the epitome of the

capitalist class, the astute but self-centred and
morally blind business executive. To what
extent
do you think this is a true critique of the
character?
 Arthur Birling
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the
character of Arthur Birling?
Gerald, I’m going to tell you
frankly, without any pretences,
that your engagement to Sheila
means a tremendous lot to me …
You’re just the kind of son-in-law I
always wanted. Your father and I
have been friendly rivals in
business for some time now –
Still, I can’t accept any
responsibility. If we were
all responsible for
everything that
happened to everybody
we’d had anything to do
with, it would be very
awkward, wouldn’t it?
 Sybil Birling
Sybil Birling is the mother of Sheila and Eric
Birling.
She is the representation of motherhood in the
play but
is an astoundingly unsympathetic character.

Sybil is described by Priestley as being, ‘a rather

cold woman and her husband’s social superior’.
Sybil is the chairwoman of a charitable
organisation that gives money to the more
unfortunate. As such, Sybil sees herself as doing
her civic duty and caring for the poor but, in truth,
she judges them harshly. She accuses Eva/Daisy
of being dishonest, greedy and immoral and
resents the Inspector for asking questions.
Add any ideas you
don’t already have to
your sheet.
 Sybil Birling
By the end of the play, Sybil still hasn’t taken any responsibility for her
role in the death of the young woman, Eva/Daisy. She refuses to see
that her actions were anything but correct and justifiable.

What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of

the character of Sybil Birling?

Whatever it was, I know it made If you think you can bring

me finally lose all patience with
her. She was giving herself
ridiculous airs. She was claiming
elaborate fine feelings and
scruples that were simply absurd
in a girl in her position.
any pressure to bear upon
me, Inspector, you’re quite
mistaken. Unlike the other
three, I did nothing I’m
ashamed of or
that won’t bear
investigation.
 Sheila Birling
Sheila Birling is the daughter of Arthur and Sybil. At the
beginning of the play, she has become engaged to
Gerald Croft and we see her happily simpering over her
engagement ring. Later, the audience realises that she
isn’t sure of her fiancé, since he spent much of the
previous summer ignoring her.

Throughout the play, we see Sheila change as she

learns about her part in the death of Eva/Daisy. She
could be said to be the least responsible of the
participants since her involvement with the dead
woman was one ill advised exchange in a shop. She
is, however, one of only two characters who takes
responsibility for their actions. (Eric also begins to see
his actions as wrong.)
Add any ideas you
don’t already have to
your sheet.
 Sheila Birling
Sheila and Eric show us how some of the characters are able to change
throughout the play. They can be seen to be juxtaposed or presented
against their parents (their more reasonable response to what has
occurred makes the older Birlings seem more cold hearted).

What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the

character of Sheila?

But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re But that’s not what
people. I’m talking about.
I don’t care about
You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall that. The point is,
between us and that girl. If you do, then the you don’t seem to
Inspector will just break it down. And it’ll be have learnt
all the worse anything.
when he does.
 Eric Birling
Eric Birling is the son of Arthur and Sybil. Eric is
described by Priestley as, ‘in his early twenties, not
quite at ease,
half shy, half assertive.’ He seems unsure of his
place in
the world and, at the beginning of the play, is
intimidated
by his father.

As the play continues, we see Eric, as well as Sheila,

begin to grow. He changes his ideas, begins to take
responsibility for his actions and accepts that his
drinking and behaviour have become real problems.
Eric and his sister are set up as comparison
characters to their parents, who are rigid and set in
their ways.
Add any ideas you
don’t already have to
your sheet.
 Eric Birling
At the beginning of the play, Eric appears to be a casual young man
without cares. As the story progresses, however, we see that Eric does
not feel that he can explain his problems to his own family. He feels like
an outsider and so bottles all his problems up inside, sometimes taking
refuge in drinking. Everything is not as we first thought.

What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the

character of Eric?

You don’t understand anything. You BIRLING: You’re the one

never did. You never even tried… I blame for this.
ERIC: I’ll bet I am.
BIRLING: Yes, and you
She didn’t want me to marry her. Said don’t realise yet all
I didn’t love her – and all that. In a you’ve done. Most of
way, she treated me – as if I were a this is bound to come
kid. Though I was nearly as old as she out. There’ll be a public
was. scandal.
 Gerald Croft
Gerald Croft is the son of Birling’s business rival. He
comes from a good, upper-middle-class family and
Arthur Birling is very pleased that Gerald has at last
made the engagement to Sheila Birling official. Gerald is
described by Priestley as, ‘an attractive chap about
thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much
the easy well-bred young man-about-town.’ He is much
more self assured than Eric.

His engagement to Sheila is the end point of a long

courtship
but, even within this, Gerald has been unfaithful. He
took Eva Smith/Daisy Renton as his mistress and, when
bored with her, palmed her off with a small amount of
money. Eva/Daisy seems to have been truly in love with
Gerald and his rejection of her leads to her spiralling
behaviour.
Add any ideas you
don’t already have to
your sheet.
 Gerald Croft
Gerald seems to be the same at the end of the play as at the
beginning. He seems temporarily hurt by Sheila’s calling off their
engagement but on his walk about town chooses to ask questions
about the Inspector rather than think about his relationships with
women. Consider whether you think Gerald learns anything by the end
of the play.

What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of

the character of Gerald?

She told me she’d been happier In fact, I insist upon being

than she’d ever been before – but
that she knew it couldn’t last –
hadn’t expected it to last. She
didn’t blame me at all. I wish to
God she had now. Perhaps I’d feel
better about it.
one of the family now. I’ve
been trying long enough,
haven’t I? [As she does not
reply, with more
insistence] Haven’t I?
You know I have.
 Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
Although we never meet her, Eva Smith/Daisy
Renton is perhaps the most important character
in the play.

What do you know about her from what is

discussed during the course of the play? Write
down your ideas.

What do you imagine she looks like? Draw an

image of her with quotations that show where
your ideas come from.

Create a timeline of the events in Eva

Smith/Daisy Renton’s recent life up to her
suicide.
 Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
Share your ideas about Eva Smith/Daisy Renton here. How might you
use the information from the quotations below?

But then I noticed a girl This girl, to show us what she

who looked quite meant, had held the dress up,
different. She was very as
pretty – soft brown hair if she was wearing it. And it
and big dark eyes … just suited her. She was the
She looked young and right type for it, just as I was
fresh and charming the wrong type. She was a
and altogether out of very pretty girl too – with big
place down there. dark eyes – and that didn’t
make it any better.
 Let’s Review
Choose one of the central characters
of the play that we have discussed
today:

Inspector Goole Go!

Arthur Birling
Sybil Birling
Sheila Birling
Eric Birling
Gerald Croft
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton

You have one minute to check

through your notes about this
particular character. Do not tell your
partner which character you have
chosen. Time's Up!
 Let’s Review
Now you have one minute each in
which to ask questions and guess
each other’s chosen character.

You can only ask questions that have Go!

a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response (closed
questions). You can ask a maximum
of 10 questions before you guess the
name of the
character they chose.

Who was better? Did anyone manage

to guess their character in less than
10 questions?

Time's Up!
Photo courtesy of adplayers (@flickr.com) - granted under creative commons licence - attribution