English Literature GCSE –
An Inspector Calls
Essential Revision eNotes &
Sample Answer
By Ronan Daly
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Essential Revision Notes – An Inspector Calls
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Table of Contents
English Literature GCSE – ........................................................................................................................................1
An Inspector Calls ....................................................................................................................................................1
Essential Revision Notes & Sample Answers ...........................................................................................................1
English Literature GCSE – An Inspector Calls by John Boynton Priestley ................................................................4
Essential Revision Notes & Sample Answers ...........................................................................................................4
Plot Summary ..........................................................................................................................................................4
Act One ....................................................................................................................................................................4
Act Two ....................................................................................................................................................................5
Act Three .................................................................................................................................................................8
Analysis of Major Characters ...................................................................................................................................9
Arthur Birling ...........................................................................................................................................................9
Sybil Birling ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
Sheila Birling ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Eric Birling ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Gerald Croft .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Inspector Goole .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Eva Smith .............................................................................................................................................................. 12
Themes ................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Class ...................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Age ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13
Responsibility........................................................................................................................................................ 13
The Supernatural .................................................................................................................................................. 14
Cultural Context.................................................................................................................................................... 14
Sample Answer ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
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Essential Revision Notes – An Inspector Calls
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English Literature GCSE – An Inspector Calls by John Boynton Priestley
Essential Revision Notes & Sample Answers
Plot Summary
Act One
1912. At the Birling home, Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft celebrate their engagement with Sheila’s parents,
Arthur and Sybil Birling as well Sheila’s brother Eric. Arthur makes a speech congratulating the two on their
engagement, dwelling on the fact that Gerald’s father is his business rival and hinting at the union of the two
businesses resulting from the marriage. Sheila makes reference to the summer before when Gerald had
mysteriously disappeared from her life, claiming that he was busy with work. Her tone is light but it’s implied that
this event bothers her. After dinner, Arthur retires with Gerald and Eric and speaks to them about the
responsibilities of a man. He confides in Gerald that he may be on the verge of receiving a knighthood and Gerald
congratulates him. He tells them that a man should look after his own family and not worry about helping the
community around them. They are interrupted when a servant informs them that a police inspector is at the door
to see Birling. Birling says that it is probably about a warrant, because he is “still on the Bench”. The Inspector
enters and is introduced as Inspector Goole. He dismisses Birling’s idea that he has come about a warrant. He tells
them that he is investigating the details of the suicide of a young woman. That evening, Eva Smith killed herself by
swallowing “a lot of strong disinfectant.”
Birling admits that the name sounds familiar to him but can’t quite remember where he knows her from. The
Inspector tells him that she was one of his employees and Birling admits that many women regularly enter and
leave his employ and that he can’t really remember all of them. “Well we’ve several hundred young women
there, y’know, and they keep changing.” Inspector Goole takes out a photograph to show to Birling. Eric and
Gerald move to look at the picture too, but Goole blocks their view. Gerald asks if there’s any reason that he
shouldn’t be allowed to see the picture and the Inspector says that there might be. He elaborates by saying that
he likes to work with one line of enquiry at a time, focusing on people individually to prevent things becoming
messy.
Inspector Goole returns to discussing Eva Smith and asks Birling if he remembers her now. Birling says that he
does, that she had been one of his employees until he fired her. He says that she had been fired almost two years
earlier and he can’t see how it would have anything to do with her recent suicide. The Inspector disagrees, saying
that her being fired was the beginning of a chain of events which may have been the cause of her suicide. Gerald
suggests that he should go but, when the inspector learns that he is Gerald Croft and that he is engaged to Sheila
Birling, he asks Gerald to stay. Birling reveals that Eva Smith had worked in one of his machine shops and that
she’d been a good worker. When the employees went on strike for more money, Eva was one of the ringleaders.
After the employees gave up, most of them were welcomed back but Eva and the other ringleaders were fired
personally by Birling. Gerald and Birling maintain that he was justified in firing her and Eric disagrees, saying that
he could have let her keep her job. Inspector Goole seems to agree with Eric and Birling threatens him by saying
that he’s a good friend of the Chief Constable of the area.
Sheila enters. Birling tells her to leave but the inspector tells her to stay. When Sheila learns about the suicide,
she becomes very upset by the idea of the young woman taking her life and at the idea that it may have been
indirectly caused by her father. Gerald argues that the inspector has no more business with them, saying that the
events after her dismissal were more likely to have caused her suicide than the dismissal itself. The inspector
responds that he had already said that the later events were of great importance and reveals that he is at the
house to speak to more than just Arthur Birling. Birling apologises for his earlier threat, saying that he hadn’t
realized the inspector had other reasons for coming to the house.
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Essential Revision Notes – An Inspector Calls
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