English Literature1,400Updated 18 Oct 20267 pages

Character Quotes from 'An Inspector Calls'

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Ruby Oldroyd@rubyoldroyd
Here's everything you need to know about the key characters in "An Inspector Calls" through their most revealing quotes. These quotes show how each character responds to the Inspector's investigation and reveal their true personalities, values, and whether they learn from their mistakes.
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Sheila Birling - The Awakened Daughter

Sheila starts as a "pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited", but she transforms dramatically throughout the play. Unlike her parents, she genuinely feels responsibility and guilt about Eva Smith's death, saying "I can't help thinking about this girl destroying herself so horribly."

Her socialist awakening becomes clear when she declares "these girls aren't cheap labour, they're people" and admits the Inspector's impact: "I remember what he said, how he looked and what he made me feel. Fire, blood and anguish." She's the first to truly understand the Inspector's message.

By the end, Sheila has essentially become the parent figure, lecturing her actual parents: "You don't seem to have learnt anything" and "You aren't the same people that I sat down to dinner with." She refuses to pretend nothing happened, showing genuine moral growth.

💡 Key Point: Sheila represents hope for the younger generation - she's the only character who fully accepts responsibility and changes her worldview.

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Eric Birling - The Troubled Son

Eric reveals himself as someone who took advantage of Eva Smith while drunk, admitting "I was in a state where a chap easily turns nasty" and shockingly "I couldn't remember her name." His drinking problem is evident through his "familiarity with quick heavy drinking."

Like Sheila, Eric develops socialist understanding, challenging his father's capitalism: "Why shouldn't they try for the highest wages? We try for the highest possible prices." He also criticises the lack of job security, pointing out workers can't "go and work somewhere else" in response to his father's "free country" comment.

Eric's relationship with his father is clearly strained and distant. He tells Mr Birling bluntly: "You're not the type of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble" and "Don't forget I'm ashamed of you as well." This shows the generational divide in the family.

💡 Key Point: Eric represents the consequences of the older generation's failures - his behaviour stems partly from his upbringing and society's problems.

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Mr Birling - The Stubborn Capitalist

Mr Birling is described as a "heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle 50s" who embodies everything wrong with capitalist attitudes. He dismisses workers as "cheap labour" and shows his ignorance with dramatically ironic statements like the Titanic being "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable."

His refusal to accept responsibility is absolute: "Still I can't accept any responsibility" and "the whole story's just a lot of moonshine." He represents the older generation's stubborn individualism, preaching "a man has to make his own way" and "mind his own business."

Birling's social insecurity shows through his boasting about being "lord mayor only 2 years ago" and his delight at Gerald being "just the kind of son-in-law I always wanted." He desperately wants to climb socially but lacks genuine class or morals.

💡 Key Point: Birling represents the worst of capitalism - he's selfish, ignorant, and completely unwilling to change or learn from his mistakes.

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Mrs Birling - The Cold Upper Class

Mrs Birling shows her class prejudice constantly, dismissing Eva as one of "girls of that class" and claiming "she only had herself to blame." She demonstrates her supposed social superiority by correcting her husband: "Arthur you're not supposed to say such things."

Her lack of maternal feeling is shocking - she barely knows Eric, calling him "only a boy," and shows no real care for her children's wellbeing. She's completely unwilling to accept responsibility: "I did nothing I'm ashamed of" and "Certainly didn't make me confess."

The dramatic irony reaches its peak when she demands they "go and look for the father of the child, it's his responsibility" - not realising she's condemning her own son. Her harsh judgement of Eva for using the Birling name shows her as "unfair judge."

💡 Key Point: Mrs Birling represents the cold, heartless upper class who judge others harshly while refusing to examine their own behaviour.

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Eva Smith/Daisy Renton - The Victim

Eva Smith represents all working-class people struggling in early 20th-century Britain. The Inspector emphasises this with his famous speech: "one Eva Smith has gone but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us."

Her story shows the interconnected nature of exploitation - fired by Birling for wanting fair wages ("25 shilling a week"), then fired from Milwards because of Sheila's jealousy, then used by Gerald as his mistress, and finally refused help by Mrs Birling's charity.

Eva was described as a "pretty lively sort of girl" who was "about to be promoted" before her dismissal. Gerald saw her as an "important person in her life" but ultimately "just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal."

💡 Key Point: Eva represents all vulnerable people in society who suffer from the selfish actions of those with power and privilege.

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Inspector Goole - The Moral Voice

The Inspector is described as "a man of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness" who "never seemed like an ordinary police officer." His mysterious nature adds power to his moral message about social responsibility.

His socialist message is clear and powerful: "We don't live alone, we are all members of one body" and "We have to share something. If there's nothing else, we'll have to share our guilt." He warns that if people don't learn, "they will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish."

The Inspector's methodical approach - "one person and one line of enquiry at a time, otherwise there's a muddle" - reveals each character's guilt systematically. His blunt, informative style cuts through their excuses and pretensions.

💡 Key Point: The Inspector represents Priestley's voice, delivering the play's central message about collective responsibility and social conscience.

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Gerald Croft - The Charming Hypocrite

Gerald is "an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred man about town." His upper-class background makes him "just the kind of son-in-law" Birling wanted, being "the son of Sir George Croft."

His relationship with Daisy Renton reveals his complexity - he genuinely cared for her, saying "I'm rather more upset about this business than I probably appear to be." However, he still kept her as his mistress at "Morgan Terrace because I was sorry for her," showing his patronising attitude.

Gerald's hypocrisy becomes clear at the end when he tries to cover things up ("Don't say anything to the inspector") and quickly forgets both Eva's death and his betrayal of Sheila, asking "what about this ring?" His comment about them being "respectable citizens, not criminals" shows he's learned nothing.

💡 Key Point: Gerald represents the charming upper class who can show kindness but ultimately maintain the system that oppresses people like Eva.

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