Inspector Calls Quotes

Goole. G- double O-L-E

INSPECTOR
Supernatural.
Sounds like 'ghoul' or ghost - is the inspector a spectre?

We'll have to share our guilt

INSPECTOR
Law - Morality - Guilt - Responsibility
Inspector tells everyone they are guilty in some way - even if it's just not thinking about Eva / Daisy.

Public men have responsibilities as well as privileges

INSPECTOR
Responsibility
Inspector tells Mr Birling that he can't just take. He tells him that he has to take care of people

I haven't much time

INSPECTOR
Time
Does the Inspector control time? Has he come back from the future?

Fire and blood and anguish

INSPECTOR
Revolution - Fairness - Responsibility
A warning about World War 1 and 2. The audience know that wars are coming.
He is also warning everyone that poor people will suffer more and more unless we treat everyone fairly.

There are millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives.

INSPECTOR

Fairness - Responsibility

Eva may have dies but she is just an example of all the people who have no rights, no power. The Inspector tells us we must look after everyone, not just our family and friends.

We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.

INSPECTOR
Responsibility
The Inspector tells us we must look after everyone

I speak as a hard-headed businessman

MR BIRLING
Money - Power - Materialistic (cares about things not people / passions)
Mr Birling believes his advice and opinion should be taken on everything because he owns a business. He is very proud to be a capitalist (money maker) and wealthy.

The Titanic… unsinkable

absolutely unsinkable

Girls of that class…

MR BIRLING
Class
Mr B shows that he thinks less of working class people

I'd give thousands

MR BIRLING
Money - Regret - Responsibility
Mr Birling uses money to demonstrate how much he'd like things to be different. It shows he is money-centred. It shows he takes some responsibility

A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.

MR BIRLING
Responsibility
Mr B says we only have to look after our family and friends - but nobody else. This is exactly the opposite of what the Inspector says about looking after everyone.

If you don't come down hard on these people, they'll soon be asking for the earth.

MR BIRLING

Class - Money

Mr Birling talks about working class as "these people" like they're different to and less than him.

He also misses the point that these people have nothing and Eva was only asking for a little extra money.

a fair chance I might find my way into the next Honours List.

MR BIRLING
Class - Money - Power
Mr Birling is expecting to be made a knight or a sir. It shows that he is powerful. However

The whole story's just a lot of moonshine.

MR BIRLING
Responsibility - Law
He is relieved when it appears that the Inspector is not real and the story was made up.
He thinks he can just carry on as before (unlike Sheila and Eric) as the "public scandal" was the thing he really cared about.

Public scandal

MR BIRLING
Money - Power - Class
Mr Birling is terrified there will be a scandal which drags his name through the mud. He cares more about what people think of him than he does a girl's death.

You talk as if we were responsible.

SHEILA
Responsibility
Near the start… Sheila doesn't see how the Birlings are to blame (but soon changes her mind).

These girls aren't cheap labour - they're people.

SHEILA
Class - Responsibility
Sheila starts to see that her father's way of looking at the world is wrong

So I'm really responsible?

SHEILA
Responsibility - Guilt
Sheila takes (some) responsibility for Eva's death.
~ Compare her reaction to her mum and dad's ~

I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel worse.

SHEILA
Responsibility - Guilt
Sheila talks about getting Eva sacked. She feels guilty and responsible.

I'll never, never do it again to anybody. I'm desperately sorry.

SHEILA

Responsibility - Guilt

Sheila promises that she's mended her ways.

You used the power you had… to punish the girl?

INSPECTOR (to SHEILA)
Power - Responsibility
The Inspector shows his anger at Sheila for getting Eva sacked and abusing her power.

You mustn't try to build up a wall between us and that girl. If you do, the Inspector will just break it down.

SHEILA (to Mrs Birling)

Responsibility - Class - Power

Sheila knows that the Inspector knows everything and won't allow the Birlings to not take responsibility for Eva's fate.

You don't seem to have learnt anything

SHEILA
Responsibility
Sheila is shocked that the others just want to go back to how it was now they think the Inspector was a fake.