English An Inspector Calls (The Upgraded Version) James Davison

Mr Birling

Mr Birling

"For lower costs and higher prices"

Shows how he doesn't prioritise the workers but rather his profits.

"As if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive"

Doesn't like the idea of socialism and helping others who don't benefit him.

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

Believes firmly in capitalism and shows his selfish behaviour making him dislikeable.

"The world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible"

Shows his naivity as he believes that everything will go perfectly (Dramatic Irony=WW1+WW2)

"There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere"

Dramatic Irony-->Presents him as stupid to the audience in 1945 as they have lived through two world wars.

"(Angrily to Eric) You're the one I blame for this"

Shows how he is easy to shift the blame to others and presents him as selfish (Makes audience feel antipathy to him)-->Juxtaposition between him and Eric as Eric has begun to break off from his father's shadow.

"Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable"

Absolute naivity portrayed by his repetition of unsinkable (It sinks=Dramatic Irony.

"I was Lord Mayor here two years ago"

Thinks of himself very well and likes to brag about any of his achievements even ones from two years ago.

Sheila

Sheila

"But these girls aren't just cheap labour"

Disregarding her father's dehumanisation of the working and instead siding with them-->Converting to socialism

"You're just beginning to pretend all over again"

Sheila tells her parents how they have not learn their lesson and presents capitalism almost as a lie with the verb 'pretend'.

"You don't seem to have learnt anything"

This shows how Sheila is responding to her parent's apparent lack of care for what they have done. This shows how she has truly changed as she is now addressing her parent's wrong behaviour.

"I know I'm to blame and I'm desperately sorry"

Sheila fully accepts responbility-->No longer selfish like her parents

"We can all go on behaving just as we did"

Showing her parents how their behaviour was wrong

"I remember what he said, how he looked, what he made me feel. Fire and blood and anguish."

Echoeing the Inspector's words to show how she has truly taken his lesson.

"Look mummy isn't it a beauty!"

'Mummy' suggests how childish and immature Sheila is at the beginning of the play.

"You talk as if we were responsible"

Shows how in Act 1 she cannot believe that she is responsible and refuses to accept reality.

Eric

Eric

"(Nearly at breaking point) Then - you killed her."

(Nearly at breaking point) shows how Eric is finally done with his parents capitalistic views and can no longer stand living in a capitalist household.

"You don't understand anything. You never did. You never even tried"

His family have outcasted him for so long and now he has finally lost his anger. Repetition of 'you' suggests how he is so angry that he turns directly on his mother who has ostracized him.

"I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty"

Shows how Eric is unwilling to take responsibility for the death of Eva Smith as he uses the noun 'chap' to suggest anyone could do what he did.

"It's still the same rotten story"

Presents capitalism as something which is not rotten on the surface but is flawed beneath the lie.

"I say the girl's dead and we all helped to kill her and that's what matters"

Shows how Eric can accept the truth and also adopts socialist ideals as he introduces the idea of collective responsibility to his selfish parents.

"she was pretty and a good sport"

Shows how Eric looks down on the lower classes as only entertainment for him as he describes her as just "good sport".

"I was in a hell of state about it"

Shows how he cared about how he had burdened someone else with a baby of his. The adjective 'hell' suggests that it is extreme and he really does care for Eva Smith.

"You're squiffy"

This foreshadows Eric's drunk behaviour playing a part in leading to Eva Smith's pregnancy and eventual death.

Gerald

Gerald

"She felt I was interested and friendly"

Suggests that he believed that he was not and was in fact manipulating and tricking her for her body.

"I didn't install her there so that I could make love to her"

Dehumanises her by describing her almost as an object with the verb 'install'

"I wasn't telling you a complete lie when I said I'd been very busy"

Sugggests how Gerald Croft doesn't want to take a full amount of damage to his reputation as he tries to protect how he wasn't completely lying. In addition, it also shows how he will lie to get his own way.

"I suppose I asked for that"

Shows how Gerald Croft is not willing to take responsibility and has no remorse for his actions as he is sarcastic about Eva Smith's death.

"After all you know we're respectable citizens and not criminals"

Suggests how he views the lower classes as being almost criminal and thinks that there is a difference between his class and the lower classes.-->Presents contextual social divide in Edwardian society

"I don't come into this suicide business"

Denying all responibilty early on in act 1 foreshadowing his part in her death. This makes Gerald seem extremely selfish as he is later exposed for his part in Eva Smith's death.

"I didn't feel about her as she felt about me"

Presents Gerald as manipulating Eva Smith into a one sided relationship with him where he only used her for her body.

"Getting a bit heavy handed aren't you Inspector?"

This shows how Gerald believes that he should be above others naturally. This also shows how Gerald does not want to be equal with others such as in the Inspector connoting the class system in Edwardian society.

Inspector Goole

Inspector Goole

"We are all members of one body"

Represents the idea of a human body and how every part is needed for the human to stay alive-->Symbolises how socialism believes society should rely on each other in order to help everyone get further in life.

"We are responsible for each other"

Brings up the key idea of responibility and reminds the Birlings of how they failed to take it.

"All intertwined with our lives"

The adjective 'intertwined' suggests how closely people should rely on each other as they are represented as being physically linked together.-->Pushes across socialist message

"If men will not learn their lesson, they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish"

List of three used to emphasise the heavy consequences of captitalist minds not learning their lesson-->Dramatic Irony as WW1 and WW2 would break out soon after.

"It's better to ask for the world rather than take it"

"She'll make you pay a heavier price"

Showing the Birlings how money cannot solve all their problems and that they must take other measures such as accepting responsiblity to make up for their actions.

"Each of you helped to kill her"

Idea of collective responsibility as the Birling's must share their responsibility like socialists.

"A chain of events"

This shows the Birlings how each of their individual actions built up to Eva Smith's suicidal death and emphasise the idea of collective responsbility for the same problem.

Mrs Birling

Mrs Birling

"I have nothing to be ashamed of"

This shows Mrs Birling's pride and stubborness to change ultimately presenting capatilsim as too proud.

"Girls of that class"

This seemingly derrogatory opinion of the working class female population shows how the Birlings are socially prejudice and refuse to see the lower classes in the same light as the upper classes.

"It was her business to make him responsible"

Lack of personal pronouns suggests how Mrs Birling would rather blame others than take responsibility herself.

"I was perfectly justified"

This shows Mrs Birling's justifying even her wrong actions due to her pride.

"I blame the young man"

This shows Mrs Birling's unwillingess to accept the blame for Eva Smith's death. This emphasised by the key verb 'blame'.

Stage Directions

Stage Directions

"The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder"

This change in lighting from a softer to a harder colour represents the harsh reality of the Birlings actions having consequences and brings the Birlings out of their shielded view of the world. The light change from pink to brighter also shows how the Birlings family bond is seemingly broken down by the Inspector's will to find the truth and they are exposed in the true light for what they really are rather than in the light they try to present themselves in.

"We hear the sharp ring of a front doorbell, Birling stops to listen"

This shows how socialism interrupts capitalism with no struggle as the doorbell sharply cuts through Mr Birling's capitalist speeceh and demands silence showing its power of capitalism as an ideology. This is then further emphasised when Mr Birling is forced to stop and listen to the doorbell which represents socialism showing how socialism was increasingly at the time in 1946 and could no longer be ignored by the audience and upper classes.

"The dining room of a fairly large suburban house"

This introduces the Birlings as having a wealthy background as they can afford to live outside the city and have a room committed to eating which many could not afford in 1913. The house is also described as being large which emphasises how the Birling's are at least middle class and above the lower classes helping to establish that the play may have connotations with the class system and perhaps its injustice which was full shown after WW2 when manafacturers of arms and business owners had become rich whilst the lower class people had become poorer.

"effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike"

This shows how despite the Birling's wealth and their ability to live in a house which is lavishly furnished they fail to create a cosy atmosphere which would commonly be found among families. This shows how even at the very beginning of the play the Birlings are seemingly acting as if they are closer than they really are in reality and how the Inspector is needed to show the true side of the Birlings as they are already feigning their family relations before the play has started.

"He walks straight out, leaving them staring, subdued and wondering."

This shows the will of the Inspector and his determination as he walks straight out of the room with no hesistation or pausing. This also asserts his confidence that he has left the Birling's with guilt and regret about their actions and therefore fulfilled his duty to spread the socialist message. Furthermore, the list of three at the end of this stage direction allows for the audience to see that the Inspector has been able to reach every single person in the room despite their unwillingness at first to accept responsibility. This shows that the Inspector can find the truth about anyone and encourages the audience to adapt socialist views similar to that of the Inspector as they do not wish to become as guilty and shameful as the Birlings are at the end of the play.

Context

Context

"You're a promiment member of Brumley's Women Charity Organisation"

This links to context as philanphropy in the Edwardian era was only a method for the rich to be more seperated from the poor. This was a result of biased judging in terms of which cases charity should be offered for.

"It'll make war impossible"

This presents Mr Birling is ignorant and oblivious by using dramatic irony as an Inspector Calls was released in 1946 but set in 1913. This leads to the audience thinking that the Birlings are ignorant as they fail to see the obvious future.