How does Priestley present the characters of Arthur Birling and Eric as contrasting characters in an inspector calls?

• Eric is shown as an emotional and empathetic character - whereas Mr Birling is solely concerned about reputation, and what affects himself.

  • use their reactions to the news of Eva’s death

  • (involuntarily) My God!

    • → The involuntary stage direction shows that Eric didn’t intend to have that outburst, but because he is a naturally emotional person, he did

  • Horrid business.

    • → Dismissive

• Eric is portrayed to have inherently socialist views whereas Mr Birling is a raging capitalist

  • use Eric condemning his father for his capitalist views

  • ‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages?’

  • *1 Eric is able to sympathise with the lower classes and recognises the need for better workplace rights an environment, compared to Mr Birling who primarily cares about profit over his workers well being.

    • Why: The interrogative adverb ‘why’ shows us early on in the play that Eric is willing to stand against his father over views he deems necessary. Could be viewed as Priestley’s mouthpiece before the inspector arrives, and before sheila has her moral epiphany.

    • Higher wages: directly contrasting what Mr birling says in their toast ‘for lower costs and higher prices’ showing *1

‘Priestly shows how inequality in society leads to tragedy’

How far do you agree with this view of an inspector calls?

(can also be used for ‘How is society presented as unfair?’ just reword the points.)

• Eva and the other working class people were paid so badly that she had no other choice but to go on strike and got fired for it, since Mr Birling was so obsessed with company profits he didn’t consider the welfare of his employees. This started the chain of events leading to her death.

  • ‘She’d had a lot to say- far too much- and so she had to go.’

    • She’d: the personal pronoun is used to show Mr Birling blaming Eva for getting herself into this trouble. At this point, he is too concerned about upholding his personal image in front of the inspector, and his social superior, Gerald to consider *1

    • ‘A lot to say’: *1 He doesn’t let himself, or the audience consider that maybe Eva didn’t have a choice but to speak out for herself, as with the salary she was on, it was that or starve. This shows how cold and callous the upper class are towards those of a lower social standing.

  • ‘We’d have done the same’

    • This is Gerald confirming that his own company would have handled Eva’s strike in the same way- Priestly uses the word ‘We’d’, to demonstrate how all capitalists are inherently the same- and that people like Eva will never be treated fairly unless desperately needed social reforms occur.

• Priestly demonstrates how the wealthy of society acting entitled leads to the unnecessary suffering of others. This is shown when it is revealed that Sheila used her social influence and standing to get Eva fired from her job at Milwards just because she misinterpreted Eva’s smile. This happening is what pushed Eva to changing her name to Daisy Renton, and turning to prostitution.

  • ‘Because i was in a furious temper’

    • Sheila describes herself as being in a ‘temper’ when she requested for Eva to be fired from her job. This suggests that her reaction was a juvenile response, and aligning her with qualities not unlike that of a child. This ‘temper’ incites a feeling of contempt from the audience, as only someone of the upper class could make such a difference to a person’s life in a mere momentary tantrum; Priestly is indicating that the inbalance of power within 1910’s society (wealthy capitalists, and the upper class having the majority of it) is morally incorrect, and leads to unnecessary abuse of power.

• Maybe one of the most important displays of inequality leading to tragedy in the play is the discovery that Eva was pregnant with Eric’s child. As suggested in the text, we see that Eric used his power over her, in order to

• mrs birling’s charity

How and why does Sheila change in AIC?

How does priestly explore responsibility in AIC?

• through lack of responsibility between upper class employers and their lower class workers

• sheila’s acceptance of responsibility

• inbalance of power - mrs birling’s charity

How does priestly present differences between the older and younger generations in AIC?

• younger generations accept responsibility

• at the beginning both generations are presented with an inherent lack of accountability

How does priestly present Gerald’s relationships with women in AIC?

How does priestly use Eva to present poverty in AIC?

How does Priestly use the inspector to suggest ways society could be improved?

How far does priestly present Eric as a character who changes his attitudes towards himself and others during the play?

How does priestly present the importance of social class in AIC?

How does priestly present the relationships between men and women in AIC?

• mr & mrs birling

• sheila and gerald

• eric and eva