AIC characters Flashcards
Sheila p1+2
Thesis: Affected by the inspector
P1: very sheltered “was it an accident” “very pleased with life and rather excited”
P2: takes blame at first but can’t or won’t “I know I’m to blame- and I’m desperately sorry- but I can’t believe- I won’t believe that I’m solely to blame
Sheila p3+4
P3: can’t work out to be sad or selfish Sorry! But I can’t stop thinking about this girl-destroying herself so horribly! And I’ve been so happy tonight. Is wish you hadn’t told me. What was she like?
Quite Young?
P4: believes in the inspector “you mustn’t try to build up a wall between us and that girl. The inspector will just break it down” “you might as well admit it” unities show the change as more miraculous, we see everything
Mr b p1+2
Thesis: rigidly sticks to his capitalist voice through the whole play
P1: lower costs and higher prices “hard headed business man
P2: how he is newly rich and wants to hold on to it “rather provincial in his speech”- nouveauriche “there’ll be a public scandal”
Mr B p3+4
P3: acts as a foil to the inspector “a man has to make his own way” “ I cannot take any responsibility
P4: doesn’t be affected when the inspector leaves “it makes all the difference” “the famous younger generation who know it all”
Eric p1+2
Thesis: really affected by the inspector, represents the impressionable lower class and how he wasn’t watched by his naïve parents P1: didn’t know what he was doing at the start “half shy, half assertive” “guffaws” P2: was stupid, possibly as he was drunk, hasn’t learned yet “she was pretty and a good sport”
Eric p3+4
P3: shows how he has respect for the poor “why shouldn’t they ask for more pay” “I’d have let her stay”
P4: he realises that he made a mistake and isn’t affected “he was our police inspector alright”
Gerald p1+2
Thesis: acts as a crossover between the young and old but sides with the older ones
P1: Rather too manly to be a dandy but rather the easy well-bred man around town
P2: Very defensive of himself “I hate those hard-eyed dough-faced women” “nearly any man would have done”
Gerald p3+4
P3: starts to realise, possibly as he loves her “sorry-I-well, I’ve suddenly realised- taken it in properly that she’s dead
P4: “(slowly) that man wasn’t a police inspector” “we’ve been had”
Mrs birling p1+2
Thesis: she accepts no responsibility and takes a similar stance to her husband in denying it all P1: thinks lower class are another species, “I don’t suppose for a moment we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class P2: tries to overpower the inspector: “that- I consider- is a trifle impertinent inspector” “please don’t contradict me like that”
Mrs birling p3+4
P3: used to show the foolishness of the upper class: “go and look for the father of the child, it’s his responsibility”
P4: arrogant thinks of it as a game “(triumphantly) I was the only one who didn’t give in to him
Inspector p1+2
Thesis: is a mouthpiece to Priestleys socialist views, makes him powerful and omniscient to make people believe the political diatribe
P1: need not be a big man but he at once creates an impression of massiveness, solidarity and purposefullness
P2: represents his omniscient nature knowing Eric steals “it is better to ask for the earth than to take it”
Inspector p3+4
P3: stops the arrogance of powerful capitalists like mr b” public men, mr birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”
P4: speech is similar in form but opposite in meaning to mr birling “we are members of one body. We are responsible for one another” wasn’t even in the room for mr birling’s. His only message is to share blame “you all helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it
