an inspector calls act 1 quotes

Question 1

‘fairly large suburban house’

Answer 1

stage directions

suggests the family is wealthy

Question 2

‘cosy but not homelike’

Answer 2

stage directions

suggests Mr and Mrs Birling value money over family

Question 3

‘rather provincial in his speech’

Answer 3

stage directions about Mr Birling

suggests he did not start in a wealthy family, signifying that he made his wealth.

Question 4

‘rather cold woman’

Answer 4

stage direction about Mrs Birling

shows she is not very friendly

Question 5

‘her husbands social superior’

Answer 5

stage directions about Mrs Birling

shows she did start in a wealthy family.

Question 6

‘very pleased with life’ and ‘pretty’

Answer 6

stage directions about Sheila

suggests she is shallow and privileged, as she is rich as well as pretty

Question 7

‘well-bred young man about town’

Answer 7

stage directions about Gerald Croft

shows he is born into a wealthy family and is privileged

Question 8

‘half shy, half assertive’

Answer 8

stage directions about Eric

shows he does not know who he is yet and doesn’t fit in

Question 9

‘the parlermaid’

Answer 9

stage directions about Edna
lack of description represents her insignificance and further suggests that the Birlings see the working class as insignificant and beneath them.

Question 10

‘When your married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had’

Answer 10

Mrs Birling
Mrs Birling is conforming to the expectations of how women were supposed to act at the time - subordinate to men. She is showing that she cares more about business than family.

Question 11

‘Crofts limited are both older and bigger than Birling and company’

Answer 11

Mr Birling
Mr Birling is sucking up to Gerald, revealing that his true reasons for being happy about the engagement is it will help his business.

Question 12

‘perhaps we may look forward to a time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together - for lower costs and higher prices’

Answer 12

Mr Birling
Mr Birling is showing he is primarily concerned about his business, rather than his daughter’s happiness with regards to this engagement.

Question 13

‘rather noisily’

Answer 13

Stage directions Eric

This shows his immaturity despite being in his 20s. This shows the children have led a sheltered and protected life.

Question 14

‘excited’

Answer 14

Stage directions Sheila

Sheila is excited about the ring showing she is shallow and materialistic.

Question 15

‘I speak as a hard-headed practical man of business’

Answer 15

Mr Birling

Priestley does this to undermine Birling and all practical men of business due to what Birling later says.

Question 16

‘some people say war’s inevitable. And to that i say - fiddlesticks!’
‘There isn’t a chance of war’

Answer 16

Mr Birling

Priestley is undermining Birling as the audience know that a war occurred. This is an example of dramatic irony.

Question 17

‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’

Answer 17

Mr Birling
The use of the adverb ‘absolutely’ shows how sure of himself Mr Birling is. Priestley is suggesting Birling, and by extension capitalists are very out of touch with reality due to Birling’s comments about war and the titanic.

Question 18

‘In 1940 … there will be peace and prosperity everywhere’

Answer 18

Mr Birling

Dramatic irony is used to undermine Birling as we are in the middle of a major war in 1940

Question 19

‘I gather there’s a very good chance of a knighthood - so long as we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandel’

Answer 19

Mr Birling
This foreshadows what is about to happen in the play, and tells us that Mr Birling’s primary concern will be his knighthood.

Question 20

‘a man has to make his own way - has to look after himself - and his family too’

Answer 20

Mr Birling

This portrays Mr Birling as a hypocrite as he doesn’t seem to care that much about his family.

Question 21

‘community and all that nonsense’

Answer 21

Mr Birling

He outlines his capitalist views. Priestley does this to highlight the selfishness and greed of capitalism.

Question 22

‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own - and -‘ ‘We hear the sharp ring of the front door bell’

Answer 22

Mr Birling / Stage direction
Mr Birling is interrupted while making a capitalist speech. This signifies that the person who will disrupt and expose those views for how evil and greedy they are has arrived. This undermines capitalism.