An Inspector Calls - Characters

Question 1

Characters are also known as __________.

Answer 1

Characters are also known as constructs.

Question 2

What are the 7 deadly sins shown by the characters?

Answer 2

• Pride.
• Lust.
• Anger.
• Jealousy.
• Greed.
• Gluttony.
• Laziness.

Question 3

Who are/is the only character(s) who don’t face any of the 7 deadly sins?

Answer 3

Daisy Renton/Eva Smith.

Question 4

What are the interpretations for who The Inspector is?

Answer 4

• Voice of the working class.
• Priestley’s mouthpiece.
• Eva’s dead baby.
• God.

Question 5

Analyse Mr Birling.

Answer 5

• Mr Birling can only think of the production costs, he is a business-man, and doesn’t think of the human side of things.
• Cares about class.
• Cares about money.
• Deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride and gluttony.
• Does not really care about his children - in fact marrying Mrs Birling has brought him further away from them. Just wants Sheila to marry for business.

Question 6

Analyse Eric.

Answer 6

• Eric wants to help out.
• Eric is a sloth, and has the deadly sin of laziness.

Question 7

Analyse Daisy Renton/Eva Smith.

Answer 7

Daisy Renton

• Daisy is a weed.
• Lowest of the low, trampled on.
• Weeds are temporary, much like her life.
• Renton is like a borrowed (Rented) name, from a higher class.

Eva Smith

• Common name.
• Adam+Eve relation. Perfect - like The Garden of Eden. Yet, still destined to fail/cursed.
• Eve commited the first sin.

Question 8

Analyse Mrs Birling.

Answer 8

• Has deadly sin of pride.
• Commits charity work only to make her seem like a better person.

Question 9

Analyse Sheila.

Answer 9

• Sheila is the catalyst for change.
• “He knows” - first to catch on.
• Deadly sin of anger.

Question 10

Analyse Gerald.

Answer 10

• Neither old nor young - “about thirty”.
• He is an aristocrat - the son of Lord and Lady Croft. They are not over-impressed by Gerald’s engagement, as they declined the invitation to dinner.
• Although he is not as willing to admit his part in the death, he does still have some genuine feelings for her. He felt “sorry for her” because “She was young and pretty and warm-hearted - and intensely grateful”.
• Yet, he still tried to come up with as much evidence to prove the Inspector is a fake, to get himself off the hook. It is Gerald that confirms that the local force has no officer by the name of Goole.
• By the end of the play, he has not changed.