An Inspector Calls: Quotes Flashcards
Mr Birling:
“I’m talking as a hard-headed practical man of business”
start speaks in long monologues
Mr Birling:
“you’ll hear some people say war is Inevitable … fiddlesticks!”
Dissmissive
Mr Birling:
“The Titanic – she sails next week…and unsinkable, absolutely
unsinkable.”
dramatic irony
Mr Birling:
“I gather there’s a very good chance of a knighthood”
exclamtory sentence- passionate&convinced what he’s saying
Mr Birling:
“A man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his
family too, of course”
Titanic symbolizes his own family – believes they are
untouchable until the Inspector arrives giving them a rude
awakening.
Mr Birling:
“(rather impatiently) Horrid business. But I don’t understand why you
should come here.”
His language changes when the Inspector arrives as he speaks in
short, sharp fragments and uses lots of dashes.
Mr Birling:
“you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were
all mixed up like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense.”
language becomes more colloquial ‘y’know’ conveys
how his authority is breaking down.
Mr Birling:
“I was an alderman for years – and Lord Mayor two years ago – and
I’m still on the Bench – so I know the Brumley police offers pretty well”
Mr Birling:
“there’s every excuse for what your mother and I did”
Mr Birling:
“Probably a Socialist or some sort of crank”
Mr Birling:
“Now look at the pair of them- the famous younger generation who
know it all. And they can’t even take a joke-”
Mrs Birling:
“girls of that class”
Mrs Birling’s language is quite abrupt and dismissive: ‘that class’/ ‘that sort’. She believes she is morally and socially superior to them – she is a snob.
Mrs Birling:
“you know, my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago and that he’s still a magistrate”
feels the need to re-imply their status- feel like they’re being treated less by Gpole
Mrs Birling:
“I’m very sorry. But I think she only had herself to blame”
dismissive
Mrs Birling:
“I’ve done nothing wrong – and you know it.”
dashes slowly break out throughout the play showing the collapse of her confidence- very big contrast from the start of the play when they were all content.
Mrs Birling:
“Go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility.”
imparitve and dissmissive/ avert eyes to someone else
Mrs Birling:
“She was giving herself ridiculous airs…claiming elaborate fine feelings… that were simply absurd in a girl in her position.”
Mrs Birling:
“As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money!”
abrupt and dismissive
Mrs Birling:
“I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept
no blame at all”
euphemism ‘girl of that class’ in ‘that particular condition’ make it sound less horrible.
Mrs Birling:
“he ought to be dealt with very severely-…make sure that he’s
compelled to confess in public his responsibility”
imparatives- shows her self confidence and superiority.
Mrs Birling:
“he certainly didn’t make me confess – I had done no more than my
duty”
Use of imagery: Sheila warns her mother not to try and build up
a kind of ‘wall’ – the
wall being a symbol of a barrier/pretence
Mrs Birling:
“No- Eric-Please.”
Again with the fragments but also shows the breakdown of the mother son relationship.
Sheila:
“A pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”
Sheila:
“Oh -Gerald- you’ve got it- is it the one you wanted me to have?”
you- gerald dominant-wanted/sheila is aware of little power she has in relashionships.
20th century women still seen as subservient to men- displays what society was like
Sheila:
“Yes, go on, Mummy”
Sheila:
“(rather distressed) I can’t help thinking about this girl- destroying herself so horribly- and I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh I wish you hadn’t told me.”
Sheila:
“But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people.”
Sheila:
“She was a very pretty girl…that didn’t make it any better.”
Sheila:
“I went to the manager and told him this girl had been very impertinent – and – and - ”
Sheila:
“And if I could help her now, I would-”
Sheila:
“I’ll never, never do it again to anybody…I feel now I can never go there again”
Sheila:
“Why- you fool- he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see. You’ll see.”
Sheila:
“You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl. If you do the Inspector will just break it down. And it’ll be all the worse when he does”
Sheila:
“No, he’s giving us the rope- so that we’ll hang ourselves”
Sheila:
Bitterly ”I suppose we’re all nice people now”
Sheila:
“He inspected us all right.”
Sheila:
“It frightens me the way you talk”
Sheila:
“fire and blood and anguish”
mirroring inspector
Sheila:
“It frightens me the way you talk”
Sheila:
“No, not yet. It’s too soon. I must think.”
Eric:
“In his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive”
Eric:
“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices”
Eric:
“it isn’t as if you can go and work somewhere else.”
Eric:
“He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough luck.”
Eric:
“I’d have let her stay”
Eric:
“Well I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I threatened to make a row”
Eric:
“And that’s when it happened. And I don’t even remember- that’s the hellish thing.”
Eric:
“I wasn’t in love with her or anything- but I liked her- she was pretty and a good sport-”
Eric:
“she didn’t want me to marry her. Said I didn’t love her- and all that. In a way, she treated me- as if I were a kid. Though I was nearly as old as she was.”
Eric:
“You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in troublethat’s why.”
Eric:
“Then- you killed her. She came to you to protect me- and you turned her away-yes, and you killed her-and the child she’d have had too- my child- your own grandchild- you killed them both- damn you, damn you-”
Eric:
“He was our police inspector all right”
Eric:
“(shouting) And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her- and
that’s what matters-”
