An Inspector Calls Quotes (Act 1) Flashcards
“Giving us the port, Edna? That’s right.”
Mr Birling is trying to show off in front of Gerald. Port is a drink of the upper-classes.
The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder.
This indicates a change in mood/atmosphere (a relaxed setting to something more uncomfortable but serious, they’re being put on the spot and questioned)
“Dessert plates and champagne glasses”
“Decanter of port, cigar box and cigarettes”
“All five are in evening dress of the period”
“The men in tails and white ties, not dinner jackets”
These quotes show the Birling family are trying to show off to Gerald (as if they were waving their money about/shows status).
“It’s exactly the same port your father gets from him”
Mr Birling is trying to be the same as the Crofts (they have a higher social rank- Mr Birling is obsessed with social status and what people think of him and his family)
“Like one of these purple-faced old men”
Sheila is trying to get him to stop embarrassing himself, he doesn’t know anything about port like he claims he does.
“Tell cook from me”
Mr Birling says this to Sybil (Mrs Birling) not the cook themself. Cook is a position not a name, he’s not treating her with any respect. Servants were treated as less than humans.
“Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things”
Mrs Birling says this to her husband to show he isn't as well educated for the money he makes. *Note- Mrs Birling did marry down, he used to be a lower social class but because she is female she has to act like an inferior*
“Except for all last summer, when you never came near me, and i wondered what had happened to you”
Sheila was left all summer, Gerald was off having an affair (this is later clarified in act 2). Women at the time were not allowed to ask around for them (promiscuity- a very bad label to have) they had to wait for their partner if they would ever come back. During the summer, Gerald lied about where he was (“I was awfully busy at the works all that time”) and what he was doing, this doesn’t give Sheila any hope for their future as they’re getting married soon.
“You’re squiffy”
Sheila calls Eric out on being drunk, ‘squiffy’ is a slang, informal way of saying drunk.
“Is it the one you wanted me to have?”
Gerald gives Sheila a family heirloom ring as he proposes)
“Mummy-isn’t it a beauty?”
The fact she refers to her mother as ‘mummy’ shows the immaturity and how childish she is. (Later on in the book we can see how much she changes and matures from this quote)
“The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war”
“The titanic” “Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
“There’ll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere- except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand, naturally”
Mr Birling makes predictions on things that do actually happen. Priestly uses dramatic irony to show this.
“A hard-headed, practical man of business”
Mr Birling is talking about himself, he wants to impress Gerald even more
“I might find my way into the next Honours List. Just a Knighthood, of course.
Again, Mr Birling tries to show off to Gerald, he talks about the Knighthood as if it’s no big deal to him but the readers know how much he cares about his social ranking.
“-so long as we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal, eh?”
This foreshadows what will happen later on.
