An Inspector Calls Quotes and Analysis
UPDATED Actual Questions and
CORRECT Answers
BIRLING: unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
(Referring to the Titanic)
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Priestley's love of dramatic irony is biting here, and his
irony is never more satirical than in these comments of Birling's, which, to his original
audience in 1946, must have seemed more controversial than they do today because the
sinking of the ship was within people's memory. Symbolically, just as the Titanic is destined
to sink, so too is Birling's political ideology, under the Inspector's interrogation. The ship was
a titan of the seas, and its imminent failure "next week" suggests the dangers of capitalistic
hubris, illustrating the risk of the entrepreneur.
BIRLING: a man has to mind his own business and look after himself
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Birling is taking an individualist, capitalist point of
view about personal responsibility, and his lines here provide the general attitude of his
speeches since the play began. According to him, experience proves that his point of view is
correct.
BIRLING: You'll apologize at once ... I'm a public man -
INSPECTOR [massively]: Public men, Mr. Birling, have responsibilities as well as
privileges.
Act Two - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Here the Inspector, who by this middle act of the play
is gaining in power and control over the situation, "massively" silences Birling with a
putdown. It is not the first or last time that Birling is cut off mid-thought. It is also important
because Priestley points an extra finger of blame at Birling not just for his actions, but for his
failure to see that his public position entails a duty of responsibility to other people.
Interestingly, this attitude draws on the traditional notion of the upper classes taking
responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes, but in the newer, more democratic life of
Britain, the "public men" are not necessarily of higher social class even if they have more
public privileges; at any rate, their position of power comes with responsibility.
BIRLING: ... we've been had ... it makes all the difference.
GERALD: Of course!
, SHEILA [bitterly]: I suppose we're all nice people now.
Act Three - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔These lines illustrate the mood of this last part of the
play, as well as the split between the Birlings and their children. Sheila and Eric realize the
importance of the Inspector's lesson, notably that they need to become more socially
responsible whether or not the particular scenario was a valid example. In contrast, their
parents absolutely fail to learn such a lesson, arguing that the failure of the example
invalidates the Inspector's argument. Why still feel guilty and responsible? It also is
significant that Gerald Croft takes Birling's side (uncritically) rather than Sheila's.
GERALD [laughs]: You seem to be a nice well-behaved family -
BIRLING: We think we are -
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Coming early in the play, these lines also exemplify
Priestley's love of dramatic irony: the last thing the Birlings have been is well-behaved. These
lines also suggest the alliance between Gerald and Birling, two men who share the same
values, whose bond will become stronger after the Inspector's exit.
INSPECTOR: ... what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her
afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of
events.
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔In this fascinating excerpt, the Inspector outlines the
nature of the moral crime the Birlings and Gerald have committed against Eva. Each of them
is responsible in part for her death, and together they are entirely responsible. This
construction is itself a metaphor for Priestley's insistence that we are all bound up together
and responsible communally for everyone's survival. Note, too, that the repetition in the
Inspector's lines reflect the "chain" he is talking about.
SHEILA: [laughs rather hysterically] I hate to think how much he knows that we don't know
yet. You'll see. You'll see. (She looks at him almost in triumph.)
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Sheila, shortly before the end of Act One, crucially
understands the importance of the Inspector and the fact that he has more information than he
is revealing. She is the first person in the play to really begin to understand the Inspector
which, in turn, leads her to see her relationship with Gerald in a more realistic, more cynical
way.
SHEILA: (rather distressed) Sorry! It's just that 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 of told me. What
was she like? Quite young?"
UPDATED Actual Questions and
CORRECT Answers
BIRLING: unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
(Referring to the Titanic)
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Priestley's love of dramatic irony is biting here, and his
irony is never more satirical than in these comments of Birling's, which, to his original
audience in 1946, must have seemed more controversial than they do today because the
sinking of the ship was within people's memory. Symbolically, just as the Titanic is destined
to sink, so too is Birling's political ideology, under the Inspector's interrogation. The ship was
a titan of the seas, and its imminent failure "next week" suggests the dangers of capitalistic
hubris, illustrating the risk of the entrepreneur.
BIRLING: a man has to mind his own business and look after himself
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Birling is taking an individualist, capitalist point of
view about personal responsibility, and his lines here provide the general attitude of his
speeches since the play began. According to him, experience proves that his point of view is
correct.
BIRLING: You'll apologize at once ... I'm a public man -
INSPECTOR [massively]: Public men, Mr. Birling, have responsibilities as well as
privileges.
Act Two - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Here the Inspector, who by this middle act of the play
is gaining in power and control over the situation, "massively" silences Birling with a
putdown. It is not the first or last time that Birling is cut off mid-thought. It is also important
because Priestley points an extra finger of blame at Birling not just for his actions, but for his
failure to see that his public position entails a duty of responsibility to other people.
Interestingly, this attitude draws on the traditional notion of the upper classes taking
responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes, but in the newer, more democratic life of
Britain, the "public men" are not necessarily of higher social class even if they have more
public privileges; at any rate, their position of power comes with responsibility.
BIRLING: ... we've been had ... it makes all the difference.
GERALD: Of course!
, SHEILA [bitterly]: I suppose we're all nice people now.
Act Three - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔These lines illustrate the mood of this last part of the
play, as well as the split between the Birlings and their children. Sheila and Eric realize the
importance of the Inspector's lesson, notably that they need to become more socially
responsible whether or not the particular scenario was a valid example. In contrast, their
parents absolutely fail to learn such a lesson, arguing that the failure of the example
invalidates the Inspector's argument. Why still feel guilty and responsible? It also is
significant that Gerald Croft takes Birling's side (uncritically) rather than Sheila's.
GERALD [laughs]: You seem to be a nice well-behaved family -
BIRLING: We think we are -
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Coming early in the play, these lines also exemplify
Priestley's love of dramatic irony: the last thing the Birlings have been is well-behaved. These
lines also suggest the alliance between Gerald and Birling, two men who share the same
values, whose bond will become stronger after the Inspector's exit.
INSPECTOR: ... what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her
afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of
events.
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔In this fascinating excerpt, the Inspector outlines the
nature of the moral crime the Birlings and Gerald have committed against Eva. Each of them
is responsible in part for her death, and together they are entirely responsible. This
construction is itself a metaphor for Priestley's insistence that we are all bound up together
and responsible communally for everyone's survival. Note, too, that the repetition in the
Inspector's lines reflect the "chain" he is talking about.
SHEILA: [laughs rather hysterically] I hate to think how much he knows that we don't know
yet. You'll see. You'll see. (She looks at him almost in triumph.)
Act One - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Sheila, shortly before the end of Act One, crucially
understands the importance of the Inspector and the fact that he has more information than he
is revealing. She is the first person in the play to really begin to understand the Inspector
which, in turn, leads her to see her relationship with Gerald in a more realistic, more cynical
way.
SHEILA: (rather distressed) Sorry! It's just that 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 of told me. What
was she like? Quite young?"
