An Inspector Calls - ACT 2 Quotes
Exam Questions and Answers 100%
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Pg 27: (to the Inspector) *"Miss Birling ought to be excused... she's had a long, exciting
and tiring day"* - Gerald Croft - ✔✔Gerald suggest that Sheila should leave, but when
she refuses, he questions her motives, thinking that she wants to see him uncomfortable
when questioned(now she wants to see *"somebody else put through it"*). The Inspector
intervenes and points out that Sheila wishes to stay because she does not want to
shoulder all the blame.
Pg 27: *"and you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant things"*
- Inspector - ✔✔The Inspector says this to Gerald after he asks if Sheila can leave. The
Inspector goes on to say that Eva wasn't protected which shows that Gerald displays
different attitudes to middle-class Edwardian women than working class women.
Gerald demonstrates the Edwardian view that women are not to be tainted by
unpleasant, worldly truths. The Inspector holds a more modern view by questioning
Gerald's request for Sheila to leave, and also points out the hypocrisy in the treatment of
Eva Smith: while middle-class women are to be protected from the harsh realities of life,
poorer working-class women are not.
Pg 28: *"i must obviously be a selfish, vindictive creature"* - ✔✔Sheila believes that
Gerald sees her in this way because of what she did to Eva Smith.
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY KATELYN WHITMAN, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
, Pg 28: *"you don't believe me. And this is the wrong time not to believe me"* -
✔✔Gerald and Sheila's relationship is breaking. Sheila feels like Gerald does not
understand or trust her, while he does not trust her motives for staying.
Pg 29: Sheila stares at the Inspector *"wonderingly"* - ✔✔Sheila finds that she agrees
with the Inspector on many things such as his statement that *"we'll have to share our
guilt"*.
Pg 29: *"we'll have to share our guilt"*. - Inspector - ✔✔Priestley creates a moral figure
in the Inspector to evoke sympathy from the audience and condemn the actions of those
who mistreated her. He explains that *"we'll have to share our guilt"* referring to the
responsibility for Eva Smith, and for others like Eva Smith. Basically he implies that we
are responsible for each other. Priestley is using the Inspector to portray moral socialism
to contradict Mr Birling's individualism. There is a need for cooperation and
community and social justice in society, particularly for the audience in 1946 who have
just suffered World War Two and Priestley perhaps wanted to influence them as a new
society is built.
Pg 29: *"briskly and self-confidently, quite out of key"* with the atmosphere - Stage
directions - ✔✔Shows that Mrs Birling is unaware of what has gone on and is also
unable to sense the mood of the room, suggesting she lacks awareness of other people.
Pg 30: *"They're more impressionable"* - Inspector - ✔✔The Inspectors response to Mrs
Birling's haughty observation that he has made an impression on Sheila. Priestley is
suggesting that the young are more open minded than the older generation about the
kind of society that they want to live in.
Pg 30: *"you mustn't try to build a kind of wall between us and that girl"* - Sheila -
✔✔Sheila tries to warn Mrs Birling but Mrs Birling does not understand because she too
(like Mr Birling) can't understand how the welfare of her husband's employees could be
of any concern to her. Mrs Birling also can't understand Sheila's *"morbid curiousity"*
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY KATELYN WHITMAN, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
Exam Questions and Answers 100%
Pass
Pg 27: (to the Inspector) *"Miss Birling ought to be excused... she's had a long, exciting
and tiring day"* - Gerald Croft - ✔✔Gerald suggest that Sheila should leave, but when
she refuses, he questions her motives, thinking that she wants to see him uncomfortable
when questioned(now she wants to see *"somebody else put through it"*). The Inspector
intervenes and points out that Sheila wishes to stay because she does not want to
shoulder all the blame.
Pg 27: *"and you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant things"*
- Inspector - ✔✔The Inspector says this to Gerald after he asks if Sheila can leave. The
Inspector goes on to say that Eva wasn't protected which shows that Gerald displays
different attitudes to middle-class Edwardian women than working class women.
Gerald demonstrates the Edwardian view that women are not to be tainted by
unpleasant, worldly truths. The Inspector holds a more modern view by questioning
Gerald's request for Sheila to leave, and also points out the hypocrisy in the treatment of
Eva Smith: while middle-class women are to be protected from the harsh realities of life,
poorer working-class women are not.
Pg 28: *"i must obviously be a selfish, vindictive creature"* - ✔✔Sheila believes that
Gerald sees her in this way because of what she did to Eva Smith.
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY KATELYN WHITMAN, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
, Pg 28: *"you don't believe me. And this is the wrong time not to believe me"* -
✔✔Gerald and Sheila's relationship is breaking. Sheila feels like Gerald does not
understand or trust her, while he does not trust her motives for staying.
Pg 29: Sheila stares at the Inspector *"wonderingly"* - ✔✔Sheila finds that she agrees
with the Inspector on many things such as his statement that *"we'll have to share our
guilt"*.
Pg 29: *"we'll have to share our guilt"*. - Inspector - ✔✔Priestley creates a moral figure
in the Inspector to evoke sympathy from the audience and condemn the actions of those
who mistreated her. He explains that *"we'll have to share our guilt"* referring to the
responsibility for Eva Smith, and for others like Eva Smith. Basically he implies that we
are responsible for each other. Priestley is using the Inspector to portray moral socialism
to contradict Mr Birling's individualism. There is a need for cooperation and
community and social justice in society, particularly for the audience in 1946 who have
just suffered World War Two and Priestley perhaps wanted to influence them as a new
society is built.
Pg 29: *"briskly and self-confidently, quite out of key"* with the atmosphere - Stage
directions - ✔✔Shows that Mrs Birling is unaware of what has gone on and is also
unable to sense the mood of the room, suggesting she lacks awareness of other people.
Pg 30: *"They're more impressionable"* - Inspector - ✔✔The Inspectors response to Mrs
Birling's haughty observation that he has made an impression on Sheila. Priestley is
suggesting that the young are more open minded than the older generation about the
kind of society that they want to live in.
Pg 30: *"you mustn't try to build a kind of wall between us and that girl"* - Sheila -
✔✔Sheila tries to warn Mrs Birling but Mrs Birling does not understand because she too
(like Mr Birling) can't understand how the welfare of her husband's employees could be
of any concern to her. Mrs Birling also can't understand Sheila's *"morbid curiousity"*
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY KATELYN WHITMAN, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
