©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS
10/7/2024 11:03AM
An Inspector Calls Quotes and Analysis.
Exam Questions With Correct Answers
BIRLING: unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
(Referring to the Titanic)
Act One - 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 - 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 - 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.
, ©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS
10/7/2024 11:03AM
GERALD: Of course!
SHEILA [bitterly]: I suppose we're all nice people now.
Act Three - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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?"
10/7/2024 11:03AM
An Inspector Calls Quotes and Analysis.
Exam Questions With Correct Answers
BIRLING: unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.
(Referring to the Titanic)
Act One - 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 - 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 - 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.
, ©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS
10/7/2024 11:03AM
GERALD: Of course!
SHEILA [bitterly]: I suppose we're all nice people now.
Act Three - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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?"
