An Inspector Calls

Main Characters
 Learning Objective
To understand the main characters in An Inspector Calls.

Success Criteria
• To explore the main characters in An Inspector Calls.
• To understand how key characters change throughout the play.
To Begin
By now, you should have read the play
An Inspector Calls.
You may be asked a question in the
exam about the characters in the play.
Think back over the play –
which characters can you remember?
Choose a character and write down

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five facts you remember about them.
Compare this with a partner.
Which character did they pick?
Can you think of anything to
add to your description now?
The Question
The exam question may revolve around something that a major character
experiences in the story, how they are portrayed in the play or how they
change over the course of the play. You must be prepared to talk about any
of these aspects of the central characters in the story.

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The Characters
If you were asked to list the main characters of the play, who would you
include in your list? Is every character in the play central to the action?
Make a list of the characters you can remember now.

Who did you include? Did you remember all of the following characters?

• Arthur Birling
• Sheila Birling
• Sybil Birling
• Eric Birling
• Gerald Croft
• Inspector Goole
• Edna
There is also one person mentioned
in the play who never appears.
She functions as a character even
though we never see her:
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
The Characters
The characters we have listed are
all central to the plot apart from
Edna, the maid. Use your work
books or the Main Characters
At a Glance sheet to record what
you already know about these
people.

Think about why they are

important to the plot, what they
look like, what their behaviour is
like etc.
Inspector Goole
Inspector Goole can be seen as the central
character of the play. This character is sometimes
termed the protagonist. It is clear from the
opening of the play that his presence will be the
cause of all the coming action of the play.
The Inspector is a strange character, a bit of a
mystery. He speaks ‘carefully, weightily, and has a
disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person
he addresses before actually speaking.’ Gerald
investigates his credentials and finds out that
there is no Inspector Goole on the police force.
We are left at the end of the play wondering if
the Inspector is real or not. Was he a real
policeman? Does he represent another, more
omniscient being – a God? The entire play could
be described as a morality play in which the
Inspector forces the other characters to come to
terms with their actions.
Inspector Goole
The Inspector’s presence is integral to the action of the plot and he can be seen as a
major element in the theme of judgement being played out in it. His very name,
‘Goole’, implies a ghost-like or mysterious creature.
A key question that you might be asked in an exam is: How does the playwright
present particular characters? Look at the following quotations from the play and
consider how they could be used to talk about the presentation of Inspector Goole.

The Inspector need not be a big man but he But don’t you see,
creates at once an impression of massiveness, if all that’s come out
solidity and purposefulness. tonight is true, then it
doesn’t much matter
who it was who made us
We don’t live alone. We are members of one confess … That’s what’s
body. We are responsible for each other. And I important – and not
tell you that the time will soon come when, if whether a man is a
men will not learn that lesson, then they will police inspector
be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. or not.
Arthur Birling
Arthur Birling is the father figure in the
patriarchal society of An Inspector Calls.
He is father to Sheila and Eric and husband
to Sybil. He is described by Priestley as, ‘a
heavy looking, rather portentous man in his
middle fifties with fairly easy manners but
rather provincial in his speech.’
He is clearly a well-known industrialist of
the area and prides himself on being a
‘hard-headed business man’. He has
married someone who is his social superior
and is pleased with the arrangement of
Sheila marrying Gerald Croft since this also
means a rise in social status for himself.

Arthur is often seen to be the epitome of the capitalist class,

the astute but self-centred and morally blind business executive.
To what extent do you think this is a true critique of the character?
Arthur Birling
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the
character of Arthur Birling?
Gerald, I’m going to tell you frankly,
without any pretences, that your
engagement to Sheila means a
tremendous lot to me … You’re just the
kind of son-in-law I always wanted. Your
father and I have been friendly rivals in
business for some time now –
Still, I can’t accept
any responsibility.
If we were all responsible for
everything that happened to
everybody we’d had anything
to do with, it would be very
awkward, wouldn’t it?
Sybil Birling
Sybil Birling is the mother of Sheila and
Eric Birling. She is the representation
of motherhood in the play but is an
astoundingly unsympathetic character.
Sybil is described by Priestley as being, ‘a
rather cold woman and her husband’s social
superior’. Sybil is the chairwoman of a
charitable organisation that gives money to
the more unfortunate. As such, Sybil sees
herself as doing her civic duty and caring for
the poor but, in truth, she judges them
harshly. She accuses Eva/Daisy of being
dishonest, greedy and immoral and resents
the Inspector for asking questions.

Add any ideas you don’t

already have to your sheet.
Sybil Birling
By the end of the play, Sybil still hasn’t taken any responsibility for her role
in the death of the young woman, Eva/Daisy. She refuses to see that her
actions were anything but correct and justifiable.
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the
character of Sybil Birling?

Whatever it was, I know it made me
finally lose all patience with her. She
was giving herself ridiculous airs. She
was claiming elaborate fine feelings
and scruples that were simply absurd
in a girl in her position.
If you think you can bring any
pressure to bear upon me,
Inspector, you’re quite mistaken.
Unlike the other three, I did
nothing I’m ashamed of or that
won’t bear investigation.
Sheila Birling
Sheila Birling is the daughter of Arthur and
Sybil. At the beginning of the play, she has
become engaged to Gerald Croft and we see
her happily simpering over her engagement
ring. Later, the audience realises that she
isn’t sure of her fiancé, since he spent much
of the previous summer ignoring her.
Throughout the play, we see Sheila change as
she learns about her part in the death of
Eva/Daisy. She could be said to be the least
responsible of the participants since her
involvement with the dead woman was one
ill-advised exchange in a shop. She is,
however, one of only two characters who
takes responsibility for their actions. (Eric
also begins to see his actions as wrong.)

Add any ideas you don’t already have to your sheet.

Sheila Birling
Sheila and Eric show us how some of the characters are able to change
throughout the play. They can be seen to be juxtaposed or presented
against their parents (their more reasonable response to what has occurred
makes the older Birlings seem more cold-hearted).
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the
character of Sheila?

But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people. But that’s not
what I’m talking
about. I don’t care
You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between about that. The
us and that girl. If you do, then the Inspector will point is, you don’t
just break it down. And it’ll be all the worse when seem to have
he does. learnt anything.
Eric Birling
Eric Birling is the son of Arthur and Sybil.
Eric is described by Priestley as, ‘in his
early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy,
half assertive.’ He seems unsure of his
place in the world and, at the beginning
of the play, is intimidated by his father.
As the play continues, we see Eric, as well
as Sheila, begin to grow. He changes his
ideas, begins to take responsibility for his
actions and accepts that his drinking and
behaviour have become real problems.
Eric and his sister are set up as
comparison characters to their parents,
who are rigid and set in their ways.

Add any ideas you don’t

already have to your sheet.
Eric Birling
At the beginning of the play, Eric appears to be a casual young man without cares. As
the story progresses, however, we see that Eric does not feel that he can explain his
problems to his own family. He feels like an outsider and so bottles all his problems
up inside, sometimes taking refuge in drinking. Everything is not as we first thought.
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the character
of Eric?

You don’t understand anything. BIRLING: You’re the

You never did. You never even tried…
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.
one I blame for this.
ERIC: I’ll bet I am.
BIRLING: Yes, and you don’t
realise yet all you’ve done.
Most of this is bound to
come out. There’ll be a
public scandal.
Gerald Croft
Gerald Croft is the son of Birling’s business rival. He
comes from a good, upper-middle-class family and
Arthur Birling is very pleased that Gerald has at last
made the engagement to Sheila Birling official.
Gerald is described by Priestley as, ‘an attractive
chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy
but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-
town.’ He is much more self-assured than Eric.
His engagement to Sheila is the end point of a
long courtship
but, even within this, Gerald has been unfaithful.
He took Eva Smith/Daisy Renton as his mistress and,
when bored with her, palmed her off with a small
amount of money. Eva/Daisy seems to have been
truly in love with Gerald and his rejection of her
leads to her spiralling behaviour.

Add any ideas you don’t already have to your sheet.

Gerald Croft
Gerald seems to be the same at the end of the play as at the beginning. He
seems temporarily hurt by Sheila’s calling off their engagement but on his
walk about town chooses to ask questions about the Inspector rather than
think about his relationships with women. Consider whether you think
Gerald learns anything by the end of the play.
What do the following quotations show us about the presentation of the
character of Gerald?

She told me she’d been happier than
she’d ever been before – but that she
knew it couldn’t last – hadn’t expected
it to last. She didn’t blame me at all. I
wish to God she had now. Perhaps I’d
feel better about it.
In fact, I insist upon being
one of the family now. I’ve been
trying long enough, haven’t I?
[As she does not reply, with more
insistence] Haven’t I?
You know I have.
Eva Smith/
Daisy Renton
Although we never meet her, Eva

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Smith/Daisy Renton is perhaps the
most important character in the play.
What do you know about her from
what is discussed during the course of
the play? Write down your ideas.
What do you imagine she looks like?
Draw an image of her with quotations
that show where your ideas come from.

Create a timeline of the events in

Eva Smith/Daisy Renton’s recent.
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
Share your ideas about Eva Smith/Daisy Renton here.
How might you use the information from the quotations below?

But then I noticed a girl who
looked quite different. She was
very pretty – soft brown hair
and big dark eyes … She looked
young and fresh and charming
and altogether out of place
down there.
This girl, to show us what she meant,
had held the dress up, as if she was
wearing it. And it just suited her. She
was the right type for it, just as I was
the wrong type. She was a very pretty
girl too – with big dark eyes – and that
didn’t make it any better.
Let’s Review

Choose one of the central characters of

the play that we have discussed today: Go!
• Inspector Goole
• Arthur Birling
• Sybil Birling
• Sheila Birling
• Eric Birling 1
Timer
STOP!
• Gerald Croft
• Eva Smith/
Daisy Renton

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You have one minute to check through
your notes about this particular
character. Do not tell your partner
which character you have chosen.
Let’s Review

Now you have one minute each

in which to ask questions and Go!
guess each other’s chosen
character.
You can only ask questions that
have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response
(closed questions). You can ask a 1
Timer
STOP!
maximum of ten questions
before you guess the name of
the character they chose.

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Who was better? Did anyone
manage to guess their character
in less than ten questions?