An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

BOOKREPORT - "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestley

Short plot summary:

The play deals with an inspector, named Goole, who arrives by the Birling family, who is celebrating Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft. He tells about Eva Smith's suicide. After lots of questions it turns out that they are all more or less responsible for this tragically death and after the inspector left they find out that he wasn't a real inspector and that no girl died.

The play opens with the engagement celebration Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. It all takes place in the dining room of the Birlings, near Brumley. The family is very happy of this marriage because it is an ideal financial connection to the business rival Croft. The celebration is interrupted by the appearance of inspector Goole, who enters and tells them of the unpleasant suicide of a young woman named Eva Smith. He continues that Eva Smith drank some disinfectant and died that night in the hospital. So it become clear that ther must be a connection between Eva Smith and the Birling family. Eva worked in the Birling factory two years ago. She was the leader of the workers, who demanded more money. The conversation indicates that every person in this house, except Goole had some influence on Eva Smith's way of death: Mr. Birling fired Eva Smith, Sheila complained about her to her new employer, a cloth shop for rich people and so Eva was dismissed and again without any work. Gerald Croft kept her as his girlfriend and when she wanted to get help from a charity committee, Mrs. Birling refused help. At last the Birling's son Eric got Eva pregnant and was not able to persuade her to marry him. After the inspector left the house, the Birlings turned to the question whether the inspector was a real police officer or not. They phoned the hospital, where Eva Smith should have been and also to the local police station to get some more information about the suicide of Eva Smith or about the police officer, who appeared by the Birling's house. But they experienced that nobody knows neither Eva Smith nor the inspector. Mr. and Mrs. Birling, reject the accusations and every responsibility with great easement. Only Sheila and Eric still feel guilty and seem to have learned from the incidents. At the end of the play a phone call reaches the Birlings, to announce that there is a police inspector on his way to the their house to ask them some questions about the suicide of a girl that just died on the way to the hospital because she swallowed some disinfectant.

Characterisations:

Inspector Goole:

He is a very mysterious person. His name means "spirit", so he is something like god or more something like a personified bad conscience of guilt and internal voice. He doesn't work for the police, but he knows everything about the Birling family and Gerald. One of the main reasons he visits the Birling family is to make them realise, what responsibilities they have and that their behaviour has an influence on others. His role grows when the story of each character is revealed. He wants to make the family including Gerald aware of their faults. The inspector makes all characters feel guilty for what they did to Eva Smith. So he is the one who makes things happen in the play. His appearance in the play is in direct contrast to the Birling family. From the moment where he enters the house and tells about the dead girl he controls everything.

Sheila Birling:

She is the Birling's daughter and at the beginning of the play Sheila is a very naive, snobbish, egoistic and self-confident young woman. She decides on her life and she really is in love with Gerald Croft and does not see this alliance as a marriage of business as her parents do. She demonstrates her love in her jealous reaction about the spring and the summer before, when Gerald Croft didn't meet her.

When the inspector starts the examination she finds herself deeply involved