Carl: Indeed, it was different time and place and what people wore to dinner symbolised their social classes. When audiences watched the play for the first time, in 1945, they were living in a version of Britain that had just experienced two world wars. Everyone had to ration and look out for each other. So we got to the point where both rich people and poor people were eating the same meals, dressing in the same clothes and spending time in the same places. It was an equaliser. Carl: and I'm Carl Anka, an author and journalist, and in this episode, we're going to take a look at the second set of characters in An Inspector Calls and get to know Sheila, Eric, and Gerald. Mrs Birling: (raising her glass, smiling) Yes, Gerald. Yes, Sheila darling. Our congratulations and very best wishes!

Mrs Birling: (rather cowed) she said that the father was only a youngster – silly and wild and drinking too much. There couldn't be any question of marrying him – it would be wrong for them both. He had given her money but she didn't want to take any more money from him. Sheila: Yes, but it didn't seem to be anything very terrible at the time. Don't you understand? And if I could help her now, I would---Jean: Although the words aren't used in the play themselves, we know as an audience that what Eric has done is sexual assault. a b Priestley, J. B. (1947). Bezant, Tim (ed.). An Inspector Calls: A Play in Three Acts (1992ed.). London: Heinemann. pp.xi–xiv. ISBN 0-435-23282-7. Carl: The inspector delivers an ominous message to all before he leaves where he references the hell that awaits men who do not learn a lesson. Eva Smith is a pivotal yet unseen character in J.B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls". She is a young working-class woman who tragically commits suicide by ingesting disinfectant, sparking the investigation that forms the basis of the play. All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog

Jean: now, it takes a lot for a party to start with someone trying on their engagement ring and then for it to end with them calling off the engagement.Birling: (terrified now) Look Inspector, you're not trying to tell us that – that my boy – is mixed up in this - ? Jean: By the end of the play, it's revealed the inspector isn't actually a local inspector, but it's not revealed who he really is. Priestly leaves it up to the audience to imagine who he could be An Inspector Calls at Booth Theatre 1947-1948". www.abouttheartists.com . Retrieved 20 January 2023. Carl: One thing you notice reading the play is the clear differences in attitudes and values between the Birling parents and the Birling children. Carl: But when the inspector starts to question Sheila, she almost immediately knows what part she played in Eva's death. She looked at a dress in a shop and she didn't think it looked good enough. But then she caught a glimpse of Eva Smith holding the dress up to her body, it looked so good with Eva that it instantly brought Sheila's insecurities out.

Carl: First, Gerald is evasive and tries not to talk too much about it. But then he realises that Sheila already suspected they had an affair. So Gerald opens up and reveals that he knew Eva/ Daisy. Throughout Inspector Goole's inquiry, it becomes clear that each member of the family is implicated in the woman's demise, demonstrating the important roles each character has in the play. Carl: He also wanted to highlight how the upper classes look down on the working classes, and to show the unfairness of it all. You can really see it in the way that Mr And Mrs Birling talk. You can see what Mrs Birling said about Eva here: Guilt and Responsibility: The characters' different reactions to their roles in Eva's death reflect their feelings of guilt and their willingness (or unwillingness) to take responsibility for their actions. Sheila and Eric feel guilty and accept responsibility, while their parents, Arthur and Sybil, deflect blame. clothes mean something quite different to a woman. Not just something to wear - and not only something to make 'em look prettier.'"

JB Priestley An Inspector Calls Context

Jean: We're here today to help you dive a little deeper into some of the texts in GCSE English literature. Carl: Let's move on to the next character. Mrs Sybil Birling. Mrs Birling is about 50, rather a cold woman and her husband's social superior. We find out more about her through the way she speaks and acts. She speaks grandly, bitterly, with sudden anger and she also is alarmed and speaks severely. Mrs Birling is Mr Birling’s wife and Sheila and Eric’s mum. She has pretty traditional ideas when it comes to gender and how to be a good wife. Ideas that she tries to pass on to her newly engaged daughter Sheila. In An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley uses the Birling family's treatment of Eva Smith to reflect the indifference and contempt the wealthy often had for the poor. Like the disadvantaged passengers on the Titanic, Eva is a casualty of a society that values the lives of the rich more than those of the poor.

The play was produced and performed at the Ferdowsi Theatre in Iran in late 1940s based on the translation by Bozorg Alavi. It was staged in the first season of the Edinburgh Gateway Company in 1953. [15] Carl: The inspector reveals that Mrs Birling used her influence to stop Eva from getting the help that she needed. This is all because Eva didn't act in a way that Mrs Birling expected from a lower class woman who needed help. Jean: In the BBC Sounds app, there's loads of other things you can use to help you with your revision. Full versions of some of the text you might be studying, revision playlists and other Bitesize podcast series to help with different GCSE subjects.The Birlings' son who is revealed to be an alcoholic and the father of Eva's unborn child. He stole money from his father's business to support Eva but was rejected when she discovered the money was stolen.