5 Essential An Inspector Calls Quotations

5 Essential An Inspector
Calls Quotations
There are many, many rich and powerful moments in An Inspector Calls that
demand detailed analysis and exploration. The below gets to grips with just some
of the things we could say about five absolutely key quotations in the play.
Number One:
When you’re married you’ll realize that men have important work to
do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their
business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.
MRS BIRLING TO SHEILA
 There is created a clear hierarchical distinction between men and women

where men ‘have important work to do’ and women must make
themselves busy with something of far less importance. This is a key
example of patriarchy.
 This is said by Mrs Birling: she has internalised the social norms of the
Edwardian period. It is not simply that men are telling women what to
do, but that Mrs Birling has been ideologically compelled to become
complicit in this also. The patriarchal ideology is so entrenched within
society that it is adopted and propagated by Mrs Birling.
 There is a sense of resignation: there is nothing that can be done about

this and as such Sheila will just have ‘to get used to that’. This also
speaks to the idea that this ideology has been passed down through the
generations: just as Mrs Birling accepted the ideology so too, in time,
will Sheila.
 However, it is exactly this cycle that Priestly seeks to break through his
play. Notice, for instance, that Sheila’s response to this is: ‘I don’t
believe I will’ (half playful, half serious)’ (3). She may only be half
serious now, but by the end of the play she will be entirely serious.
Number Two
He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of
looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking.
STAGE DIRECTION, INTRODUCING THE INSPECTOR
 One especially interesting aspect of this description is the use of

‘weightily’, which suggests a certain solidity and physicality to the
Inspector. He is immediately established as exuding a physical and
domineering presence.
 This establishes the Inspector as the moral bedrock on which the play is
founded and this is in contrast to Birling’s often fragmented speech,
which is often interrupted by hyphens. The Inspector is solid and
dependable both physically and morally.
 Notice also how he is described as ‘looking hard at the person he

addresses’: he is to shine a spotlight on the actions of the Birling family
and this is reflected by the way in which the light changes, upon the
Inspector’s entrance, from ‘pink and intimate’ to a ‘brighter and harder’
colour.
 This is further suggested in the National Theatre Production where the

Birling family live in a doll’s house, which then swings open upon the
Inspector’s arrival: the Inspector is to lay bare and unpick the moral
assumptions, which have determined the family’s actions.
 He is moral compass and Priestley’s mouthpiece: he is the textual

mechanism through which the play is able to impart its didactic
message.
 The arrival of the Inspector is a consequence of the behaviour of the
Birling family and as such there exists a causal link between the two: the
Inspector exists because the Birling family have abdicated civic
responsibility just as the play exists because of the action of society at
large.
 One might even consider Inspector Goole’s name, which is a homonym
for ‘ghoul’. A ghoul is a phantom that is said to feed on dead bodies and
can also describe a person who is morbidly obsessed with death. Given
the Inspector is there to investigate the death of Eva Smith this is an apt
description, but it might also suggest that the Inspector is to feed on the
Birling family.
Number Three
As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money.
MRS BIRLING, ABOUT EVA
 This demonstrates Mrs Birling’s clear class prejudice
 The lexical choice of ‘that’ has the same dehumanising effect that Mrs
Birling’s earlier use of ‘these’ had. It suggests that Mrs Birling views
Eva as utterly different to her and one can imagine the actress almost
spitting out the word with complete disdain.
 Equally, the use of ‘sort’ suggests categorisation and hierarchy. Mrs

Birling views Eva as belonging to a different category of human. She is,
adopting Edward Said’s term, a cultural Other.
 Furthermore, it also shows that for Mrs Birling all that matters is Eva’s
class: her worth and value as a human is inextricably linked to her social
class and, again this is the view that Priestly sought to disrupt.
Number Four
We are members of one body.
THE INSPECTOR
 This stresses the fact that all people in society should share responsibility
for one another. It is at the crux of the play’s moral and didactic message.
 The metaphorical image of us being ‘one body’ highlights this. If one

part of your body is ill or not function as it should then all the others
parts suffer.
 We do not live in a vacuum, but are part of a whole. The health of the
whole is dependent on the health of the part.
 The use of ‘members’ is also highly suggestive. This is perhaps an

antidote or corrective to the Birling family rhetoric of division and
hierarchy (‘that sort’): the play emphasises that we are not divided or
different, but in fact a community in which we ought to protect one
another.
 Perhaps ‘members’ also has connotations of union or political party

membership, maybe suggesting that for Priestley the way in which to
cultivate this communal protection is to participate in political activism,
as ‘members’ of the Labour Party for instance. This would not have been
lost on an audience in 1945.
Number Five
And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not
learn that lesson, when they will be taught it in fire and blood and
anguish.
THE INSPECTOR
 This highly powerful image of lessons being taught in ‘fire and blood
and anguish’ would be especially evocative for an audience who has just
fought through two world wars.
 This reinforces the fact that the natural consequence of a society that
does not care for one another (in other words the mentality advocated by
Mr Birling) is war and conflict.
 The polysyndeton helps to strengthen this message by rhetorically and

structurally emphasising just how much suffering will accrue from a
continued abdication of one’s civic duty. There will not just be ‘fire’, but
also ‘blood’ and ‘anguish’.
 Indeed, the choice of ‘anguish’ is especially interesting, as opposed to

just ‘pain’. If one thinks of ‘anguish’ then one thinks of prolonged and
deep suffering, further cementing Priestley’s message.
 Thus, the only way to ensure further conflicts do not happen is to create a
society where we look after one another. The natural political
manifestation of this ideology, for Priestly, is socialism and this is what
the play promotes.
 In fact, the reference to ‘lessons’ just makes this point all the more clear:
Priestley is using the play to express a political and didactic lesson to his
audience.

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5 Essential An Inspector

MRS BIRLING TO SHEILA

 There is created a clear hierarchical distinction between men and women

 There is a sense of resignation: there is nothing that can be done about

STAGE DIRECTION, INTRODUCING THE INSPECTOR

 One especially interesting aspect of this description is the use of

 Notice also how he is described as ‘looking hard at the person he

 This is further suggested in the National Theatre Production where the

 He is moral compass and Priestley’s mouthpiece: he is the textual

As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money.

MRS BIRLING, ABOUT EVA

 This demonstrates Mrs Birling’s clear class prejudice

 Equally, the use of ‘sort’ suggests categorisation and hierarchy. Mrs

 The metaphorical image of us being ‘one body’ highlights this. If one

 The use of ‘members’ is also highly suggestive. This is perhaps an

 Perhaps ‘members’ also has connotations of union or political party

 The polysyndeton helps to strengthen this message by rhetorically and

 Indeed, the choice of ‘anguish’ is especially interesting, as opposed to

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