An Inspector Calls

This is the play that turned a dinner party into a courtroom. Priestley wrote it in 1945, looking back at 1912, so every smug prediction the Birlings make—no war, an unsinkable Titanic—lands with terrible irony. It's for anyone who has ever wondered what 'a man has to look after himself' costs the people who can't. Short, fierce, and built to be argued about at the kitchen table.

1. 1

   Act 1

   The Toast and the Bell

   The play opens in the dining room of the Birling family home in Brumley, an industrial city in the North Midlands, in spring 1912. Arthur Birling, a prosperous manufacturer, and his wife Sybil, with daughter Sheila and son Eric, are celebrating Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft, son of a rival businessman. Birling gives a toast and makes pompous speeches predicting no war, the unsinkability of the Titanic, and a future of prosperity. He says: 'I say there isn't a chance of war. The world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible.' He also states that in twenty or thirty years people will look back on 1912 as a time of 'capital versus labour agitations' and 'silly little war scares.' Arthur Birling tells Gerald and Eric that a man must look after himself and his own, dismissing community as nonsense: 'a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own—and—' (He pauses.) We hear the sharp ring of a front door bell. The Inspector arrives precisely at this moment. Inspector Goole arrives at the Birling house and announces that a young woman, Eva Smith, has died that afternoon in the Infirmary after swallowing disinfectant; her death is a suicide. He says she left a letter and a sort of diary. The Inspector shows Arthur Birling a photograph of Eva Smith. Birling initially denies knowing her, then recalls she worked in his factory. He admits he sacked her two years ago (in 1910) after she was a ringleader in a strike for higher wages—from twenty-two and six to twenty-five shillings a week. He says he was justified in firing her and can't accept any responsibility. Arthur Birling says: 'I refused, of course.' He defends his action, stating it is his duty to keep labour costs down. The Inspector replies: 'It's better to ask for the earth than to take it.'

2. 2

   Act 2

   Sheila's Jealousy, Gerald's Secret

   Sheila Birling is drawn into the questioning. The Inspector reveals that after being sacked, Eva Smith got a job at Milwards, a large clothing shop. Sheila, shown the photograph, admits she had the girl sacked because she was jealous: Eva smiled when Sheila tried on a dress that didn't suit her. Sheila says: 'I went to the manager at Milwards and I told him that if they didn't get rid of that girl, I'd never go near the place again and I'd persuade mother to close our account with them.' She admits her action was mean and spiteful, and that she is ashamed of it. The Inspector reveals that Eva Smith then changed her name to Daisy Renton. Gerald Croft reacts visibly to the name. Sheila notices and says: 'You gave yourself away as soon as he mentioned her other name.' Gerald admits he knew Daisy Renton. He met her at the Palace Variety Theatre bar, where she was being harassed by Alderman Meggarty. He rescued her, gave her money, and installed her in a friend's flat as his mistress. He ended the affair in September 1911, leaving her with some money, and says he did not love her. Gerald says: 'I didn't feel about her as she felt about me.' He describes Daisy Renton as 'young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there.' Sheila returns his engagement ring before he leaves for a walk.

3. 3

   Act 3

   Mrs Birling's Verdict

   The Inspector turns to Sybil Birling. He reveals that Daisy Renton, now pregnant and destitute, applied to the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation for help. Sybil, as a prominent committee member, used her influence to deny the application because the girl called herself 'Mrs. Birling.' Sybil Birling says: 'I didn't like her manner. She'd impertinently made use of our name, though she pretended afterwards it just happened to be the first she thought of.' She insists the girl's story was a lie and that the father of the child is entirely responsible. Sybil Birling says the father of the child is 'a young man and he ought to be made an example of. If the girl's death is due to anybody, then it's due to him.' She adds: 'He ought to be dealt with very severely—' Eric enters at this moment, and the family realizes the truth. Eric Birling confesses he met Daisy Renton at the Palace bar one night in November 1911, forced himself on her when drunk, and got her pregnant. He stole fifty pounds from his father's office to support her, but she refused the money when she learned it was stolen. Eric says: 'I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty—and I threatened to make a row.' He describes their relationship as 'a hellish thing,' and says Daisy Renton would not marry him because she knew he didn't love her.

4. 4

   Act 4

   Fire and Blood—and the Telephone

   The Inspector delivers his final speech: 'We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.' He then exits. The Inspector leaves. The family begins to question whether he was a real police inspector. Gerald returns and reports he spoke to a police sergeant who said no Inspector Goole works at the local force. Arthur Birling telephones the Chief Constable and confirms there is no Inspector Goole on the force. The family begins to doubt whether the same girl was involved in each case, since the Inspector showed the photograph to only one person at a time. Gerald telephones the Infirmary and learns no woman has committed suicide by swallowing disinfectant for months. The older Birlings and Gerald treat the whole affair as a hoax and celebrate their relief. Sheila and Eric refuse to join them. Sheila says: 'You're pretending everything's just as it was before.' Eric says: 'The fact remains that I did what I did. And mother did what she did. And the rest of you did what you did to her.' They insist the truth of their actions matters regardless of the Inspector's identity. The telephone rings. Arthur Birling answers it. He reports, stunned: 'That was the police. A girl has just died—on her way to the Infirmary—after swallowing some disinfectant. And a police inspector is on his way here—to ask some—questions.' The curtain falls.

• AArthur BirlingA pompous manufacturer, former Lord Mayor, and prospective knight who believes every man must look after himself. He sacks Eva for asking a fair wage and learns nothing by the end.
• SSybil BirlingArthur's cold, socially superior wife and charity committee member. She refuses help to a pregnant girl for using her name—then unknowingly condemns her own son.
• SSheila BirlingThe spoiled, excitable daughter who has Eva sacked over a smile. She undergoes the play's sharpest moral awakening and refuses to pretend nothing happened.
• EEric BirlingThe uneasy son and heavy drinker who forced himself on Daisy Renton and stole fifty pounds for her. He owns his guilt even when his parents won't.
• GGerald CroftSheila's charming fiancé, son of a business rival, who kept Daisy Renton as his mistress. He shows some remorse but sides with the hoax theory.
• IInspector GooleThe mysterious, methodical figure who forces confessions from each character. Whether fraud, ghost, or conscience, he exists to make them face what they did.
• EEva Smith / Daisy RentonThe working-class woman whose suicide drives the play—sacked twice, kept and discarded, refused charity, made pregnant. Never seen on stage, told entirely through others' confessions.

The Photograph

The Inspector shows each character the photograph of Eva Smith privately, one at a time, and never describes it to the audience. It stands for controlled, individual confrontation—and it plants the family's later doubt, since if each person saw a different photo, the chain of guilt might be a coincidence. Its secrecy keeps both the mystery and the moral alive.

The Engagement Ring

Gerald gives Sheila the ring at the celebration; she returns it after his confession about Daisy Renton. When the 'hoax' is revealed, he offers it back, but she does not immediately take it. The ring tracks Sheila's arc from spoiled fiancée to someone who will not marry on the old terms.

The Palace Bar

The music-hall public house where Gerald rescued Daisy from Alderman Meggarty's harassment and where Eric met the girl he got pregnant. It stands for the world of drink and exploitation where working-class women like Eva were picked up and used—and it links the family's respectable guilt to a place they'd never admit to entering.

The Telephone

The front door bell interrupts Birling's speech about looking after himself; the final telephone call destroys his relief. Both devices bring the outside world into the dining room uninvited. The phone's last ring proves the Inspector's warning was real and starts the cycle again.

The ending is a trap that springs twice. First, the family learns Goole was never a real inspector and no girl died—the relief lets the older Birlings and Gerald revert to exactly who they were. Then the phone rings: a girl has just died after swallowing disinfectant, and a real inspector is on his way. The obvious reading is supernatural justice—Goole as a ghoul or prophet who gave them a chance to confess before the real consequences arrived. A competing reading is that the second death may involve the same chain of events or a different girl entirely; the play deliberately leaves whether the first Inspector's story was true unresolved, since the photograph was shown to one person at a time. What lands is the structure: the punishment isn't the death, it's the second interrogation. Sheila and Eric, who learned, now face it changed. Birling, who didn't, faces it exposed. The curtain falls before anyone answers a single question—which is the point. The interrogation, like the moral, is never finished.

1. 1.Is Inspector Goole a fraud, a ghost, or a dramatic device—and does the answer change what the play asks of its audience?
2. 2.The photograph is shown to one person at a time and never described. Does this make the family's guilt conditional, and does that weaken or strengthen Priestley's argument?
3. 3.Sheila and Eric accept guilt; Arthur and Sybil deny it. Is the play's generational split a genuine moral difference or just a matter of who has more to lose?

Anyone who enjoys a play that turns a dinner party into an interrogation—and anyone who has ever argued about who owes what to whom. Students get a masterclass in dramatic irony; everyone else gets a mirror.

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