Name : _____________________________ St.

Joseph’s College
Class : ______ ( ) S2 ENGLISH READING
Date : _____________________________ An Inspector Calls - 1

Plot and Characters

A. Setting

- The play is set in a of a home in a fictional town in

Brumley, England. Having all actions take place in one room puts this piece in the category
of a .

- The events happen on a spring evening in the year 1912, approximately two years before the
breaks out.

- It was a time of peace and in England. The wealth gap

persisted but the government provided financial to
the poor, and the rich were not ashamed to be obviously extravagant. The status of
women was slowly rising but women only hoped to marry
well, and women depended solely on their own job.

B. Plot
1. On a spring evening, the Birling family are celebrating Sheila Birling’s
to Gerald Croft at the dinner table. While
the family members are chatting after the meal, the maid announces that
an is at the door. He soon enters the dining
room and speaks to the family
at a time, to reveal secrets relating to a young girl’s suicide.

2. Read the play and complete the following timeline about the series of events surrounding Eva
Smith, and eventually leading up to her death.
1910 a) Eva is fired by Birling & Co. because she asks for a .
Sept.
b) Eva starts working at a boutique called Milwards, but is fired because the manager
receives a from a customer about her.

c) Eva meets a gentleman at the stalls bar of the Palace Variety Theatre and becomes
his for a few months.

d) Eva becomes intimate with another gentleman she meets at the bar, and later finds
that she is with his child.

e) Eva seeks help from a charitable committee as a single mother, under the name
, but is rejected.
1912
Apr. f) Eva commits suicide by drinking a lot of strong .

1
 3. Suspects involved in Eva Smith’s death keeps changing throughout the play, and
after the inspector leaves the house, there are three more plot twists:
- Gerald returns to say that there is
- Gerald confirms that no girl has
- Mr Birling receives a phone call that says

C. Characters
1. Read the introductory stage instructions and write down the full name of each character.
2. Match the events (a) to (e) from Part B to the characters to show their connections to Eva.
3. Read the introductory stage instructions to complete the descriptions, and read the designated
pages to complete the quotes.
(Event: )
 heavy-looking man in his middle fifties
 a social climber who is in his speech
 “If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had
anything to do with, it would be very , wouldn’t it?” (p.14)

(Event: )
 about fifty
 rather and is her husband’s social superior
 “I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept
for it at all. (p.47)

(Event: )
 pretty girl in her twenties
 very with life and rather excited
 “It didn’t seem to be anything very terrible
Don’t you understand? And if I could help her now, I would –" (p.24)

(Event: )
 attractive chap about thirty
 at ease with himself as a young man of his class
 “I’d like to be alone for a while.” (p.39)

(Event: )
 in his early twenties
 ill at ease, half and half assertive
 “Whoever that chap was, 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.” (p.64)

Inspector Goole
 a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit
 creates an impression of massiveness, solidity, and purposefulness
 “You can’t do her any more harm. And you can’t do her any good now. You can’t
even say ‘I’m sorry, Eva Smith.’ (p.56)