Plot and structure

An Inspector Calls is a play by J.B. Priestley. It is set on one evening in spring 1912, in the dining room of the Birlings, a wealthy family in the industrial town of Brumley. Priestley wrote it in 1945, at the end of the Second World War.

The Birlings are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to Gerald Croft when Inspector Goole arrives. A young woman, Eva Smith, has died after swallowing disinfectant. One by one, the Inspector shows that every person in the room helped to push her towards her death.

The whole play happens in real time in one room. Nobody can escape, and the audience watches each secret come out as it happens.

The family are relaxed after dinner. Mr Birling makes speeches about business, war and the Titanic. Then the doorbell rings and the Inspector arrives. He questions them one at a time:

1. Mr Birling first. In 1910 he sacked Eva Smith from his factory for helping to lead a strike for higher wages.
2. Sheila next. Later, Eva worked at Milwards, a clothes shop, and Sheila had her sacked out of jealousy.

When the Inspector says Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton, Gerald's shock gives him away.

The act ends on a cliffhanger. Sheila warns Gerald, ‘he knows. Of course he knows.’ (Act 1). The Inspector walks back in and asks, ‘Well?’

3. Gerald admits that in 1911 he had an affair with Daisy Renton, then ended it. Sheila gives him back the engagement ring, and he goes out for a walk.
4. Mrs Birling is next. Two weeks before her death, Eva, pregnant and desperate, asked Mrs Birling's charity for help. Mrs Birling persuaded the committee to turn her away.

Mrs Birling insists the blame belongs to the father of the child, who should be found and punished. Sheila realises who the father is before her mother does. As the act ends, the front door opens and Eric walks back in.

5. Eric confesses. He met Eva in a bar, she became pregnant, and he gave her money he had stolen from his father's office. When she found out it was stolen, she refused it.

Mrs Birling realises she has condemned her own son's child. The Inspector gives his final speech and leaves.

Then comes the twist. Gerald returns: a police sergeant has never heard of an Inspector Goole. A phone call to the Infirmary shows that no girl has died there today. Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald relax, but Sheila and Eric cannot forget what they did.

Finally the phone rings. Mr Birling reports that a girl has just died and ‘a police inspector is on his way here’ (Act 3). The curtain falls.

Priestley uses the shape of a well-made play: a tightly built plot in which secrets are revealed one at a time, building tension to a climax. Each act ends on a cliffhanger.

The play can also be read as a morality play, a kind of medieval drama that taught right and wrong. Each character can be linked to one of the seven deadly sins: Mr Birling's greed, Sheila's envy, Gerald's lust, Mrs Birling's pride and Eric's drinking. The Inspector acts like a judge.

The ending is cyclical: a real inspector is coming, so the story is about to begin again. Priestley suggests that people who refuse to learn will be tested again, and next time the lesson may be harder.