An Inspector Calls (Grades 9–1) York Notes

J. B. Priestley presents Sybil Birling as a very cold woman and this is because she thinks she is better than anyone else. She thinks she is an important person, like Mr Birling does.

In Act two she tries to bully Sheila telling her to go to bed and then she starts to tell Inspector Goole off. She tells him all about Mr Birling being a mayor and a magistrate. She says, ‘You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago’, but the Inspector takes no notice.

Sybil Birling does not care about other people. She does not want to help poor people if she thinks they haven’t earned it. For example, she says to the Inspector, we’ve been ‘helping deserving cases’. This means she doesn’t want to help people she doesn’t think deserve it. In those days people had to rely on charities because there were no benefits from the government. When Eva Smith really needed help from her charity, because she was expecting a baby, Sybil Birling wouldn’t give it because she didn’t like Eva Smith. This was because Eva Smith called herself Mrs Birling. Sybil Birling was cross because she thought it was rude. She says, ‘I think it was simply a piece of gross impertinence’. What she didn’t know was that Eva Smith had a right to call herself that because Eric Birling was the father of her baby. On top of that Sybil says to the Inspector that he ought to be looking for who the father is and when he finds him, punish him. But, as I said, Sybil doesn’t know Eric is the father.

All Sybil Birling cares about is keeping up appearances. She doesn’t want the Inspector to find out any nasty secrets, so she wants him to go away. Everything was going well for her, she was having a little engagement party for Sheila and Gerald and they were enjoying themselves, she was very pleased about the engagement because Gerald’s father is Lord Croft. This means Sheila would get to be Lady Croft at some point and that would just suit Sybil Birling.

There are some nasty parts in the play. One is where Sheila tells her mother that her brother Eric drinks too much. Sybil Birling doesn’t believe her and in a way Sheila shouldn’t have said anything because later in the play, Sybil Birling says to Eric ‘you’re not the type – you don’t get drunk’. So it shows she can’t face the truth.

Another nasty part is when Eric blames his mother for killing Eva Smith and her grandchild, the one that wasn’t born. He is very angry and Sybil Birling gets upset and says she didn’t know that he was the father when Eva Smith came to ask for help. Eric more or less says his mother never understands anything and that she doesn’t really care about him.

After this you would think she would be upset for a long time, but she seems to get over it. When she finds out that Inspector Goole may not be a real police inspector, she’s back to normal. It shows how cold Sybil Birling is and doesn’t seem to be affected by anything deep down.