An Inspector Calls (Grades 9–1) York Notes

Priestley presents the relationships between men and women in a variety of ways. There is the Birlings’ marriage, Sheila and Gerald’s engagement, or Gerald’s affair with Daisy Renton and also Eric’s relationship with her (as Eva Smith) which the extract depicts. However, there are also other kinds of relationships, such as those between sister and brother Sheila and Eric, or Eric’s relationship with his mother.

Sybil and Arthur Birling are well suited because the important positions in Brumley they hold are the most important thing to them. Despite the problems caused by the Inspector’s visit, their marriage is not really affected. However, they never show any affection. In the stage directions to Act One, Sybil Birling is described as a ‘a rather cold woman’, which suggests the marriage hasn’t any real love. She is also her husband’s ‘social superior’, so it could be a marriage that allows Arthur Birling to climb up the social ladder.

Gerald and Sheila’s relationship seems to be a love match. But in Act Two, we discover that Gerald was having an affair with Daisy Renton. He claimed in Act One to be ‘busy at work’. Although Sheila suspected something was going on, Gerald’s betrayal comes as a shock. She feels she no longer knows him and wants to know the truth. The breakdown of the relationship helps to change Sheila from a young woman who is thrilled about her engagement to one who ends it.

In Gerald’s relationship with Daisy Renton, we never know if his being upset at her suicide will change him. Although he rescued her from Alderman Meggarty at the Palace Theatre bar, any proper relationship with her would mean a scandal. At one point in Act Two, he refers to the women who go there as ‘women of the town’. This is a euphemism. It shows Gerald’s embarrassment at mixing with prostitutes. Gerald has double standards and Eric’s relationship with her (as Eva Smith) is similar, but he is nasty and drunk a lot of the time. As we see in the extract, he tells the Inspector that when he was drunk, he ‘threatened to make a row’ if she didn’t let him into her lodgings. In these kinds of relationships, the woman is pretty helpless.

Eric’s relationship with his mother is also poor. She does not understand him and she does not understand his problems with drink. She refuses to help Eva Smith through the Brumley Women’s Charity Organization, because she believes the father of her unborn child should be made to pay. She makes her views known strongly but does not see that Eric is the father. This irony has a big effect on the audience. Later, when she claims that she ‘didn’t understand’ Eric was the father, it makes no difference to him. He is very angry and accuses her of having ‘killed’ Eva, his child, and her own grandchild. So his relationship with his mother is more or less broken.

The most positive male and female relationship is Sheila and Eric’s. Sheila speaks to Eric as an equal and is not afraid to criticise his immaturity. Also, in the extract, Eric tells us Eva Smith treats him like ‘a kid’. Using the word ‘kid’ tells us that she also sees his immaturity and maybe tells us that Eric knows he is immature too. However, between Eric and Sheila there is a good-natured banter in Act One. This becomes more serious when the Inspector shows all the Birlings and Gerald what their cruelty to Eva Smith has done. Things go from bad to worse for the Birlings. Sheila and Eric are the only ones to feel real sadness at Eva Smith’s death. They disagree so much with their parents that Sheila and Eric become closer.

It is the Inspector’s visit to the Birling household that causes the relationships between men and women to break down. Only the relationship between Eric and Sheila becomes stronger, because they agree with the Inspector’s words, that all relationships need to be based on respect. In other words, we need to have a moral code, so ‘An Inspector Calls’ can be seen as a morality play.