An Inspector Calls - Quotes

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Mrs Birling - Power

Calls the Inspector 'impertinant'

1 of 26

Mrs Birling - Responsibility

'I still don't feel responsible'

'Then he'd be entirley responsible'  (dramatic irony - talking about Eric)

2 of 26

Mrs Birling - Class

'A girl of that sort' (Eva Smith)

3 of 26

Mrs Birling - Remorse/Guilt

'I accept no blame for it'

4 of 26

The Inspector - Power

'an imperession of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness [...] he speaks carefully, weightly and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking'

5 of 26

The Inspector - Class

'it would do us all a bit of good if we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their dingy little back bedrooms.'

6 of 26

The Inspector - Responsibility

'I'm waiting - to do my duty.'

'The time will come soon when,if men will not learn (their) lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish'

7 of 26

The Inspector - Remorse/Guilt

'He's giving us enough rope - so that we'll hang ourselves'

8 of 26

The Inspector - Generations

'You seem to have made a great imperession on this child, Inspector [...] We often do on the young ones. They're more imperessionable.'

9 of 26

Mr Birling - Power

'I don't like that tone' (to the Inspector)

10 of 26

Mr Birling - Class

'Provincial in his speech' (he has married into a higher class - his social superior)

'It's exactly the same port your father gets' (to Gerald)

11 of 26

Mr Birling - Responsibility

'A man has to make his own way'

He has no time for 'community and all that nonsense'

12 of 26

Mr Birling - Generation

'This is one of the happiest nights of my life' (To see Shelia get married) - Sees the younger generation as there for just more money.

13 of 26

Sheila - Power

'You used your power as the daughter of a good customer [...] to punish the girl'

14 of 26

Shelia - Class

'But these girls aren't just cheap labour, they're people'

15 of 26

Sheila - Responsibility

'So i'm really responsible?'

'I was in a furious temper'

'It was all my fault'

'- and i've been so happy tonight. Oh, i wish you hadn't told me.' (neive at the beginning of the play - just wanted to enjoy her night and it got ruined by the inspector)

16 of 26

Sheila - Remorse/Guilt

'It frightens me the way you talk' (to the others - apart from Eric - not feeling guilty)

17 of 26

Sheila - Generations

'So there's nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn. We can all go on behaving exactly like we did.' - Being sarcastic in a hope to change her parents minds and make them feel guilty.

18 of 26

Eric - Class

'Why shouldn't they try for higher wages?'

19 of 26

Eric - Responsibility

'Oh - my God! - how stupid it all is'

20 of 26

Eric - Remorse/Guilt

'And i say we all helped to kill her'

'We did her in alright'

21 of 26

Eric - Generations

'I'm ashamed of you'

22 of 26

Gerald - Power

'You were the wonderful Fairy Prince - you must have adored it'

'I didn't feel about her as she felt about me'

'I didn't install her there so that I could make love to her'

23 of 26

Gerald - Responsibility

'Everything's alright now Sheila. What about this ring?'

24 of 26

Gerald - Class

'We're respectable citizens, not criminals'

25 of 26

Gerald - Remorse/Guilt

'I've suddenly realised - taken it in properly - that she's dead.'

26 of 26

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