An Inspector Calls — Complete Revision Guide

1Act 1 — The Inspector Arrives

The play opens in the Birling family's dining room in the fictional industrial city of Brumley in spring 1912. The family are celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft, a union that will merge two rival businesses. Arthur Birling delivers a series of confident speeches, dismissing the possibility of war, praising the unsinkable Titanic, and insisting that a man “has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own.” The lighting is described as “pink and intimate” — a warm, complacent glow that reflects the family's self-satisfaction.

Inspector Goole arrives and announces that a young woman named Eva Smith has died in the infirmary after swallowing disinfectant. He shows Mr Birling a photograph (only letting one person see it at a time) and reveals that Birling sacked Eva from his factory in September 1910 after she led a strike demanding higher wages (from twenty-two and six to twenty-five shillings a week). Birling is unapologetic, calling it a matter of “duty” and insisting he cannot be held responsible. The lighting changes to “brighter and harder” when the Inspector arrives, symbolising scrutiny and exposure.

Sheila learns that she too was involved: she had Eva dismissed from Milwards, a dress shop, because Eva smiled when Sheila tried on a hat that did not suit her. Sheila is immediately remorseful and begins to accept responsibility. Gerald's reaction when the name “Daisy Renton” is mentioned reveals that he also knew the girl. The act ends with Sheila warning Gerald that the Inspector already knows everything.

2Act 2 — Gerald and Mrs Birling

Gerald confesses that he met Daisy Renton at the Palace Bar in March 1911. She was being pestered by Alderman Meggarty, and Gerald rescued her. He installed her as his mistress in a friend's flat, gave her money, and made her happy for a time. He ended the affair in September 1911, and Daisy went away to the seaside for two months to recover. Sheila, though hurt by the revelation, respects Gerald's honesty and recognises that he genuinely cared for Daisy. Gerald leaves the house, shaken.

The focus turns to Sybil Birling, who chairs the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation. Mrs Birling used her influence to have the pregnant Eva/Daisy's appeal for help rejected, because the girl had used the name “Mrs Birling” (which Sybil found impertinent) and because she felt the girl was giving herself airs. Despite Sheila's frantic warnings, Mrs Birling insists that the blame lies entirely with the father of the child, who should be made an example of and forced to accept public responsibility. She does not realise she is condemning her own son Eric, whose involvement is revealed at the act's cliff-hanger ending when Eric re-enters the room and everyone stares at him, having just understood the truth.

3Act 3 — Eric, the Aftermath, and the Final Call

Eric confesses his part: he met Eva/Daisy at the Palace Bar, forced himself on her when drunk, and got her pregnant. He gave her money — about fifty pounds — which he had stolen from his father's office. When Eva discovered the money was stolen, she refused to accept any more and went to the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation for help, where Mrs Birling turned her away. Eric is distraught and turns on his mother: “you killed her — and the child she'd have had too.”

The Inspector delivers his final speech about “fire and blood and anguish” and leaves. Immediately, Birling and Mrs Birling begin trying to discredit him. Gerald returns and reveals that he has confirmed there is no Inspector Goole on the police force. They phone the infirmary and learn that no girl has died that evening. Birling, Mrs Birling, and Gerald are hugely relieved, convinced it was all a hoax. Sheila and Eric, however, insist that their actions were still wrong regardless of whether the Inspector was real. The generational divide is stark: the older generation have learned nothing; the younger generation have been genuinely changed.

The play ends with a devastating final twist: the phone rings. Birling answers and announces, his voice shaking, that a police inspector is on his way to ask questions about a girl who has just died on her way to the infirmary after swallowing disinfectant. The play ends here, with the cycle about to begin again.