Last lesson on the play we started to look at the opening of Act 2 and noted down some important quotations.
These notes are a continuation of that work. Read them through and revise them carefully for the exam... (p.2949)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sheila feels uncomfortable upon her mother’s entry – she enters ‘briskly and self confidently..’.
Mrs Birling tries to get rid of the Inspector: ‘I don’t think we can help you much.’ Sheila tries to warn her
mother: ‘I feel you’re beginning all wrong ... you’ll be sorry [...] afterwards.’ (P.30)
Mrs B. tries to dismiss Sheila, commenting that the Inspector has had a great impression on her, to which the
Inspector replies: ‘We often do with the young ones’. How does this relate to the impact the Inspector has
on the younger generation by the end of the play? How does this contrast with their parents at the end of
the play?
Sheila is adamant she wants to stay where she is until the truth is arrived at as to ‘why that girl killed herself.’
(p.30). The Inspector is quiet whilst Sheila and her mother are talking.
The interrogation then shifts towards Mrs Birling. She tries to put the Inspector in his place: ‘I realise that you
may have to conduct some kind of experiment ...You know of course that my husband was Lord Mayor only
two years ago...’. Both Gerald and Sheila try to quieten Mrs B at this point (p.31).
When the Inspector asks where Mr B is, Mrs B informs him that he is tending to (drunk) Eric ‘who seems to
be in an excitable silly mood.’ The Inspector is quick to ask what is wrong with him. Mrs B defends Eric saying
he has had too much to drink; they were celebrating... The Inspector questions the amount Eric drinks. Once
again, Mrs B defends him. Sheila tries to reveal the truth – that Eric is a drinker – ‘I don’t want to get poor
Eric into trouble ... This isn’t the time to pretend...’ (p.32) – why might she feel this way? Gerald also
confirms Eric’s drinking habits.
Sheila tells her mother : ‘He hasn’t started on you yet.’ The audience wonder what involvement / part Mrs B
had to play. Mrs B claims that she is happy to answer any questions, claiming not to know anything of the
girl. Inspector: ‘(gravely) We’ll see, Mrs Birling.’ (p.32)
Mr Birling returns and claims that Eric will not go up to bed because the Inspector has asked him to stay up;
this is confirmed by the Inspector.
Rope is then used metaphorically as Mr B claims that he does not wish to give the Inspector any more rope.
The Inspector says: ‘You don’t need to give e any rope.’ – Perhaps he has all he needs. Astutely, Sheila says:
‘(rather wildly, with laugh) No, he’s giving us the rope – so that we’ll hang ourselves.’ – What does Sheila
mean by this? (p.33).
The Inspector reminds the Birlings of what has been discovered about Eva so far – Birling and Sheila’s
involvement and the fact that she changed her name to Daisy Renton. It becomes clear that this is who
Gerald knew her as.
Gerald’s involvement with her is then revealed: he first met her in the ‘Palace music hall’. He also tried again
to get her to leave but Sheila wants to ‘understand exactly what happens when a man says he’s so busy at
the works that he can hardly ever find the time to come and see the girl he’s supposed to be in love with...’ –
what does this say about their relationship?
The Inspector brings things back on track and Gerald continues the story of his involvement – how he met
her in a bar; the realisation hits him that she is dead (‘... well, I’ve just suddenly realised – taken it in
properly...’); he recalls how she was upset; how he took her out of the bar and to a hotel for a drink; they
talked and she told him about losing her job after a strike, losing her job in a shop and the fact she had
changed her name (p.35-6)...
The Inspector intervenes at this point: ‘And then you decided to keep her - as your mistress?’ Mrs B is
shocked by this; Sheila responds: ‘Of course, Mother. It was obvious from the start. Go on Gerald ...’ (p.36).
Gerald continues his story: he met her again 2 days later and discovered she was penniless and about to lose
her home; his friend was away and so he let her stay in his lodgings. He claims: ‘I want you to understand
that I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her ... I was sorry for her...’ (p.37). Sheila recognises
that Gerald feels compelled to explain himself to the Inspector: ‘I know. Somehow he makes you...’ (p.37).
The Inspector also reveals how she became Gerald’s mistress; Gerald says: ‘Yes. I suppose it was inevitable.’
•
•
•
•
•
•
They want to know if Gerald loved her, at which point Birling protests but is soon turned on by the Inspector:
‘Why should you do any protesting? It was you who turned the girl out in the first place.’ (p.37). They discuss
Gerald’s feelings about Daisy/Eva further. Mrs B tries to bring it to a close: ‘I don’t think we want any further
details of this disgusting affair.’ (p.38). Gerald tells how he closed off the affair but reveals how Daisy told
him: ‘She’d been happier than she’d ever been before...’ (p.39).
Gerald tells how she had saved money and he’d given her a bit more but she went off for a while; confirmed
by the Inspector (p.39). The Inspector also reveals that he knows this because: ‘She kept a rough sort of diary
...’. Gerald never saw her again. He is now upset and decides to go off for a walk. At this point, Sheila returns
the engagement ring to him. She says that she respects him for telling the truth and the fact that they have
now changed since the start of dinner ... (p.40).
Birling then steps in and tries to defend Gerald to an extent – what might his reasons be?
Mrs B believes that this ‘wretched business’ has now come to an end. Sheila acknowledges how the
Inspector didn’t show Gerald a photo – it wasn’t necessary. Mrs B asks about the photo and the Inspector
says that she’d better have a look at it (p.41). ‘She looks hard at it’ – and claims not to recognise the girl in it.
The Inspector tells her: ‘You mean you choose not to, Mrs Birling.’
Mrs B becomes irritated and Birling tries to end the whole thing and tries to get the Inspector to apologise –
he refuses (p.41). The Inspector tells him: ‘Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.’
Sheila picks up on the theme of responsibility and sums up what they know so far about their involvement in
Eva’s death (p.41-2). She tells her parents: ‘And can’t you see, both of you, you’re making it worse?’ – who
sounds like the grown up now?
The door slams as she turns away and Mr Birling leaves to see if it was Eric who has just left.
Notes below from: http://www.gradesaver.com/an-inspector-calls/study-guide/section2/
Gerald leaves, and Sheila remarks to the Inspector that he did not show Gerald the photograph of the dead girl. He
replies that it was not necessary. Mrs. Birling then asks to see the photograph, and she claims not to recognize the
girl. The Inspector tells Mrs. Birling that she is not telling the truth, which prompts Birling to angrily insist on an
apology—he is a public man, he says. “Public men,” replies the Inspector, “have responsibilities as well as privileges.”
The door slams, and Birling leaves to find out if Eric has just gone out.
The Inspector continues to interrogate Mrs. Birling. She, he says, is a prominent member of the Brumley Women’s
Charity Organization, to which, it seems, Eva Smith turned for help only two weeks ago. The girl assumed the name
“Mrs. Birling” at the meeting, to which Sybil Birling took immediate offense. The girl, who (the Inspector reveals) was
pregnant, was desperate and asking the charity for help. Mrs. Birling used her influence over the committee,
however, to have her appeal denied. “She came to you for help,” the Inspector continues, “at a time when no
woman could have needed it more ... alone, friendless, almost penniless, desperate. She needed not only money, but
advice, sympathy, friendliness ... And you slammed the door in her face.”
Mrs. Birling remains imperiously unmoved by the Inspector. “I’ll tell you what I told her,” she says. “Go and look for
the father of the child. It’s his responsibility.” Tension builds as the Inspector continues to press, with increasing
sternness, for information, and Mrs. Birling tries her best not to give it. Eva did not want to take more money from
the father of her child, Mrs. Birling reveals, since Eva thought the money was stolen. Mrs. Birling then firmly restates
that the father of the child must be held responsible for the girl’s death, and she tells the Inspector to do his duty.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Birling. I shall do my duty,” the Inspector replies, and looks at his watch. It gradually dawns on the
family—Sheila, naturally, figures it out before her parents do—that Eric Birling was the father of the child. Mrs.
Birling, unwittingly, has just pronounced a harsh sentence against her own son. The Inspector raises a hand to silence
the clamor as Eric enters, “looking extremely pale and distressed,” and as the curtain falls.