Genre: Drama

Written by: J. B. Priestley

Date premiered: 6 July 1945

Character	Role in the Play
Inspector Goole	Investigates Eva Smith’s death and forces the family to accept moral and social responsibility.
Mr. Arthur Birling	A wealthy businessman whose actions begin the chain of events leading to Eva’s downfall.
Mrs. Sybil Birling	A charity leader who refuses help to Eva when she is most vulnerable.
Sheila Birling	Learns from her mistakes and represents change and moral growth.
Eric Birling	Responsible for Eva’s pregnancy and shows guilt and remorse by the end.
Gerald Croft	Sheila’s fiancé whose affair with Eva contributes to her suffering.
Eva Smith / Daisy Renton	A working-class woman whose life exposes social injustice and inequality.

The performance requires few set changes because everything takes place in one area. The property is described as not pleasant and homelike in the stage directions, and the lighting must be brighter and harder once the inspector arrives. The Birling family and Gerald Croft kick off the first of the play’s three acts by celebrating Sheila Birling and Gerald’s engagement.

Mr. Birling seizes the opportunity to speak because it is a pleasant event. Throughout the speech, he shows his delight that Sheila is marrying Gerald because Gerald’s parents are successful business owners. Mr. Birling clearly believes this arrangement will benefit him, as he brags about being considered for knighthood. It’s important to remember that the audience in 1945 would have recognized that many of Mr. Birling’s claims were untrue.He believes that neither the Titanic nor war will ever occur.

This would indicate to the audience that Mr. Birling cannot be trusted. They may also be made aware of a few additional indications dropped by Priestley in this initial scene, indicating that not everything is as it appears in the Birling home. While Gerald teases Sheila about how he ignored her last summer, Eric Birling is distracted and somewhat inebriated. During the speech, Mr. Birling asserts that “a guy has to find his own way”. Inspector Goole arrives precisely at this time.

The inspector notifies the family that a girl had died in the hospital two hours ago. She committed suicide by ingesting a disinfectant. The discovery has taken the family by surprise, but they cannot fathom how they may be involved. The inspector has the girl’s photos, a letter, and a journal that she penned. This is an important fact to remember later because he never shows more than one person the same photo at a time.

He tells them the girl’s name is Eva Smith, and they learn that she previously worked at Mr. Birling’s factory. Eva led a group of employees who sought higher pay, therefore Mr. Birling fired her. Mr. Birling continues to be perplexed as to how his role in Eva’s death could have occurred.The Inspector claims that her termination may have triggered a chain of events that led to her suicide, but Mr. Birling is not convinced.

The Inspector indicates that after Mr. Birling fired Eva Smith, she had no family to turn to and had been unemployed for two months. Following that, he concentrates on Sheila, who has been deeply affected by hearing of the girl’s suicide. He asks if she is aware of any complaints against Milwards, a department store employee. She accepts, and he shows her the image in order to confirm the girl’s identity.

Sheila is taken aback when she discovers that her complaint led to Eva’s second firing. Sheila gives an accurate and frank account of what happened in the shop, admitting that she mistook Eva’s smile for one when she tried on a dress that wasn’t suited for her.Sheila feels bad about her behavior.

The Inspector alleges Eva Smith changed her name to Daisy Renton after being fired from Milwards. Gerald is taken aback when he hears this, and Sheila follows up with him privately for more information. He admits that the reason he didn’t see Sheila this summer was because he was having an affair with Daisy. Act 1 comes to an end.Gerald and Sheila discuss their relationship at the beginning of Act II.

Gerald is initially hesitant to reveal the facts, but eventually does so. Sheila thanks him for being forthright, but she returns his engagement ring. Gerald had picked Daisy up in a bar and provided her with money and a place to stay. Daisy was Gerald’s favourite, but she had a far deeper love for him and was heartbroken when he ended things.

Daisy spent two months living by the sea after having an affair with Gerald, according to the Inspector, and it was during this period that she kept the notebook he found. Mrs. Birling comes into prominence once it is revealed that she is an active member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organization. She had remained silent about Daisy’s request for aid from the charity just two weeks before.

Daisy introduced herself to the charity as Mrs. Birling, but Mrs. Birling was not pleased and took Daisy out. Daisy was pregnant, as the Inspector discovered when he began to examine Mrs. Birling. Mrs. Birling believes that the man who caused her pregnancy should be punished harshly.Act II concludes with Eric arriving on the scene and Sheila, who has grasped what has happened, asks her mother to stop talking.

Mrs. Birling appears incredibly dumb after Eric admits Daisy became pregnant as a result of his actions. He, like Sheila, is open and honest about his relationship with Daisy, as well as his feelings of guilt over his actions. He reveals to the Inspector his excessive drinking habits and how he met Daisy on a night out. He admits that on their first encounter, he walked her home and forced her to let him inside her apartment.

Later that night and another, he slept with her. When he visited Daisy again, he discovered she was pregnant. Eric wanted to help by giving her money, even though they both knew they weren’t in love and marriage was out of the question.When she found Eric had taken the money from his father’s business, she refused to accept it.

At the moment, the family is furious and fighting. The Inspector interrupts and delivers a speech about the severe consequences of not taking responsibility for one another. Gerald returns after taking a walk outside as the Inspector leaves. When he met a cop, he discovered that Inspector Goole was not a member of the force.

Furthermore, they begin to suspect that the girl named after each of them could have been “four or five distinct individuals,” raising the likelihood that the entire evening was a deception. Gerald phones the local hospital and learns that no female who died after drinking a disinfectant has been admitted.Gerald, Mr., and Mrs. Birling are overjoyed that they may not be to blame.

Eric and Sheila understand that whether or not the Inspector was real, their acts were still improper.The phone rings when Mr. Birling is making fun of the Inspector and celebrating his release. When Mr. Birling responds, the cops appear, much to his horror. They inform him that a police officer is on his way to question the relatives of a girl who recently died after swallowing disinfectant. The play concludes when the curtain rises.

Act	What Happens
Act I	The Birling family celebrates an engagement. Inspector Goole arrives and begins questioning them about Eva Smith’s death.
Act II	More secrets are revealed. Gerald admits the affair. Mrs. Birling refuses charity help. Eva’s pregnancy is revealed.
Act III	Eric admits his role. The Inspector warns about responsibility. A phone call reveals a real inspector is coming.