Modern texts, Year 11: Mr and Mrs Birling, Sheila and Eric (An Inspector Calls option)

A knighthood

HintIt is in the gift of the Crown, and he mentions it to Gerald.

The whyHe mentions it to Gerald before the Inspector comes. It explains why, all evening, his first fear is a public scandal.

She was one of the leaders of a strike for higher wages

HintThink about what had happened at the works that autumn.

The whyHe still thinks he was right: his duty, as he sees it, is to keep costs down. He admits he sacked her and denies that it has anything to do with her death.

Dramatic irony

HintA two-word term; the second word also describes a remark that means its opposite.

The whyIt makes him look foolish before the Inspector has arrived. If he is so wrong about these things, the audience is ready to doubt his views on everything else.

She used her influence to have the request refused

HintShe had taken against the girl from the start.

The whyThe girl had given her name as Mrs Birling, which Mrs Birling took as an insult. She tells the Inspector she did her duty and would do the same again.

With relief: they treat the evening as a hoax and carry on as before

HintNothing has been learned.

The whyTheir concern all along was being found out, not what they did. That is why the final telephone call falls hardest on them.

She had her sacked from her job in a dress shop, out of jealousy

HintIt happened while Sheila was trying something on.

The whyThe girl had smiled, and the dress would have looked better on her. Sheila complained to the manager and insisted that she go. She admits it quickly and is ashamed.

Her engagement ring

HintShe had been delighted to receive it at the start of the evening.

The whyShe does it calmly, after hearing about his affair, and tells him the evening has changed them both. It marks how far she has moved in one act.

His heavy drinking

HintThere are small signs at the dinner table.

The whyBy the end it is out in the open, along with what he did when drunk. The family's skill at not seeing things is part of what the play attacks.

He stole it from his father's business

HintIt came out of the office.

The whyShe refused to take any more once she learned where it came from. The girl the Birlings look down on shows stricter standards than their son.

That it makes no difference: each of them still did what they did

HintFor these two the question was never whether he was a real policeman.

The whyThey cannot go back to how they were at dinner. This split, the parents relieved and the children still ashamed, is where the play leaves the family.