An Inspector Calls Mind Map (GCSE)

The Birlings celebrate Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft, and Mr Birling boasts that war will not happen and the Titanic is unsinkable. Inspector Goole arrives to investigate the suicide of Eva Smith. Mr Birling sacked her after she led a strike for higher wages, and Sheila had her dismissed from Milwards department store out of jealousy.

Gerald admits he had an affair with Eva, then calling herself Daisy Renton, and ended it. Sheila hands back the engagement ring. Mrs Birling admits she refused Eva's appeal to her charity, although Eva was pregnant, and blames the father of the child.

Eric confesses he made Eva pregnant and stole money from his father's business to support her. The Inspector gives his final speech about shared responsibility and leaves.

Gerald finds there is no Inspector Goole on the police force, and the infirmary says no girl has died. The parents relax, but Sheila and Eric stay changed. Then the phone rings: a girl has just died and a police inspector is on his way.

A mysterious moral authority who controls the questioning, dealing with one line of inquiry at a time. He speaks for Priestley's message of social responsibility, and his name, which sounds like "ghoul", hints that he may be something other than a real policeman.

A self-important factory owner who cares about profit, reputation and a knighthood. His confident predictions about war and the Titanic are wrong, and he refuses to accept any blame.

Cold and snobbish, and socially superior to her husband. She refuses to accept responsibility and blames others, including, without realising it, her own son.

Begins as a spoilt young woman but accepts her guilt and changes the most. She grows sympathetic to the working class and represents hope in the younger generation.

Drinks too much and treated Eva badly, but accepts responsibility after his confession and turns against his parents' attitudes.

An upper-class businessman engaged to Sheila. He shows some genuine feeling for Eva, but is quick to feel relieved when the Inspector seems to be a hoax.

We are all responsible for each other. The Inspector's message, and Priestley's socialism, stand against Mr Birling's belief that a man should look after only himself and his own.

The upper and middle classes exploit and look down on the working class. Mrs Birling's "Girls of that class" shows her prejudice, while Eva embodies working-class suffering.

The older Birlings refuse to change, while Sheila and Eric learn from what happened. Priestley places his hope for a fairer society in the young.

Eva is exploited by men with power. Sheila grows more independent through the play, while Mrs Birling upholds old expectations of women.

Each character played a part in Eva's death, and each reacts differently to being blamed: the young accept it, the old deny it.

Mr Birling, Act 1, about the Titanic. Dramatic irony: the audience knows it sank, so his confident views lose all authority.

Mr Birling, Act 1: "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own". His selfish, capitalist outlook.

Sheila, Act 1: "But these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people." Her growing sympathy for the working class.

Mrs Birling, Act 2. Her snobbery and prejudice towards Eva.

The Inspector, Act 3: "We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other." The central message of the play.

The Inspector, Act 3. A warning, written with hindsight in 1945, of the world wars to come if people do not learn.

Written at the end of the Second World War and set before the First. The audience knows Birling's predictions are wrong. The play was first performed in Moscow in 1945 and in London in 1946.

Priestley wanted a fairer society. His wartime radio talks were hugely popular, and he helped found a socialist political party.

Labour's 1945 election victory led to the welfare state and the NHS: a society built on the collective care the Inspector argues for.

In 1912 Britain had a rigid class hierarchy. The wealthy held power and workers had few rights.

Women could not vote, and working-class women had little protection at work, which left women like Eva especially vulnerable.

Three acts, one setting and continuous action, with revelations building one after another.

The stage directions ask for lighting that is "pink and intimate" until the Inspector arrives, then "brighter and harder", as comfortable illusions give way to the truth.

Each act ends on a dramatic entrance or revelation, keeping the tension high.

Birling's predictions about war and the Titanic make the audience doubt everything he says.

The final phone call means the story could start again. The lesson has not been learned, and the consequences continue.