An Inspector Calls

How Priestly develops the characters of an inspector calls

Over the course of the play, Priestley develops an apparently upper class family introducing them all with the same selfish attitude and morals towards life. Througho- the play, he purposefully decides to change this perspective of life on some characters. By using a mysterious inspector, he exposes the characters’ role on innocentEva’s death, one caused by unfair behavior of rich people towards poor and makes some characters become aware of their intolerable behavior. This realization makes them want to change. This way of developing characters, allows the audience to learn a lesson. He leaves the characters to decide what’s right or wrong and if they are going to take any action upon it or not, just as he leaves theaudience to follow the correct characters and learn from them.
Firstly, Arthur Birling, the head of the family, starts off selfish. “…you’ve brought us together, and perhaps we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birling’s are… working together…” this quote shows how selfish Arthur is. His daughter is engaged with an upper class man. Through this, the audience can clearly see how Arthur can’teven manage to think about the happiness of his own daughter, but instead, about how this wedding could benefit him; he could take advantage of this marriage and merge his small company with the bigger one with his son in law’s parents have and become richer. Priestley doesn’t change this selfish attitude. ”Haven’t I already said there’ll be a public scandal – unless we’re lucky- and who here willsuffer from that more than I will?” this quote proves how Priestley doesn’t make Arthur change or react in a proper way. Instead of feeling sorry, being ashamed of himself and regretting his behavior, for starting an innocent human’s death, he believes he is the victim; his reputation could be spoiled if this became public. It’s shocking how Arthur puts more value to his reputation than Eva’slife and her baby’s. Priestley allows the audience to see how Arthur can’t avoid thinking about himself during the entire play, unlike his daughter Sheila.
Moreover, Sheila shows the same selfish attitude her father has at the beginning of the play. “I think it’s perfect. Now I really feel engaged.” She is boasting about her engagement ring, this shows her selfishness as she’s only thinking abouthow well it looks on her finger and on how she could go boasting along the village showing how rich she is becoming thanks to her fiancé. This quote also exposes a superficial mind, as she clearly states that for her the ring is what counts instead of the person you are engaged to. At the beginning of the play Sheila gets easily distracted. “Yes dad, well actually I was listening” this proves howSheila isn’t really focused on the conversation. Priestly, during the reveal of Sheila’s role Eva’s death, gradually shows a great change on Sheila’s selfish, superficial and unfocused attitude to a humane thoughtful and alert one. “I behaved badly too… I’m ashamed of it. But now you’re beginning all over again to pretend that nothing much has happened.” This quote proves how guilty Sheila feelsand how badly she regrets her intolerable behavior. It also allows the audience to see how she has learned her lesson and how eager she is to change not only herself but encourage the rest too. This regret is what makes her more humane. In addition, she also becomes more alert and aware of what’s going on “Mother- stop- stop! But do<n’t you see-“ Sheila is warning her mother to stop making thingsworse for her brother. She is the only one able to do this, because she is the only one who is aware and can truly see what’s going on and where all this is leading to. This is because she is the only one who felt guilty from the beginning, the only one who relieved herself from her burden and therefore was able pass an imaginary barrier which allowed her to open her eyes for the first time....