An Inspector Calls
J. B. Priestley · England, 1945 (set 1912) · Non-African drama · WAEC set text 2026–2030
Why it is on the list
A well-made play about class, guilt, and whether we are responsible for each other. The Inspector may not be a real policeman.
Setting
The Birling dining-room in a Northern industrial town, one evening in 1912.
The story
- The Birlings are celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft. Arthur Birling, factory owner, lectures on self-reliance and a future of prosperity — the Titanic, he says, is unsinkable.
- Inspector Goole arrives. A girl, Eva Smith (also Daisy Renton), has died after drinking disinfectant. He interviews them one by one.
- Birling sacked her for striking. Sheila had her fired from a shop in a fit of jealousy. Gerald kept her as a mistress one summer. Mrs Birling, from the charity committee, refused her help when she was pregnant. Eric, the son, is the father; he stole from the firm to support her.
- Each has a piece of the chain. The Inspector leaves them with a warning: “We are members of one body.”
- A phone call: no such inspector, no dead girl at the infirmary. The older Birlings relax. The younger ones do not. The phone rings again: a girl has just died, and an inspector is on his way.
Characters
- Inspector Goole
- Catalyst. Moral voice. Possibly not of this world. He already knows.
- Arthur Birling
- Capitalist, father, the man who will not accept a chain of responsibility.
- Sybil Birling
- Mother, charity chairwoman, snob. The last to break, if she breaks.
- Sheila Birling
- Daughter. She learns. The play’s hope sits with her and Eric.
- Eric Birling
- Son, drinker, thief, father of the unborn child. Guilty and still capable of facing it.
- Gerald Croft
- Fiancé, almost one of the family, almost honest, then relieved to wriggle out.
- Eva Smith / Daisy Renton
- Never on stage. Every speech describes her. That absence is the point.
Themes
- Collective responsibility versus “a man has to mind his own business”.
- Class: who gets to be believed, who gets to be sacked.
- Time: 1912 seen from 1945 — the Titanic, the wars Birling cannot imagine.
- Generation: the young can still change; the old want the evening back.
In the exam
- The set is one room. Lighting, the doorbell, the Inspector’s entrances — stagecraft is a free marks section if you mention it.
- Eva’s two names let Gerald think he is in a different story. He is not.
- The last phone call is not a twist for its own sake. It asks whether they will do the same things again.