Plot

In the spring of 1912 the Birling family meet to celebrate the engagement of their daughter, Sheila, to Gerald Croft. Both the Crofts and the Birlings run successful businesses in Brumley, a fictional industrial city in the North Midlands, and Mr Birling – a “hard headed man of business” – is keen to unite the two companies to ensure “lower costs and higher prices.” Later, during a conversation with Gerald, Mr Birling reveals his hopes of earning a knighthood – so long as the family “don’t get in the police courts or start a scandal!”

Prior to this conversation, Mr Birling had sneered at rumours of war, mentioning socialist thinkers like H. G. Wells with contempt. He praises the “unsinkable” Titanic and predicts prosperity for 1940. Here, Priestley uses a heavy dose of dramatic irony, as the audience in 1945 would have known that the Titanic sunk, and that the period between 1912 and the play’s first performance contained two wars and massive social unrest.

Mr Birling is right in the middle of a speech about how “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself” when the bell rings, announcing the arrival of the Inspector.

The Inspector, Goole, has a photograph of a girl called Eva Smith who has killed herself by swallowing disinfectant two hours previously. The atmosphere of the dinner party changes dramatically. Mr Birling tries to assert authority over the Inspector, threatening him with his close connections to senior figures, but the Inspector reveals how Mr Birling sacked her from his firm because she had asked for higher wages.

It is then revealed that Sheila complained about her to the owners of Milwards, a fashionable shop, and Eva was dismissed. Next, we discover that Gerald Croft knew Eva very well, under a different name.

The Inspector begins to uncover Gerald Croft’s relationship with Eva Smith, a.k.a. Daisy Renton. He senses that Sheila is on his side, having previously observed that “the young ones are more impressionable.” Mrs Birling, by contrast, tries to apply a similar kind of social pressure to the Inspector as her husband failed to do. Sheila warns her mother against it, but her mother ignores her pleas.

We learn the details of Gerald’s relationship with Eva. He met her at the theatre, a favourite haunt of women of the town, where she was being harassed by one of the town councillors, “a notorious womaniser.” These are the kind of details about male life from which women like Sheila and her mother would normally be excluded. The Inspector insists that they should hear them. Discovering that Eva (Daisy) was desperately “hard up”, Gerald makes her his mistress, despite his impending engagement to Sheila. He is attracted to her, but for reasons of class, Eva is not the kind of girl he would marry, as Eva realises. When the relationship reaches its inevitable end, Eva, with the money she’s saved, goes away to “some seaside place.” Gerald is clearly upset and leaves, but not before Sheila gives him back the engagement ring. She tells him: “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.” Sheila is already showing how she’s being changed by the experience.

When the Inspector shows Eva’s photo to Mrs Birling, it is clear that she recognises it. We learn that Mrs Birling, in her role as a member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation, turned down Eva’s request for help with her unborn child on the grounds that the father should be held responsible and publically humiliated. Sheila, like the audience, works out who was responsible a long time before Mrs Birling. Then Eric arrives.

The return of Eric reinforces our view of the Inspector’s all-knowing nature. He also, unlike Mrs Birling, knows all about Eric’s drinking problem. Eric was so drunk when he had sex with Eva that he doesn’t even remember it – there is a suggestion that she was raped. Throughout her relationship with Eric, Eva showed greater maturity than him – Eric even admits “In a way, she treated me – as if I were a kid. Though I was nearly as old as she was.” Eventually Eric is forced to steal to help Eva and at this point Eva decides she can take no more and turns to the charity for help. When Mrs Birling returns, Eric learns of her role in Eva’s death and argues that “...you killed her – and the child she’d have had too – my child – your own grandchild...”

With all the family assembled on stage, the Inspector accuses each in turn of his or her involvement in Eva’s downfall and death. His final speech is climactic and prophetic: “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.”

Once the Inspector has departed, the two older Birlings soon forget his message, only concerned over what might damage their status and reputation. Once again Sheila is sensitive to the mystery of the Inspector’s arrival and that “we hardly ever told him anything he didn’t know.” Then Gerald returns he brings the news that the Inspector “wasn’t a police officer.” Mr Birling confirms this with a telephone call and sees this as a let-off – even suggesting Sheila should take back Gerald’s ring. Sheila and Eric remain unmoved though, arguing that the facts remain. Gerald, however, suggests that they may not even have been the same girl and they don’t know if any girl killed herself. Once again a phone call, this time to the infirmary (hospital), seems to confirm that there has been no suicide. The older Birlings are convinced the whole thing was a hoax, and Gerald asks Sheila if she’ll take his ring back.

The final coup de theatre (a dramatic turn of events), is when the phone rings again and they learn that a police inspector is on his way.