An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley: plot summary, themes and quiz for GCSE English Literature

Written in 1945 and set in 1912, the play takes place in one evening in the dining room of a prosperous manufacturer. A police inspector interrupts a family celebration to ask about the death of a young working-class woman, and each member of the household turns out to have played a part in it.

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The set text at a glance

Author
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984)
Date
1945 (first performed)
Form
Play in three acts
Exam component
Modern prose and drama (post-1914)
Set by
AQA (8702), Pearson Edexcel (1ET0), OCR (J352)
How it is examined
AQA (Paper 2, Section A) and Edexcel (Paper 1, Section B) set an essay question with no extract; OCR examines it in Component 01, Section A.
Copyright
In copyright: J. B. Priestley died in 1984. This page carries an original summary only, with no quotations.

Plot summary, part by part

Act 1: the celebration interrupted

The Birlings are celebrating their daughter Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft, son of a rival industrialist. Arthur Birling lectures the young men on business and confidently predicts peace and progress, predictions the 1945 audience knew to be wrong. Inspector Goole arrives: a young woman has died in the infirmary after swallowing disinfectant. Birling admits he sacked her from his factory after a strike for higher wages, and Sheila realises she had the woman dismissed from a shop out of jealousy. When the Inspector mentions the woman’s change of name, Gerald gives himself away.

Act 2: Gerald and Mrs Birling

Gerald admits he kept the young woman as his mistress for several months the previous year and then ended the affair. Sheila hands back the engagement ring. Sybil Birling, haughty throughout, admits that as head of a women’s charity she turned away a pregnant girl who had asked for help. She insists the blame lies with the father of the child, and too late realises who he is.

Act 3: Eric and the twist

Eric, the son, confesses that he got the young woman pregnant and stole money from his father’s firm to support her. The Inspector reminds them that people are responsible for each other and leaves. The family then discover there is no Inspector Goole on the local force and that no suicide has been reported that night. The parents and Gerald relax; Sheila and Eric do not. The telephone rings: a girl has just died, and an inspector is on his way.

This summary is a map, not a substitute: exam questions and Vread checkpoints are about the detail of the text.

Key themes

  • Social responsibility: the Inspector’s case that a community is bound together, against Birling’s every-man-for-himself view.
  • Class: a comfortable family whose wealth rests on cheap labour, and a working woman with no protection.
  • Generations: the young (Sheila, Eric) learn from the evening; their parents refuse to.
  • Gender: how women of different classes are treated, by employers, by charities and by men.
  • Time and dramatic irony: a 1912 setting viewed from 1945, after two world wars, and an ending that loops back on itself.

Key characters

  • Inspector Goole: calm, methodical and morally direct; his identity is never explained.
  • Arthur Birling: a self-made manufacturer and former mayor, worried mainly about scandal and his hoped-for knighthood.
  • Sybil Birling: his wife, socially superior and the least willing to accept any blame.
  • Sheila Birling: the daughter, who changes most and sides with the Inspector’s view.
  • Eric Birling: the son, who drinks too much and has the most to hide.
  • Gerald Croft: Sheila’s fiancé, charming and evasive, who tries to prove the Inspector a fraud.

Sample Vread questions on An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls is not in the Vread catalogue yet. It is being added; in the meantime you can request it from the app.

Prove you’ve read it

Parents: has your teenager actually read An Inspector Calls?

Summaries and revision notes are everywhere and take minutes to skim. What a parent cannot easily tell is whether the book was read. GCSE English Literature is closed book, and questions start from an extract: knowing the whole text is what makes the difference.

  • One question per section. Each checkpoint asks about a specific detail of the section just read, not a general idea a summary would give away.
  • Visible progress. Your child sees which sections are validated and what is left, at their own pace.
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A correct answer shows a section was read, not that it was analysed: it complements, never replaces, the work done in class.

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