GCSE An Inspector Calls — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Who wrote the play An Inspector Calls?
- J.B. Priestley (Correct answer)
- Arthur Miller
- George Orwell
- Charles Dickens
Correct answer: J.B. Priestley
An Inspector Calls was written by J.B. Priestley, an English playwright and socialist.
J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) wrote An Inspector Calls in 1945. He used the play to promote his socialist beliefs about collective responsibility, contrasting them with the capitalist individualism of the Birling family.
Question 2: In what year is An Inspector Calls set?
- 1912 (Correct answer)
- 1945
- 1918
- 1900
Correct answer: 1912
The play is set in 1912, before the sinking of the Titanic and the outbreak of the First World War.
Setting the play in 1912 allows Priestley to use dramatic irony: Mr Birling confidently predicts peace and progress (including that the Titanic is 'unsinkable') while the audience, watching in 1945, knows two world wars and the Titanic disaster followed.
Question 3: What name does Eva Smith use later in the play when she works for Sheila and is involved with Gerald and Eric?
- Daisy Renton (Correct answer)
- Sybil Croft
- Edna Birling
- Rose Smith
Correct answer: Daisy Renton
Eva Smith adopts the name Daisy Renton later in the story.
The Inspector reveals that the same young woman was known to different characters by different names: Eva Smith to Mr Birling and Sheila, and Daisy Renton to Gerald and later Eric, suggesting the Inspector may be testing whether they all failed the same, or different, women.
Question 4: Which social and economic class does the Birling family belong to?
- Wealthy upper-middle-class industrialists (Correct answer)
- The working class
- The aristocracy
- Impoverished factory workers
Correct answer: Wealthy upper-middle-class industrialists
The Birlings are prosperous industrialists, representing the capitalist middle class of Edwardian England.
Arthur Birling is a self-made manufacturer and former Lord Mayor who values profit, status, and business efficiency. His family's comfort depends on low wages paid to workers like Eva Smith, which Priestley uses to critique class inequality.
Question 5: What dramatic technique does Priestley use when the audience knows Mr Birling's confident predictions (e.g. about the Titanic or war) will prove wrong?
- Dramatic irony (Correct answer)
- Soliloquy
- Foreshadowing pun
- Comic relief
Correct answer: Dramatic irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience has knowledge the characters lack, exposing Mr Birling's arrogance and poor judgement.
Priestley uses dramatic irony throughout Act One so that a 1945 audience, who knew about the Titanic, the World Wars, and the Russian Revolution, would immediately see Mr Birling as foolish and untrustworthy, undermining his capitalist worldview from the start.
Question 6: What is Arthur Birling's profession?
- Factory owner and manufacturer (Correct answer)
- Doctor
- Police inspector
- Schoolteacher
Correct answer: Factory owner and manufacturer
Arthur Birling owns a manufacturing business, employing workers including Eva Smith.
As a factory owner, Mr Birling prioritises profit over his workers' welfare, which is shown when he dismisses Eva Smith for asking for a pay rise, directly contributing to the chain of events explored in the play.
GCSE An Inspector Calls
Who wrote the play An Inspector Calls?