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GCSE · English Literature

GE.T-InspectorCalls-Theme Literature: An Inspector Calls - Themes in Depth

AQA 8702 · Calculators not allowed · about 140 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Show all your working.

Five short descriptions of moments from the play are given below, without using any of Priestley's own wording. For each one, identify the single theme from this list that it relates to most strongly: social responsibility / class / gender / age and generation / guilt.

(a)Mr Birling tells Eric and Gerald that a man has to look after himself and his own business, and should not spend his time worrying about everybody else in the community.(1)

(b)Mr Birling takes obvious pride in the fact that his daughter's engagement links his family to the Crofts, a family he clearly regards as socially superior to his own.(1)

(c)Mrs Birling's charity committee refuses to help a pregnant young woman because Mrs Birling disapproves of her behaviour, while the man who was equally responsible faces no such judgement from the committee.(1)

(d)By the end of the evening, Sheila and Eric are determined to learn from what has happened, while their parents want to treat the whole matter as closed as quickly as possible.(1)

(e)Eric becomes increasingly unable to sit still or meet his family's eyes once the questioning starts to move closer to his own involvement.(1)

(Total for Question 1 is 5 marks)

For each theme below, give two separate, specific examples from the play (without quoting Priestley's own wording).

(a)Social responsibility.(2)

(b)Class.(2)

(c)Gender.(2)

(d)Age and generation.(2)

(e)Guilt.(2)

(Total for Question 2 is 10 marks)

For each theme below, explain in one or two sentences how Priestley first introduces it within Act One.

(a)Social responsibility.(2)

(b)Class.(2)

(c)Gender.(2)

(d)Age and generation.(2)

(e)Guilt.(2)

(Total for Question 3 is 10 marks)

Social responsibility is developed and tested across all three acts of the play.

(a)Identify three moments that trace social responsibility across the play: one from Act One, one from Act Two and one from Act Three. Give a clear, specific description of each moment (do not quote the play directly).(3)

(b)Using your three moments, explain how Priestley develops the theme of social responsibility across the play.(3)

(Total for Question 4 is 6 marks)

Class privilege operates differently for different characters at different points in the play.

(a)Identify three moments that trace the theme of class: one from Act One, one from Act Two and one from Act Three. Give a clear, specific description of each moment (do not quote the play directly).(3)

(b)Using your three moments, explain how Priestley develops the theme of class across the play.(3)

(Total for Question 5 is 6 marks)

Gender operates through both male and female characters in the play, and in more than one direction.

(a)Identify three moments that trace the theme of gender: one from Act One, one from Act Two and one from Act Three. Give a clear, specific description of each moment (do not quote the play directly).(3)

(b)Using your three moments, explain how Priestley develops the theme of gender across the play.(3)

(Total for Question 6 is 6 marks)

The generational divide between the older and younger Birlings widens as the play progresses.

(a)Identify three moments that trace the theme of age and generation: one from Act One, one from Act Two and one from Act Three. Give a clear, specific description of each moment (do not quote the play directly).(3)

(b)Using your three moments, explain how Priestley develops the generational divide across the play.(3)

(Total for Question 7 is 6 marks)

Guilt affects different characters in different ways, and at different points in the play.

(a)Identify three moments that trace the theme of guilt: one from Act One, one from Act Two and one from Act Three. Give a clear, specific description of each moment (do not quote the play directly).(3)

(b)Using your three moments, explain how Priestley develops the theme of guilt across the play.(3)

(Total for Question 8 is 6 marks)

Choose two different themes from social responsibility / class / gender / age and generation / guilt. For each theme you choose, explain how a specific piece of historical context, either about 1912 (when the play is set) or about 1945 (when it was first performed), sharpens Priestley's presentation of that theme. Use a different theme for each part.

(a)First chosen theme.(4)

(b)Second, different chosen theme.(4)

(Total for Question 9 is 8 marks)

Write about how Priestley presents the theme of social responsibility across the whole play.

(Total for Question 10 is 18 marks)

Explore how Priestley presents ideas about social class across the whole play.

(Total for Question 11 is 18 marks)

Write about how Priestley presents ideas about gender across the whole play.

(Total for Question 12 is 18 marks)

Explore how Priestley presents the differences between the older and younger generations across the whole play.

(Total for Question 13 is 18 marks)

Write about how Priestley presents differing responses to guilt across the whole play.

(Total for Question 14 is 18 marks)

Choose two of the five themes you have studied in this pack: social responsibility, class, gender, age and generation, guilt. Explore how Priestley interweaves your two chosen themes to build his argument across the whole play.

(Total for Question 15 is 24 marks)

Evaluate the view that Mrs Birling is presented as the character least able to change, even though she is given exactly the same opportunity as everyone else to learn the truth. Use your knowledge of the whole play to support your view.

(Total for Question 16 is 14 marks)

Mark scheme · GE.T-InspectorCalls-Theme Literature: An Inspector Calls - Themes in Depth

Question 1

(a) B1 social responsibility (oe) cao
(a) Answer: Social responsibility.
(b) B1 class (oe) cao
(b) Answer: Class.
(c) B1 gender (oe) cao
(c) Answer: Gender.
(d) B1 age and generation (oe) cao
(d) Answer: Age and generation.
(e) B1 guilt (oe) cao
(e) Answer: Guilt.

Question 2

(a) B1 Birling's dismissal of any responsibility toward his workforce or the wider community beyond his own family and business (oe)
(a) B1 the Inspector's direct assertion that everyone bears some responsibility for everyone else's wellbeing (oe)
(a) Answer: Any two of: Birling's dismissal of responsibility beyond his own family and business; the Inspector's assertion that everyone is responsible for everyone else; Mrs Birling's refusal, as a charity committee member, to accept any responsibility for turning Eva away.
(b) B1 Birling's pride in the engagement linking his family to the higher-status Crofts (oe)
(b) B1 Birling's dismissal of Eva's request for fairer factory wages as an inconvenience from an easily replaced worker (oe)
(b) Answer: Any two of: Birling's pride in the engagement to the Crofts; Birling's dismissal of Eva's wage request; Gerald's ability to conduct an affair with a working-class woman at little cost to his own reputation.
(c) B1 Eva's dismissal from her shop job after a complaint engineered by Sheila's jealousy (oe)
(c) B1 Mrs Birling's harsher judgement of the woman who sought her charity than of the men involved (oe)
(c) Answer: Any two of: Eva's dismissal from Milward's after Sheila's jealous complaint; Mrs Birling judging the pregnant woman more harshly than the men involved; Eva's near-total lack of power compared with the male characters who affect her fate.
(d) B1 Sheila's and Eric's shock and guilt contrasted with their parents' calmer, more defensive reactions (oe)
(d) B1 Mr and Mrs Birling's wish to treat the matter as closed once doubt is cast on the Inspector's identity, opposed by Sheila and Eric (oe)
(d) Answer: Any two of: Sheila and Eric's distress contrasted with their parents' calm; the older Birlings' relief once the Inspector's identity is doubted, opposed by Sheila and Eric; Gerald aligning with the older generation's response despite being closer in age to Sheila.
(e) B1 Eric's drinking and restlessness as questioning approaches his own involvement (oe)
(e) B1 Mrs Birling's confident, undeserved certainty that she has nothing to be ashamed of (oe)
(e) Answer: Any two of: Eric's drinking and restlessness before his part is revealed; Mrs Birling's undeserved confidence that she has done nothing wrong; Sheila's immediate self-blame on realising her complaint contributed to Eva's dismissal.

Question 3

(a) B1 accurate reference to Birling's speech to Eric and Gerald dismissing responsibility for anyone beyond his own family and business (oe)
(a) B1 comment on how it is introduced, e.g. immediately followed by the Inspector's arrival and contrasting message (oe)
(a) Answer: Social responsibility is first introduced through Birling's speech to Eric and Gerald dismissing any duty toward the wider community, a position the play immediately begins to test once the Inspector arrives moments later.
(b) B1 accurate reference to the celebratory engagement dinner and Birling's pride at linking his family to the higher-status Crofts (oe)
(b) B1 comment on how it is introduced, e.g. through Birling's own hopeful talk of a future honour, showing status anxiety even in a wealthy family (oe)
(b) Answer: Class is introduced through the celebratory dinner itself, where Birling's evident pride at the engagement to the higher-status Crofts, alongside his hopes for a future honour, shows status anxiety operating even within a wealthy family.
(c) B1 accurate reference to Eva's dismissal from Birling's factory, led by men, for asking for higher pay (oe)
(c) B1 comment on how it is introduced, e.g. later in the same act, Sheila's own jealous complaint gets Eva dismissed a second time, complicating the theme (oe)
(c) Answer: Gender is introduced through Eva's dismissal from Birling's factory over a demand for higher pay, and is complicated later in the same act when Sheila's jealous complaint gets Eva dismissed a second time, showing gender operating between women as well as between men and women.
(d) B1 accurate reference to Sheila's immediate distress and guilt on realising her complaint contributed to Eva's dismissal (oe)
(d) B1 comment on how it is introduced, e.g. contrasted with her father's calmer, more self-justifying response to his own earlier part (oe)
(d) Answer: Age and generation is introduced through Sheila's immediate distress and guilt on learning her complaint contributed to Eva's dismissal, a reaction Priestley contrasts with her father's calmer, more self-justifying response to his own earlier part in events.
(e) B1 accurate reference to Sheila's visible shock and self-blame once she connects her own complaint to Eva's second dismissal (oe)
(e) B1 comment on how it is introduced, e.g. as an immediate, honest emotional reaction rather than a delayed or forced admission (oe)
(e) Answer: Guilt is first introduced through Sheila's visible shock and self-blame once she realises her own complaint led to Eva's second dismissal, presented as an immediate, honest emotional reaction rather than one that has to be forced out of her.

Question 4

(a) B1 Act One: Birling's speech to Eric and Gerald dismissing responsibility for anyone beyond his own family and business, immediately followed by the Inspector's arrival (oe)
(a) B1 Act Two: the Inspector's insistence on questioning Mrs Birling in full despite her attempts to end the interview early (oe)
(a) B1 Act Three: the Inspector's final speech to the whole family, generalising the case into a broader warning about the consequences of ignoring responsibility (oe)
(a) Answer: Act One (Birling's individualist speech, immediately opposed by the Inspector's arrival); Act Two (the Inspector's insistence on fully questioning Mrs Birling); Act Three (the Inspector's final generalising speech).
(b) B1 identifies the shift from an individual disagreement (Birling versus the Inspector) to a wider, tested authority (oe)
(b) B1 reference to a dramatic method, e.g. the Inspector's calm refusal to be rushed or deferred to, regardless of social status (oe)
(b) B1 links the theme's development to the play's final, direct warning aimed past the family at the audience itself (oe)
(b) Answer: Social responsibility moves from a private disagreement between Birling and the Inspector in Act One, is tested against increasingly senior family authority in Act Two through the Inspector's calm refusal to be deferred to, and is finally generalised in Act Three into a direct warning aimed past the family and at the audience.

Question 5

(a) B1 Act One: Birling's pride in the engagement to the higher-status Crofts, and his dismissal of Eva's wage request as an inconvenience from an easily replaced worker (oe)
(a) B1 Act Two: Gerald's account of meeting Eva at a bar associated with working women with few other options, and installing her in a friend's flat without consequence to himself (oe)
(a) B1 Act Three: the Inspector's summary of how each family member, from a position of social advantage, played a part in Eva's decline (oe)
(a) Answer: Act One (Birling's pride in the engagement, and his dismissal of Eva's wage request); Act Two (Gerald's account of meeting and housing Eva/Daisy without personal consequence); Act Three (the Inspector's cumulative summary of privilege used against Eva).
(b) B1 identifies the shift from a casual, individual assumption of privilege to a fuller picture of how it is used across the family (oe)
(b) B1 reference to a dramatic method, e.g. Eva's continued absence from the stage keeping her a representative rather than an individualised figure (oe)
(b) B1 links the theme's development to the Inspector's final case that privilege at every stage combined to destroy someone with none (oe)
(b) Answer: Class begins with Act One's casual assumption that a working woman's complaints can simply be dismissed, develops through Act Two's picture of how easily class privilege lets Gerald behave without consequence, and culminates in Act Three's cumulative case, delivered while Eva herself remains an absent, representative figure, that privilege at every stage combined to destroy someone with none.

Question 6

(a) B1 Act One: Eva's dismissal from Birling's factory (led by men), followed by Sheila's jealous complaint getting Eva dismissed from Milward's (oe)
(a) B1 Act Two: Gerald's affair with Eva/Daisy, in which he holds the power to end the relationship when it suits him, and Mrs Birling's role chairing the committee that later judges Eva (oe)
(a) B1 Act Three: Eric's account of pressuring Eva and stealing money, followed by the revelation that Mrs Birling unknowingly condemned her own son while judging Eva (oe)
(a) Answer: Act One (Eva's dismissal by men from the factory, then by Sheila from Milward's); Act Two (Gerald's unequal power in the affair, and Mrs Birling's committee role); Act Three (Eric's treatment of Eva, and the irony of Mrs Birling condemning her own son).
(b) B1 identifies the shift from contrasting male and female failures towards Eva to a fuller picture of unequal power exercised by both sexes (oe)
(b) B1 reference to a dramatic method, e.g. dramatic irony in Mrs Birling's own judgement of the woman she does not know is connected to her son (oe)
(b) B1 links the theme's development to the play's sharpest irony, where gendered judgement is shown to be self-defeating (oe)
(b) Answer: Gender opens with contrasting failures by men (economic power) and women (social judgement) in Act One, deepens in Act Two by showing how both a male lover and a female moral judge can each exercise power over Eva without real accountability, and reaches its sharpest point in Act Three through the dramatic irony of Mrs Birling's confident judgement of a woman she does not realise is connected to her own son.

Question 7

(a) B1 Act One: Sheila's immediate distress and guilt, contrasted with her father's calmer, more self-justifying response to his own earlier part (oe)
(a) B1 Act Two: Sheila's warning to Gerald and her parents that hiding from the Inspector's questions will not make the truth go away (oe)
(a) B1 Act Three: Sheila and Eric's open criticism of their parents for wanting to forget the evening once doubt is cast on the Inspector's identity (oe)
(a) Answer: Act One (Sheila's distress contrasted with her father's calm); Act Two (Sheila's warning that avoidance will not remove the truth); Act Three (Sheila and Eric's open criticism of their parents' wish to forget).
(b) B1 identifies the shift from a private difference in reaction to an open challenge to parental authority (oe)
(b) B1 reference to a dramatic method, e.g. the play's cyclical ending rewarding the younger characters' perceptiveness over their parents' relief (oe)
(b) B1 links the development to Priestley's suggestion that the younger generation is more capable of genuine change (oe)
(b) Answer: The generational divide begins as a private difference in reaction within Act One, becomes a more open challenge to parental authority in Act Two, and culminates in Act Three's direct confrontation, in which the play's cyclical ending rewards the younger characters' perceptiveness and suggests only the younger generation is genuinely capable of change.

Question 8

(a) B1 Act One: Sheila's visible shock and self-blame once she connects her own complaint to Eva's second dismissal (oe)
(a) B1 Act Two: Eric's growing agitation and drinking as the questioning approaches his own involvement, before his part is revealed (oe)
(a) B1 Act Three: Mrs Birling's continued, confident denial of any wrongdoing even after Eric's part is fully known (oe)
(a) Answer: Act One (Sheila's immediate shock and self-blame); Act Two (Eric's agitation and drinking before his part is exposed); Act Three (Mrs Birling's continued denial even after her son's part is known).
(b) B1 identifies guilt as an immediate, honest reaction in the character most directly and recently responsible (oe)
(b) B1 reference to a dramatic method, e.g. mounting suspense in a character who has not yet confessed (oe)
(b) B1 links the development to differing capacities for guilt as a test of each character's moral worth by the play's end (oe)
(b) Answer: Priestley introduces guilt in Act One as an immediate emotional reaction in the person most directly and recently responsible, builds it in Act Two through mounting suspense in a character who has not yet confessed, and by Act Three sets differing capacities for guilt, genuine in the young and absent in Mrs Birling, as the play's clearest test of each character's moral worth.

Question 9

(a) B1 accurate historical context relevant to the chosen theme (e.g. 1912's largely unregulated capitalism and minimal worker protection, for social responsibility; 1912's rigid, largely unchallenged class hierarchy, for class; women's very limited independent legal and economic status in 1912, or the staged extension of the vote to women from 1918, for gender; the further generation of young men lost in the Second World War, for age and generation; the 1912 setting placed before two world wars, for guilt) (oe)
(a) B1 further specific development of that context (oe)
(a) B1 clear, explicit link explaining how this context sharpens a 1945 audience's understanding of the chosen theme, e.g. anticipating the welfare state, judging outdated attitudes with hindsight, or recognising urgency after wartime loss (oe)
(a) B1 further development of this link (oe)
(a) Answer: Sample using social responsibility: in 1912, Britain had little social security or protection for workers, so the Inspector's collectivist message directly anticipates the welfare state reforms a 1945 audience knew were then being debated, making the play's argument for shared responsibility feel practical and urgent rather than merely idealistic.
(b) B1 accurate historical context relevant to the chosen theme, different from the theme used in part a (oe, see part a mark scheme for the full range of acceptable options)
(b) B1 further specific development of that context (oe)
(b) B1 clear, explicit link explaining how this context sharpens a 1945 audience's understanding of the chosen theme (oe)
(b) B1 further development of this link (oe)
(b) Answer: Sample using guilt: because the play is set in 1912, before two world wars whose human cost the 1945 audience already knew in full, Priestley's post-war audience can judge the Birlings' denial of guilt with a hindsight the characters themselves do not have, making the older generation's complacency look worse rather than excusable.

Question 10

Level 1 (1-4): Simple, general comments about social responsibility, with little reference to specific characters or moments.
Level 2 (5-8): Some understanding of social responsibility as a moral and political argument, with a few relevant references and straightforward comment on method.
Level 3 (9-12): Clear explanation of how social responsibility is presented across the play, supported by well-chosen reference and some comment on Priestley's dramatic methods.
Level 4 (13-15): Detailed, well-structured exploration of social responsibility, analysing structure, stagecraft and dramatic irony closely and integrating relevant historical context.
Level 5 (16-18): Sophisticated, sustained exploration of social responsibility across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Priestley's dramatic methods and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- Birling's early speech to Eric and Gerald, dismissing the idea that a man should feel responsible for anyone beyond his own family and business, establishes the individualist position the play goes on to challenge
- the Inspector's calm refusal to be rushed or deferred to, regardless of the family's social status, embodies an opposing philosophy that responsibility cannot be limited by rank or wealth
- each family member's turn under questioning demonstrates that responsibility is cumulative and interconnected: no single decision destroyed Eva alone, but the combined effect of several separate, apparently minor choices did
- Mrs Birling's attempt to end the interview once she believes her own family is safe, only to discover her son is implicated, shows the danger of assuming responsibility can be selectively applied to protect some family members but not others
- the differing reactions once doubt is cast on the Inspector's identity, the older generation's relief that they might escape consequence versus the younger generation's insistence that what they did remains real regardless, tests whether responsibility depends on being caught
- the final phone call, announcing that an inspector is genuinely on the way to investigate a real death, structurally punishes the family's attempt to treat responsibility as something that can simply be waited out
- Priestley, writing after two world wars for an audience about to build a new, more collective welfare state, uses the play to argue that social responsibility is not an optional moral extra but a practical necessity for avoiding future harm

Question 11

Level 1 (1-4): Simple, general comments about social class and its effect on the characters, with little reference to specific characters or moments.
Level 2 (5-8): Some understanding of social class and its effect on the characters, with a few relevant references and straightforward comment on method.
Level 3 (9-12): Clear explanation of how social class is presented across the play, supported by well-chosen reference and some comment on Priestley's dramatic methods.
Level 4 (13-15): Detailed, well-structured exploration of social class, analysing structure, stagecraft and dramatic irony closely and integrating relevant historical context.
Level 5 (16-18): Sophisticated, sustained exploration of social class across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Priestley's dramatic methods and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- the celebratory Act One dinner, and Birling's evident pride in the engagement linking his family to the higher-status Crofts, establishes class as a hierarchy that even a wealthy manufacturer is anxious to climb
- Birling's dismissal of Eva Smith's request for fairer wages as an unreasonable inconvenience from an easily replaced worker shows how the language of practical business decisions is used to disguise class-based indifference to suffering
- Gerald's ability to conduct an affair with a working-class woman at minimal personal or social cost, compared with the devastating consequences for Eva herself, exposes the unequal protection class affords to those involved in the same events
- Mrs Birling's presence on a charity committee, a position of unpaid but real social power, shows how class privilege operated even in supposedly benevolent institutions, since she is able to judge and refuse help to a woman with far less power than herself
- Eva's lack of an individual identity for most of the play, known largely through what happens to her rather than through her own words, mirrors how working-class women could be treated as interchangeable by those with social power over their lives
- the Inspector's final generalising speech extends the specific case of Eva Smith into a wider claim about many others in similar positions, presenting class-based mistreatment as a systemic issue rather than one family's private failing
- Priestley's own well-known socialist sympathies, and the play's original context immediately after a war that had narrowed some social distinctions, invite a post-war audience to see the rigid Edwardian class system the Birlings represent as already outdated

Question 12

Level 1 (1-4): Simple, general comments about gender and the unequal treatment of men and women, with little reference to specific characters or moments.
Level 2 (5-8): Some understanding of gender and the unequal treatment of men and women, with a few relevant references and straightforward comment on method.
Level 3 (9-12): Clear explanation of how gender is presented across the play, supported by well-chosen reference and some comment on Priestley's dramatic methods.
Level 4 (13-15): Detailed, well-structured exploration of gender, analysing structure, stagecraft and dramatic irony closely and integrating relevant historical context.
Level 5 (16-18): Sophisticated, sustained exploration of gender across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Priestley's dramatic methods and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- Eva's repeated dismissals, first from Birling's factory for asking for better pay and later from a shop after a customer's complaint, show a woman with almost no power to resist decisions made largely by those above her
- Sheila's jealous complaint that leads to Eva's second dismissal complicates a simple reading of gender in the play, since it shows a woman with more social power using it against a woman with less, rather than only men mistreating women
- Gerald's affair with Eva, and his ability to end it when it becomes inconvenient without lasting damage to his own reputation, shows how far consequences for the same relationship fell unevenly between the man and the woman involved
- Mrs Birling's harsh judgement of the unnamed pregnant woman who came to her charity committee, blaming the woman rather than the man responsible, shows a woman in a position of authority reinforcing rather than challenging unequal expectations of men and women
- the dramatic irony of Mrs Birling condemning her own son without realising it demonstrates how gendered double standards can operate even without those enforcing them fully recognising what they are doing
- Sheila's growing independence across the play, culminating in her unwillingness to simply resume her engagement once Gerald's affair is revealed, offers a contrasting, more assertive model of womanhood emerging in the younger generation
- in 1912, married women had very limited independent legal and economic status, so Eva's vulnerability and Sheila's growing assertiveness can both be read against a backdrop in which women's opportunities depended heavily on both class and marital status

Question 13

Level 1 (1-4): Simple, general comments about the generational divide between the older and younger Birlings, with little reference to specific characters or moments.
Level 2 (5-8): Some understanding of the generational divide between the older and younger Birlings, with a few relevant references and straightforward comment on method.
Level 3 (9-12): Clear explanation of how the generational divide is presented across the play, supported by well-chosen reference and some comment on Priestley's dramatic methods.
Level 4 (13-15): Detailed, well-structured exploration of the generational divide, analysing structure, stagecraft and dramatic irony closely and integrating relevant historical context.
Level 5 (16-18): Sophisticated, sustained exploration of the generational divide across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Priestley's dramatic methods and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- Mr and Mrs Birling repeatedly try to reassert their usual parental authority over the interview, treating the Inspector's questions as something to be managed rather than genuinely faced, showing an older generation confident in fixed attitudes
- Sheila's early distress at realising her own part in events, in clear contrast to her father's calmer, more self-justifying reaction to his own part, marks an immediate generational difference in how guilt is processed
- Eric's initial concealment gives way, once his part is exposed, to open anger at his mother for unknowingly condemning the same girl he had wronged, showing the younger generation's willingness to let new information change their behaviour
- by contrast, Mr and Mrs Birling's relief once doubt is cast on the Inspector's identity, and their wish to treat the whole evening as a false alarm, shows an older generation unwilling to let the same information change anything
- Sheila's explicit warning that her parents' attitude will not simply be forgotten, even if the Inspector turns out not to have been genuine, positions the younger characters as the play's moral authority by its final scenes
- the play's cyclical ending, with a phone call announcing a real death and a real inspector on the way, rewards the perceptiveness of the younger generation and punishes the older generation's complacent relief
- Priestley, writing in 1945 for an audience including many who had lost family in two world wars within a single generation, uses this divide to express hope that a younger generation might build a fairer society than the one that produced those conflicts

Question 14

Level 1 (1-4): Simple, general comments about guilt, with little reference to specific characters or moments.
Level 2 (5-8): Some understanding of differing responses to guilt, with a few relevant references and straightforward comment on method.
Level 3 (9-12): Clear explanation of how differing responses to guilt are presented across the play, supported by well-chosen reference and some comment on Priestley's dramatic methods.
Level 4 (13-15): Detailed, well-structured exploration of differing responses to guilt, analysing structure, stagecraft and dramatic irony closely and integrating relevant historical context.
Level 5 (16-18): Sophisticated, sustained exploration of differing responses to guilt across the whole play, with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of Priestley's dramatic methods and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- Sheila's immediate, visible shock and self-blame on realising her jealous complaint contributed to Eva's dismissal from her shop job shows guilt functioning as an instant, honest emotional response in the character most recently and directly responsible
- Eric's inability to keep still, and his increased drinking, as questioning approaches his own involvement, shows guilt operating even before a character's actions are known, suggesting a conscience already troubled in private
- Gerald's initial denial, followed by his own admission once directly confronted, shows guilt as something that can be delayed but is eventually forced into the open by sufficiently direct questioning
- Mrs Birling's continued, confident insistence that she has nothing to be ashamed of, even once her own son's involvement is fully known, presents a character whose sense of guilt is unusually, perhaps unnaturally, absent
- Mr Birling's guilt is chiefly focused on the risk of public scandal rather than on Eva herself, suggesting Priestley distinguishes between genuine moral guilt and mere anxiety about being caught
- the play's ambiguous ending, in which doubt over the Inspector's identity offers the family a chance to dismiss what has happened, tests whether guilt that is not publicly proven can still be considered morally real; Sheila and Eric's answer is that it can
- the final phone call, confirming that a real death and a real inspector are involved after all, structurally endorses Sheila and Eric's position: guilt cannot be escaped simply because a particular investigation turns out to be unofficial

Question 15

Level 1 (1-5): Simple, general comments about the chosen themes, treated largely separately, with limited reference.
Level 2 (6-10): Some understanding of both chosen themes, with a few relevant references, but limited discussion of how they connect.
Level 3 (11-15): Clear explanation of both themes, supported by well-chosen reference, with some clear discussion of how they interact or reinforce one another.
Level 4 (16-20): Detailed, well-structured exploration of how the two chosen themes are interwoven across the play, analysing structure and dramatic method with relevant integrated context.
Level 5 (21-24): Sophisticated, critical, sustained exploration of how the two chosen themes work together to shape Priestley's argument, evaluating their relationship with a convincing personal response, precise analysis of method and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- responsibility and class: Birling's individualist, self-interested philosophy is presented as inseparable from his position at the top of a class hierarchy, since his refusal of responsibility toward his own workforce is what starts the chain of events the Inspector investigates
- responsibility and guilt: characters who accept responsibility (Sheila, Eric) are also shown to feel genuine guilt, while characters who deny responsibility (Mr and Mrs Birling) are shown to feel little or none, suggesting Priestley presents guilt as evidence of a properly functioning sense of responsibility
- class and gender: Eva's vulnerability is repeatedly shown to depend on both her class and her gender together, since her lack of money and her lack of social standing as a woman combine to leave her with almost no way to resist mistreatment by either men or women above her
- gender and guilt: Mrs Birling's confident, undeserved lack of guilt is bound up with her belief that a woman in her position of moral and social authority cannot be genuinely at fault, showing how gendered assumptions about who holds authority can suppress guilt rather than justify its absence
- age and generation and guilt: the play consistently pairs youth with the capacity for guilt and change (Sheila, Eric) and age with denial and unchanged attitudes (Mr and Mrs Birling), suggesting Priestley links generational renewal directly to the capacity for moral self-examination
- class and age and generation: Gerald, from an even higher-status family than the Birlings, ultimately aligns with the older generation's relief once the Inspector's identity is doubted, suggesting the pull of class privilege toward complacency can outweigh a character's relative youth
- candidates may choose any valid pairing of the five themes studied in this pack; credit should be given for a well-supported, clearly explained connection between the two chosen themes rather than for any specific pairing
- the strongest answers will evaluate which theme is presented as driving or reinforcing the other, for example whether class privilege enables denial of responsibility, or whether generational position determines capacity for guilt, rather than simply describing both themes side by side

Question 16

Level 1 (1-3): Simple, general agreement or disagreement, with limited reference to Mrs Birling or other characters.
Level 2 (4-7): Some understanding of the view, with relevant reference to Mrs Birling's responses and at least one other character for comparison, but limited evaluation.
Level 3 (8-10): Clear, well-supported evaluation of the view, referring to specific moments across the play, with some discussion of Priestley's methods.
Level 4 (11-14): Sophisticated, sustained evaluation, weighing the view judiciously against alternative readings, with precise textual support and skilfully integrated context.
Indicative content:
- Mrs Birling is given the same access to the Inspector's questioning and the same information about Eva's fate as every other character, yet she is the only one who does not shift her position even slightly by the play's end
- her confident, moralising judgement of the pregnant young woman who sought her charity committee's help is undermined, for the audience, by the dramatic irony that she is unknowingly condemning her own son
- unlike Mr Birling, whose concern is largely for his reputation and future honours, Mrs Birling's resistance appears rooted in a genuine belief that she has behaved correctly throughout, arguably making her denial more complete than his
- however, some candidates may argue Gerald is equally, if not more, resistant to change, since he actively works to find a way to discredit the Inspector rather than simply denying wrongdoing, suggesting the play distributes resistance to change across more than one character
- Mrs Birling's fixed position could also be read as generational rather than purely individual, since it matches her husband's reaction closely, so her lack of change may say as much about the older generation collectively as about her personally
- the play's final twist, confirming a real inspector and a real death, applies equally to every character regardless of how they responded, which could support the view that Mrs Birling's particular refusal to change makes no practical difference to the consequences she and her family now face
- strongest answers will reach a supported personal judgement, for example distinguishing between Mrs Birling being the most confidently unrepentant character and being uniquely incapable of change, rather than simply asserting the statement is true or false

Literature: An Inspector Calls - Themes in Depth - Worksheets, Questions and Revision