I would love to help! I remember doing my An Inspector Call exam and I didn't do no revision and came out with an A*. I was stuck with what each character did and didn't know nothing, trust me! All I had was the script in the exam and paper to write on and Mr Birling came up!!!
MR BIRLING:You can talk about Mr Birling on how his behaviour has developed or changed. At the start he's seen as someone who has more authority but throughout the play this authority becomes destructible because he's then presents himself as someone who is ignorant.
However, Mr Birling doesn't change whatsoever, he ignores to take on board the Inspectors lessons. Towards the end of the play there is another phone call which presents a second visit, maybe the "real" Inspector. This may be a warning to his (Priestley) audience of the circumstances/ danger of not learning the lesson (social responsibility) themselves.
Priestly also makes it clear that there are consequences for every action. For example, Mr Billings ignorant actions for firing Eva Smith, his failure of admitting being responsible in Eva's death and also how he wanted to cover up for Eric stealing money. All these actions were created by Priestley to convey the evil side of money and capitalism, also his dislike for capitalism due to the lack of care in society for the poor.
SHEILA:Sheila gives the audience hope that society can be improved if people make an effort of making changes and taking responsibility. She develops throughout the play as she learns her lesson. She takes responsibility and makes a change and makes an effort of reassuring that others do the same.
Sheila Birling at the start of the play she is "very pleased with life" She is young, attractive and has just become engaged. Her happiness is soon to be destroyed as is her faith in her family. Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She is genuinely upset when she hears of Eva's death and learns from her own behaviour. She is very distressed by the girl's suicide and thinks that her father's behaviour was unacceptable. She readily agrees that she behaved very badly and insists that she never meant the girl any harm. (This was due to Sheila being jealous of Eva- You'll find suitable quotes if you look online on how jealousy and you can elaborate more on the quote to get top marks!)
The Inspector says that she is only partly responsible and later on, when he is about to question Gerald, he encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say so that she doesn't feel entirely responsible. Not only is she prepared to admit her faults, she also appears keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, ' I'll never, never do it again '
It then continues that she is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him. She is mature about the breaking up of her engagement and remains calm. She won't be rushed into accepting the ring back once the Inspector has left. She is unable to accept her parents attitude and is both amazed and concerned that they haven't learned anything from the episode. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner. She learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself (the idea of the community) and is sensitive. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents
Feel free to discuss about Eric and Gerald if you like and then you can link it to another character and what it suggest and why Priestley used this certain quote or how he conveys these through the act of the characters.
Feel free to message me for anymore help! Or if you need help for Gerald and Eric