PPT

1. AN INSPECTOR CALLS –
ASSESSMENT PREPARATION
LO: TO BE ABLE TO THINK ABOUT LIFE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF SHEILA
AND GERALD
TO PREPARE FOR AN ASSESSMENT QUESTION ON SHEILA AND GERALD’S
RELATIONSHIP

2. If you were going to marry someone, what qualities
would you look for in them?
Does Sheila/Gerald have these qualities?

3. Gerald: (with an effort) Inspector, I think Miss Birling ought to be excused any more of
this questioning. She'd nothing more to tell you. She's had a long exciting and tiring
day – we were celebrating our engagement, you know – and now she's obviously had
about as much as she can stand. You heard her.
Sheila: He means that I'm getting hysterical now.
Inspector: And are you?
Sheila: Probably.
Inspector: Well, I don't want to keep you here. I've no more questions to ask you.
Sheila: No, but you haven't finished asking questions – have you?
Inspector: No.
Sheila: (to Gerald) You see? (to Inspector) Then I'm staying.
Gerald: Why should you? It's bound to be unpleasant and disturbing.
Inspector: And you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and
disturbing things?
Gerald: If possible – yes.
Inspector: Well, we know one young woman who wasn't, don't we?
condescending,
belittling
S is determined,
independent
G doesn’t understand her desire to know the
truth, sees her as inferior.
G trying to evade responsibility for his affair.
Clearly does not see S as having a right to know.

4. Sheila: Be careful you don't ask for more, Gerald.
Gerald: I only meant to say to you – why stay when you'll hate it?
Sheila: It can't be any worse for me than it has been. And it might be better.
Gerald: (bitterly) I see.
Sheila: What do you see?
Gerald: You've been through it – and now you want to see somebody else put
through it.
Sheila: (bitterly) So that's what you think I'm like. I'm glad I realized it in time,
Gerald.
Gerald: No, no, I didn't mean -
Sheila: (cutting in) Yes, you did. And if you'd really loved me, you couldn't have
said that. You listened to that nice story about me. I got that girl sacked from
Milwards. And now you've made up your mind I must obviously be a selfish,
vindictive creature.
Gerald: I neither said that nor even suggested it.
Sheila: Then why say I want to see somebody else put through it? That's not what I
mean at all.
Mocking him or offering him a genuine
warning?
Immediately misinterprets her motives, but doesn’t voice his thoughts
without pressure from her.
Easily suspicious of each other. Sign that
they do not have an honest and intimate
relationship.
Threatening? Or suggesting they
need to support each other?
Determined for G to be
honest.
G concedes to S’s pressure – have the power dynamics
changed?

5. ROLE-PLAY
• GROUPS OF THREE
• CHOOSE WHO WILL BE
• SHEILA
• GERALD
• INTERVIEWER

6. 1. Why do you want to stay to hear the rest of the Inspector’s
questions, Sheila?
2. Why do you not want her to stay, Gerald?
3. We just witnessed an argument between you both. What was it
about?
4. Is the disagreement all cleared up now?
5. How do you feel about Gerald at the moment, Sheila?
6. Are you feeling optimistic about the future of your relationship?

7. Will Sheila and Gerald stay together? Do you think both
of them want to? Why/why not?
Give reasons with evidence from the text.

8. Re-read from ‘(with an effort) Inspector I think…’ (p.27)
to ‘…the wrong time not to believe me’ (p.28). Write
about the relationship between Gerald and Sheila and
how it is presented in this extract.