Characters:.
Mr Birling: is the kind of character the whole play warns against. "A hard headed business man", he believes society as it should be. The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor and there is a large gap between the two. He believes that "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own". He also has a very honest approach to life in saying when Eva Smith asked for a pay rise "I refused, of course" and is surprised why people should question why. He is also trying to keep a good reputation so he can be knighted and has a very optimistic view about the future and predicts that the titanic is "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable".
Mrs Birling: is the character that remains most firm in her beliefs during the play. From start to finish she believes consistently in her husband's opinions, out-doing even Birling himself in her refusal to listen to alternative notions. Throughout the action she only once shows the slightest sign of unsteadiness.
Sheila: at the start of the play is "very pleased with life". She is young, attractive and has just become engaged but her happiness is soon 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 and is genuinely upset.
Gerald: Gerald is a character whose opinions are difficult to judge, because unlike the other characters he has a motive for stating ideas that are different to what he actually believes. Generally, Gerald attempts to do and say what he hopes Mr & Mrs Birling will agree with and he also attempts to please Sheila, though he is not particularly successful. Gerald comes out of his "interview with the Inspector better than any other character, because he did not do anything to Eva/Daisy that harmed her in the way that the other characters. Indeed, had he not been engaged to Sheila his conduct would have been entirely acceptable for a normal relationship.