An inspector calls Dramatic Devices
An Inspector Calls is a play written by J.B Priestly in 1945 however it is set in 1912. An Inspector calls is a thriller set in England. This was a very difficult time for several reasons. In 1912 it was a time where people were just greedy and selfish. Priestly wrote this play because he was concerned that the world that he and others was living in was a place of disgust and that people could do better. To tender all these wounds in the world Priestly wrote this to show that there is enough time to repair these problems and be as bright as possible for the future. The play makes us question ourselves and what sort of a character we would prefer to be.
In 1912 it was a time of inequality. In fact there was a really big gap between the rich and poor, in the time if you were really rich, you were stated as really lucky, but for the poor it was a really different story. They had low wages and had difficulty on surviving on the money they were given. One of the most important themes in An Inspector Calls responsibility for other people’s welfare, and that wealthy people have obligations to look after those less fortunate than themselves.
J. B. Priestley uses the inspector to express his views to people. One more of Priestley’s reasons for writing this play was to show how people were behaving at the time. He wrote this play to reflect what people were really like and what they thought. The Birling family are rich and they look down on the lower-class as less than human make no difference to society. Mr. Birling believes he just needs to look after for himself, but Priestley doesn’t agree with this.
All of the characters that are sitting down to dinner are responsible for the death of one girl Eva Smith, but not all of them think about their responsibilities, Birling feels that everyone has to look after themselves. Priestley partly shows what he is trying to say by showing Mr. Birling a proud man to be in so much error about so many things, such as the unsinkable Titanic ship and the two world wars not going to happen the audience would know that he is wrong. This is a device which Priestley uses called dramatic irony which is essential to the play because it’s based on the world wars and the titanic sinking.
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
This caused workers to become better organised and strikes were becoming more frequent as they demanded better conditions and higher pay. J.B. Priestley was writing the play for a middle class audience and was trying to speak up for the working class by showing how the Birlings and Gerald Croft were all involved in making a young working class girl's life a misery. Priestley wants to show us that we have a responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation. Our actions affect others.
Examine Priestley's use of dramatic techniques to create tension in the play. Priestly was a socialist writer, and 'An Inspector Calls' is one of the plays in which he tried to display his socialist ideals in. The play was written in the 1940's, a little after the end of the Second World War, and it was first performed in 1946, in Russia, then later in England. Priestly had served in World War 1, and the terrible scenes he saw lead to him having socialist views. He was inspired by other writers whose views he shared, especially George Orwell and H.G.
The Effect of the Inspector's Visit on Sheila Birling in J.B Priestly's An Inspector Calls
An Inspector calls is set in 1912, in a time before the war, and when
Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls The play an Inspector Call’s was written at the time of 1945 but is set in 1912. Priestley conveys a lot of social and important messages in this play. He conveys the messages through the character of Inspector Goole. One most important message that Priestley conveys is about Socialism.
The character of Inspector Goole repeatedly states that he is on duty, one example being, ’No, thank you, Mr Birling. I’m on duty.’ Goole takes responsibility of making sure that he carries out his job correctly. His attitude and dedication shows how the characters in the play take responsibility for different things in different ways. The character of the Inspector contrasts the character of Mr Birling in their ideologies. The Inspector is polite to Birling by saying ‘thank you’ and doesn’t sway from his intentions to question the Birlings. The Inspector is a clear symbol of socialism, similarly to Priestley and is portrayed as a man that prioritises fairness and equality. In the nature of the situation, Priestley’s Inspector is meant to be shown as a favourable character that the audience would respect. In contrast, Birling is a symbol of capitalism and avoids the burden of responsibility for those outside his family and class. The audience is made to dislike Mr Birling, and therefore dislike the ideology of capitalism. The two ideologies handle responsibility in opposing ways and Priestley aims to influence the audience into choosing socialism through the characters in the
An Inspector Calls is a play that was written in 1946 but was set in
Responsibility is explored in JB Priestley’s play ‘The Inspector Calls’ by showing the contrasting opinions of the younger and older generations. The older and younger generations in the story take the Inspector’s messages differently. Mr Birling and Mrs Birling both choose to protect themselves, where Mr Birling tries to hide from his responsibility by saying if he were to be responsible for something that happened due to a choice made two years ago, it would be a very awkward world. Mrs Birling shrugs off responsibility by telling the inspector that the father of the unborn child is responsible for looking after Eva, not her charity organisation. Eric and Sheila are the young members of the family, and both are honest and admit their roles in the
JB Priestley was a socialist and strived for a more equal society. So when he wrote An Inspector Calls at the end of WWll he wasn’t just writing a play. He was trying to change the mind set of post war Britain. What class of person you belonged to meant everything and climbing the social status ladder was far more important than helping others or giving to charity. There was no NHS or welfare state and there was a lot of prejudice against you if you worked in a factory for a living. As a socialist Priestley disagreed with the way the rich treated the poor. In an inspector calls he tells almost an Aesop’s Fable or moral play to try and change the opinion the rich had to make Britain wake up.
The Dramatic Methods Used by Priestley to Convey the Social and Moral Message of An Inspector Calls J.B Priestley’s play “An Inspector Calls” is a medium to express his. thoughts and feelings towards socialism. Priestley was known to sympathise with the plight of the lower classes. He was involved in many socialist movements, and during 1934, wrote a book called “English Journey.” This outlined Britain's complacency during the prosperous Industrial Revolution, which had led to the slump of the First World War.
How Priestely Uses the Characters in An Inspector Calls to Show Us the Social and Political Situation in England in 1912
J.B. Priestly wrote the play An Inspector Calls about a middle class family who is visited by an Inspector and interrogates them about a suicide that has occurred in the city of Brumley. The Birling family, Eva Smith (also known as Dairy Renton), Gerald Croft, and Inspector Goole are the main characters of the play. Each member of the Birling family and Gerald Croft met Eva Smith in a way that may have been the cause of her suicide. The family is having a good time until they get a knock on the door from Inspector Goole, which changes everything for the Birling family.
Mrs. Birling as the Most Responsible for the Suicide in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
Priestly?s view is shown through the Inspector in a rather convincing way which makes the audience think like an inspector. The inspector is the voice of reason, justice and socialism. In the play Birling believes in the