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Priestley has presented Birling as an arrogant, egotistical, right wing or capitalist man. Priestley himself was a socialist. He believes that as a society, we have to look after one another and that the government should give the unemployed people or refugees free health cares and free education. This tells us that Priestley wouldn’t make Mr. Birling look good in this story as capitalists like Mr. Birling only care about wealth. This story was set in 1912 which was before WWI and was written in 1946 which was just after the WWII. This means Priestley had lived through the two great wars, which probably had a huge impact on him. He used dramatic irony especially with regards to Mr. Birling. In the play, Mr. Birling was confident about the theories
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.
How Priestly Uses the Characters to Represent His Own Views on Society The play "An Inspector Calls" is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Edwardian society at that time (1912) was strictly divided into social classes and over two-thirds of the nation's wealth was in the hands of less than 1% of the population. Below the very rich were the middle classes (doctors and merchants, shop workers and clerks), after that came the craftsmen and skilled workers. At the very bottom of the social ladder was the largest class of all - the ordinary workers and the poor, many of whom lived below the poverty level. The men of industry treated the workers very badly and they were paid pittance.
Mr Birling is a very cruel man. I think this because of what he did to
So we already know that Mr Birling is a man of some meaning who is
The Dramatic Importance of Arthur Burling's Speech in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls For my English coursework I shall write about the dramatic importance of Arthur Burling's speech after dinner. An Inspectors Calls was written by J.B Priestley in 1945 however it was set in a pre-first world war setting (1912) in the fictional town of Brumley. J.B priestly uses this difference of 33 years to create dramatic importance as the audience would know about the outcomes of historical events which the characters in the play had no knowledge of. This allows Priestley to make the characters sometimes look quite naive and silly especially Arthur Burling. The play is mainly about how a rich upper middle class family are all made to confess about the major parts they played in the events leading up to the suicide of a lower class girl by a rather odd police inspector.
Socialism is one of the greatest messages that Priestley conveys. This message is spoken through the inspector. The Inspector represents Priestley’s strong moral views. Through the play, the Inspector’s character is shown as if he is Priestley’s image, and also shows that he is no ordinary Inspector. His character is shown as if he is more concerned with morality than legality, other than that of an ordinary Policeman/Inspector.
The Inspector, straight form his introduction, is commanding and authoritative. Upon his entrance he creates, “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”(PG.11) The Inspector continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while people around him crumble and fall to pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven by the fact he remains on task despite numerous attempts from Birling to digress from the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful’; this is shown where he explains to Birling that Birlings way of thinking “Every man must only look out for himself,” is not the case, and all warps of society are interlinked. The view is best illustrated in the Inspectors final speech, where he says, “We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”(p.56). This idea is one that Priestley, himself believed in deeply, and many of Priestleys writing shared this very theme.
Comparison of The Attitudes Of Arthur Birling And Sheila Birling From An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Birling’s arrogant belief that he “knows” is made to appear laughable by his confidence in the “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” Titanic and by the fact that he dismisses the threat of war “I say there isn't a chance of war”. The implication is that it is tragic that someone as stupid as this should be in a position of power. Priestley’s intention is to make the capitalists look stupid and make the audience support Priestley’s socialist ideas.
Sheila in Priestley's An Inspector Calls Sheila Birling was created by Priestly to convey his socialist
But it was written in the 1945 the end of World War II. J.B Priestley wrote the play in Bradford. The reason why Priestley wrote this play is because the area where J.B Priestley lived was a poor society and he thought why the world isn’t equal. He felt that all people should have food, shelter and equipment to survive also that people should have an equal share of wage needed. He was responsible for destroying. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the different relationship between George and Lennie with Eric and Mr. Birling also for the second comparison Sheila and Eric & Lennie and George.
The play is very simplistic and overtly political. It heavily features varying aspects of non-illusory theatre to semaphor Priestley's political message. When reading the play, it is important to remember that the characters are not people but caricatures Priestley employs to manipulate the reader. This combines with the artificiality of the plot to form a completely biased play, from whichever angle one looks at it. However at the time of its publication it was not so outlandish, because it upheld the New Labour government, struggling so hard to bring about its reforms and stay in favour of a people who had suffered many hardships and were now looking to more years of difficulty and discomfort.
In the short story “Thief,” Robley Wilson uses irony to show that when failing to treat another person with respect, can lead one to seek revenge, in order to teach a lesson.
On overall, Priestley has presented the two characters, Arthur and Sheila Birling as completely differently. He wanted to match the story to the historical context of the 1910’s, but he has done this differently with Sheila. This is because the play was written in 1946 and the world had two wars and has started to comprehend the strength of community. She is the young generation of the 1910’s this means in a few years down the line, a war is going to break out and if they keep making the same mistake over and over again, it’s not going to turn out any better, by this, we see what happens in the second world war. This is why Sheila has been presented so that she understands consequences of what might happen if we don’t pull ourselves together.
Difference in Reactions of Sheila Birling and Her Father in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls