Interrogation of the Birling Family in Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Interrogation of the Birling Family in Priestley's An Inspector Calls

The inspector was very successful in his interrogation of the Birling

family; each member revealed their past that was connected to the

death of Eva Smith. He also brings out the true nature of each

individual. Priestly spends much time detailing the scenery at the

beginning of the first Act. He also depicts the family well before the

inspector arrives. This indicates that the audience needs to have a

clear idea of the kind of family Priestley is portraying. The family

represents the upper middle class, becoming rich through business. The

theme of class is important to this play. Priestley believed that

everyone should be equal and no one fails foul of poverty, which he

witnessed in his lifetime. His purpose was to turn society as far as

possible into a classless, community-based country. To answer the

question we must examine each character and how they react to the

questioning.

Mr Birling is the head of the Birling family and he is an arrogant,

ignorant overbearing pompous man. In addition, he is very aware of

himself and all the things that he has gained. He is very dismissive

about the realities of the world and he likes to give advice

“Now you three young people just listen”

Birling’s predictions for the future indicate much about his

character. The audience can see that he is not as clever as he claims

to be about predicting the future. The play was written in the autumn

of 1944 and people had learned what happened in history. The Second

World War was to have a catastrophic effect on humani...

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as a spoilt and inadequate young man. However, in each case, the

punishment is a consequence of their own behaviour; the Inspector

himself does not bring punishment from outside. Perhaps this is why

they are given a second chance at the end of the play - that their

experience should have been a warning to them, and that next time, it

is the apocalyptic future predicted by the Inspector's final speech

that lies in store for them.

In conclusion, the inspector is very successful in interrogating the

family; he brings out to the open the faults of each character and

changes the relationship between the characters. He also raises the

question of community and how we are all members of a community that

need to look after each other. As he says

“We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”