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Social and Moral Issues in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
In ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestly explores many social and moral issues
that become clear as the plot and characters develop throughout the
play. Priestly wants to show the Birlings about collective
responsibility and consequences of their actions which I will go into
greater depth later. Priestly is concerned about class, poverty and
riches; factory work and women’s labour; women’s position in society,
unwanted pregnancy and prostitution and also the fact that society can
be fixed through taking collective responsibility to try and improve
all of these concerns and issues. Is this play morality or mystery?
The audience starts off by thinking the play is a simple whodunit but
end up with the realization that the play is a morality play.
‘An Inspector Calls’ is set in 1912 but written in 1944 and first
performed in 1945. These dates are significant because 1912 was the
year the Titanic sunk and was just before the First World War. Both of
these events are mention in the play and are taken for granted by Mr.
Birling who considers any mention of war or the Kaiser as
‘fiddlesticks’ and that ‘Germans don’t want war.’ We know now that
this was obviously not true and because the play was first performed
at the end of the Second World War we can look back and see how
ignorant and narrow minded the upper-middle class society the Birlings
represent were. This ignorance is also shown in Arthur Birlings
opinion about the Titanic. Whilst talking about it he claims the
Titanic is ‘unsinkable – absolutely unsinkable.’ He emphasizes
‘unsinkable’ to show how confident he is about the industrial strength
of the society at the time.
Throughout the play the Inspector is constantly trying to teach the
Birlings several social and moral issues. The main issue the Birlings
are faced with is collective responsibility. Each of the Birlings
plays a part in the death of Eva Smith. Although they did not kill Eva
Smith all of their individual actions all drove Eva Smith or Daisy
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.
J B Priestley clearly had a strong moral conscience which led him to hold socialist beliefs wanting to bring about change against the capitalists who were exploiting the poor working class. In 'An Inspector Calls' Priestley cleverly uses dramatic techniques, lighting and stage directions to produce an emotionally charged setting to bring home a very important message to the correct society of his day and remains a challenge to the society in which we live in now.
This is the concept of collective responsibility. Priestley says, 'things could really improve if only people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others'. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them. The play starts off with the Birling family celebrating their daughter's engagement to Gerald Croft. The family included Mr Birling, Mrs Birling, Eric Birling, Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft.
J.B. Priestley's Motives Behind An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894. His mother
From 1939 to 1945 the majority of the world’s nations were part of a long deadly six-year war, World War II. These included two strong powerhouses, Great Britain and The United States. Millions died world wide, declaring World War II to be the most expansive war to date. The Holocaust, and the use nuclear weapons resulted in such a high death toll. Nations were in a state of “total war,” involving not just the military but also the entire nation. Civilians were aggressively aiding in supporting their military, creating a home front, making a significant impression on the result of the war. Rationing, defense and manpower were concerns for governments; and they made any economic and industrial change to support their efforts in aiding their nation and military.
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 history of the time the play was written helps us to understand the views and the feelings expressed by Priestley in the play. The inspector transfers Priestley’s views and he shows the difference in social classes at the time. A gap which he wants to diminish. He illustrates the reason for this in the play, via the inspector, where he outlines the ways each of the Birlings have influenced someone from a completely different background and social class. This is the way Priestley viewed pre-war England.
This helped Priestley promote socialism against capitalism. JB Priestley uses dramatic devices to make An inspector calls a modern day morality play, to do this he uses dramatic devices, such as dramatic irony and tension in order to convey the message through the entire play. They are used accurately considering the time in which the play is set. Priestley also uses the characters as dramatic devices, they symbolise the dramatic devices, an example of this is Priestley makes us hate Mr. Birling because he symbolises capitalism, and in Priestley’s eyes capitalism is wrong. Throughout the play, Mr. Birling is the voice of capitalism....
The result of World War II had tragic results for Japan, Germany, and also Italy. The United States and the Allies came out victorious once again but the cost of war greatly affected all the countries. Germany, Japan, and Italy now have more debts to pay and also lost much of their territory once again. The war took many lives and also ended up destroying many beautiful cities. World War II showed how not just the soldiers were affected in the war, but everyone in all the different countries were affected by the war.
Through his play Priestley endeavoured to convey a message to the audiences, that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He used the Birling family as an example of the Capitalist family that was common amongst the higher classes in 1912, who took no responsibility for other people and he showed this with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector; the uneasy facade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they considered to be lower class could not stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what had happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.
WWII has a ripple effect across the globe causing changes both internationally and domestically. Internationally, The sun finally began to set over the British Empire with the majority of her majesties colonial possessions gaining independence in the years following the war. Britain’s stage left exit from its hegemonic role resulted in the start of a new “Great Game” between two burgeoning superpowers. A new world order began to take shape with the United States and USSR vying to establish their own hegemony.
..., many lives were saved and World War II ended as a result just as the United States hoped it would turn out.
a girl named Eva Smith has died and that an Inspector would be on his
The first impression of Arthur Birling is in the initial stage directions, when he is described as ‘a heavy looking, rather portentous man in his fifties.’ The fact that he is described as ‘heavy looking’ and ‘portentous’ suggests that he has a fairly comfortable lifestyle, and has an inflated opinion of his own importance. Priestley has done this to fit the typical man of the house during the 1910’s.
but she seems to be a person who would only marry for love and not for