Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
social change in 1900-1970
american life changes 1880-1914
social changes in the period of 1865-1920
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: social change in 1900-1970
The Birlings are holding a party to celebrate their daughter’s engagement with Gerald Croft. The pleasant scene is interrupted when a rather shady looking Inspector gives them a visit, investigating the suicide of a young working-class girl in her middle twenties. Each family member is interrogated and they all find out that they are somehow linked to the girl’s death. In act 1, while Arthur Birling was giving advice to Eric and Gerald, an Inspector gives them a visit to investigate a young working-class girl’s suicidal death. This is very important because later on, we find out how J. B. Priestley has linked the girl’s death to all the Birling family members. 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. Sheila is described as a ‘pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.’ The fact that it says ‘very pleased with life’ and ‘rather excited’ shows that she is very proud of herself; this is typical with a girl in her twenties coming from an upper-class British family in the 1910’s. Priestley has done this carefully to blend in with the historical context of the play, which was set in 1912. Priestley has cleverly done this to fit with characters in the early 20th century, just like upper-class man of the house would be like Arthur Birling and any girl from the family would be like Sheila. Before the Inspector arrives, Mr. Birling ac... ... middle of paper ... ... not learnt anything from his mistakes and still continues to deny about taking any responsibility about the girl’s death. 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.
Birling who looks down on a lower working class person, Eva Smith. When Mrs. Birling says “As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money!” infers that Mrs. Birling is prejudice against the working-class girls. Furthermore, she also believes that do not have morals or dignity as they will take any money from people. This lets the audience know that Mrs. Birling looks down on all working-class woman as they don’t have the same level of status, income, and respect as her, thus showing her lack of remorse when talking ill about the less fortunate and how she thinks highly of herself. Mrs. Birling says this quote loudly and confidently, shown by the exclamation mark, to convey her instant thoughts about the lower class and that what she is saying is correct. The following lines by the inspector, said in a stern manner, shadows what Priestley himself would have said to Mrs. Birling because what she said is completely against the idea of everyone being part of “one body” therefore making the atmosphere tenser within the characters and the audience. This built up tension clearly indicates to the audience how Priestley feels about this topic and how important it is for him to educate his audience about treating people from different social classes with respect and
After Inspector Goole enters the house, he informs the Birling’s about the death of a lower class woman who had died due to swallowing a disinfectant. Afterwards, Arthur Birling admits he had sacked the girl after remembering what had happened two years ago due to her being one of the ring leaders in strike demanding higher wages.
J.B Priestley use of Sheila Birling to Convey His Message to the Audience in An Inspector Calls
At the start of the play 'An inspector call', J.B Priestly presents Sheila and Gerald with a unbalanced relationship this is because Gerald sees himself as the dominant one, and he is in control of the relationship, meanwhile Sheila is naive and quite immature for her age. Gerald chose and bought the engagement ring for Sheila, this shows that Gerald is dominant, showing his authority and Sheila has nothing to say about it, 'is this the one you want me to have'. This shows us her willingness to be controlled by Gerald, this links to how their relationship is unbalanced as Gerald has more power and that he is in charge. We can also see this when Sheila says '...all last summer when you never came near me, and I wondered what had happened to you.' Although she says it half serious, half playfully, it is clear she thinks Gerald has been up to something, but she does react in any way towards this. This again shows her naivety about the relationship and shows that she allows herself to be controlled by Gerald. Even though Gerald dominates her, and Mr Birling pushes her relationship with Gerald, ...
The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft
To conclude I believe the reader has sympathy for Gerald as his fiancé is uninterested and when explaining to the inspector and the Birling family his reaction towards the situation caused him to almost break down completely. However, I feel ambivalent to a certain degree and I agree with the statement that was proposed by Gerald. Except at moments in time I
The play is set in 1912 but was written and performed in 1945. This is
In the beginning of An Inspector Calls in Act 1, Priestley presents Sheila as a forceful person, ‘(cutting in) Why should you? He’s finished with you. He says it’s one of us now.’ Analysing the words ‘us now’, we can see how Sheila talks about responsibility, however, by looking at the stage directions we can see how Sheila changes her character from being questionable to targeting her father and saying, ‘He’s finished with you.’ I find this interesting beca...
In the story ,The Bass,The River , and Sheila Mant, by W.D Wetherell, Sheila Mant was a selfish person.She demonstrates her selfishness when she was talk to the boy in the canoe she said,”Eric said I have the figure to model, but I thought I should get an education”.In this quote it shows how Sheila is so self obsessed with herself.In another way she’s say i’m beatiful and I shuld be model.Also Sheila Mant was selfish because she wanted to go home with Car the boy said , “ I really remmeber is her coming over to me once the music was done to explain that she would be going home in Eric Caswell’s Corvette”.She was selfish because she came with the boy to the band party in a canoe.But she didn`t want to go home in the canoe.
The play focusses on three generations of Women, Nan Dear, Gladys and Dolly and where they felt as though they belonged. Nan Dear knew where she belonged and that was the humpy in the flats with her daughter and granddaughter. Nan Dear knows that she won't be accepted into white society just because she is an Aboriginal and those of a different colour or foreign country weren't accepted. Gladys and Dolly both wanted to be accepted into white society, they wanted to feel as though they belonged there.
In this section at the end of Act Two we find out that Mrs Birling
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.
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.
The play is set in the early twentieth century in London. This time in period was referred to as the Victorian era. During this era women had not gained the basic rights and privileges given to man. Women were looked at as housewives, their main role being to act properly, marry, and tend to the house and bear children. Although Higgins felt he knew what was best for Liza and how she should behave and act, he treated her as if she was inferior to him. Liza, now wiser and more confident in herself, began to feel as if she was being treated unjust and showed she was not to back down and she was to stand up for herself. This is best depicted through the body language and actions reflected in the narration and stage directions. Directions such as [Defiantly non-Resistant], [Snapping her fingers], [Disdainfully], [Composedly], and [Determinedly] (PDF Act IV Page 39 and Act V Page 49) allow one to imagine and picture her being confident as she is conversing with Higgins and telling him that she does not need him she is independent and the woman she has always wanted to be. The descriptive elements used for stage direction and in the narration convey more emotion to what the character is saying because the reader can imagine what is taking
Inspector Goole has a big impact on the whole of the Birling family, and Gerald; however he has most impact on Sheila and Eric. They are the youngest, supposedly most innocent, characters, yet it is the exposure to the ‘other half’ - those living in poverty – which brings Sheila to understand the situation which E...