An Inspector Calls Productions seen: · BBC Television Production (1981) · Film Production (1954) Part I J.B.Priestly's play is set in the spring of 1912 in the household of an upper-middle class family in the north of England. The plot of this dramatic play is based around the Birling family's involvement in a young girl's suicide. The Birling family consists of the two parents, Arthur and Sybil Birling and their two children Eric and Sheila. Gerald Croft is soon to become a member of the family as he has recently announced his engagement to Sheila. As the story unfolds we find that each of the family members is partly to blame. Which member however carries the most blame? It is important to realise that J.B.Priestly has made it deliberately difficult to place the blame solely on one person. Having read the play and seen two productions of it, I have come to the conclusion that Mrs Birling is the most to blame. This conclusion was founded for many reasons. One such reason was due to the process of elimination. Each Character, although guilty, has different responsibilities and different degrees of blame due to their involvement with the girl, their reaction to the news of her death, how they compare to the other characters and how the audience would or should perceive them. If we first take Mr Birling, who is questioned by the Inspector first. Mr Birling is described by Priestly as 'heavy looking, rather portentous...in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners....rather provincial in his speech." Birling is fairly successful in his line of work and is always striving to become better. He is self-important and slightly pompous. He could even be described as old fashioned. However he is a warm character and the audience should perceive him as such. Examples of this self importance can be found a lot in the text. For example, on page seven of the text, Mr Birling rambles on about such nonsense like " The unsinkable Titanic", "very little chance of a World War" and of "Russia being technically and socially behind" Mr Birling first became acquainted with Eva Smith when she came to work in his factory two years previously. Mr Birling started off the chain of events which lead to Eva's death by firing her from her job for asking for a pay-rise and ( when the rise was refused) for organising a strike. Although Mr Birling shows relatively little guilt or remorse for Eva's death, I do not feel that he is entirely responsible as at the end of the play he does in fact feel very guilty when the Inspector delivers
This coursework focuses on how each character contributes to the suicide of a poor girl Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley In the introduction of Act One, we are given a few brief details about
eager and keen to find out who is at the door and what they want. The
to say for herself she gets the sack. And this is what the author is
... of his heart. He is left as the sole survivor of his own carnage but the undeniable fact remains that without his actions, all the deaths would have been averted and he has no one to blame but himself.
one – and so long as he does that he won’t come to much harm. But the
or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and begin to
talks with. He is a man who has come to the Birling's house to do his
The play is the tale of a rich family, that are accosted by a man
An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J. B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. It was written in a time when Britain was ruled by a Labour government and socialist policies were seen to be a good way to go. It was a common way of thinking at that time so Priestley's aim for the play was to influence the unconvinced in society.
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector calls," by J. B. Priestley was written in 1946 and set in 1912. Priestley was a politician and a socialist who believed in equality and equilibrium for all, sex, race and class. Priestley had a long but arduous life, 1894-1984. He lived through both world wars, the unsinkable Titanic sank in 1912, the general strike in 1926, labour government resigning in 1931, and the two destructive atom bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Priestley deliberately set the play in 1912 because the audience watching the play had to have lived through all of this and would have empathised with him.
in jeopardy than how he may have driven a young girl down a spiral to
and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of a body. We are
In the play “An inspector calls” by J.B priestly, Mr Birling and Shelia Birling have contrasting attitudes to social issues. The author uses this to difference to highlight the diversity between generations and their reaction to situations faced. Arthur Birling is the father to Shelia Birling and is presented as the old fashion generation whereas Shelia is the young generation, who is more aware of the responsibility she has towards other people.The play begins with Mr birling and his family celebrating the engagement of Shelia and Gerald. The atmosphere is happy and light-hearted. Before the inspector arrives, Mr Birling is happy with life and himself “It’s one of the happiest nights of my life.” This shows that Mr Birling is quire selfish because he only thinks that it is one of the happiest nights of his life and not of Shelia and Gerald.
make him a better writer, and he felt that he 'must spend at least the