An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
An Inspector Calls includes aspects of a detective story and a social
critique. I believe when J. B. Priestly set out to write this play, he
wanted it as a didactic (educating) play and a social critique that
implied "we are responsible for each other" and we should all learn
form our mistakes. However he knew that the 1946 audience would not
want to watch a play telling them about social issues as it would not
be of interest and for this reason, I believe he chose to embed a
social critique within the very popular detective story to give it a
twist and make the play more entertaining for the audiences.
The play begins as a social critique.
An Inspector Calls was first performed in 1946 and the play was set in
1912. This means that when the play was first performed, although Mr.
Birling considers himself as "hard-headed", looking at the facts and
speaking the truth, in reality today's audience recognise Mr. Birling
as quite naïve, when making comments like "the Titanic…absolutely
unsinkable". This would be found ironic by today's audiences as well
as the 1946 audience, as they would have experienced the sinking of
the titanic later in 1912. Some of the 1946 audience may have been
offended by this quote as they had lost people in the sinking of the
"unsinkable" and people in today's audiences would find it ironic to
see someone of his class, speaking as if he knows everything but
misquoting occurrences several times in his speech.
Mr. Birling was also incorrect in quoting that in twenty or thirty
years' time people will "have forgotten Capital versus Labour", i.e.
no more employers v...
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.... To make them take on
responsibility and appreciate their wealth rather than use it against
people. However as Mr. and Mrs. Birling were irresponsible after he
left and didn't learn from their mistakes, a real inspector is about
to come back to ask questions, and Eva Smith is really dead.
From this, both today's audience and audiences from 1946 would simply
learn to take any chances they get to put things right, and learn from
any mistakes made or else things will go wrong.
In conclusion, I believe both audiences will see all the morals and
themes from this play. This play encourages people to take on
responsibilities and shows "we are responsible for each other". It
shows wealth and class causes destruction unless used correctly and
with appreciation and finally it shows we should all learn from our
mistakes.
There would be more of an effect on the audience at the time, as it
Criticism in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism. What is being criticised. Explain some of the dramatic techniques which Priestley uses to achieve the play's effects. "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism as Priestley condemned the many different injustices that existed in the society between the first and second world wars.
and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of a body. We are
for each other. And I tell you that a time will soon come when if men
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
Examine Priestley's use of dramatic techniques to create tension in the play. Priestly was a socialist writer, and 'An Inspector Calls' is one of the plays in which he tried to display his socialist ideals in. The play was written in the 1940's, a little after the end of the Second World War, and it was first performed in 1946, in Russia, then later in England. Priestly had served in World War 1, and the terrible scenes he saw lead to him having socialist views. He was inspired by other writers whose views he shared, especially George Orwell and H.G.
worked for him and asked for a pay rise and was fired from her job by
Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself. He wanted to communicate the message that our actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, always affect others.
satisfied. He talks a lot and likes the sound of his own voice. He's a
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.
in jeopardy than how he may have driven a young girl down a spiral to
Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young
J.B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls" in 1945 and set it in 1912. These dates are both relevant because he wrote his play in a world emerging from the Second World War, at a time when people were getting nostalgic about pre-world war one. Priestley used his play to try and show people that the idea of a community in 1912 was gradually being washed away by the upper classes and that the world needed to change rather than return to the egotistical society that existed in pre war England.
was genuine and this allows the audience to almost predict their own ending; how will the family react to the arrival of the real Inspector? Will they acknowledge this as a chance to admit to their mistakes or will they try and conceal their guilt? I thoroughly enjoyed studying An Inspector Calls and have learned a great deal about how society has changed and how moral ideals have evolved over time. I found the play effective although because of the way in which society has developed Priestley's morals may not be applicable to life today. As wealth and power have become increasingly more important socialist feelings of responsibility for one another have been progressively weakened.