An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly

An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly

In my essay I will describe the play 'an inspector calls in good

detail and determine whether J.B Priestley's Play is good or not. I

will find out information to back up my answers. J.B Priestly wrote

the play mainly to criticise the society he lived in. The whole play

was set in a dining room in the Birling household in a little city in

Brumley. Brumley is a fictional industrial city in the north midlands.

The household consists of four members, Arthur, Sybil, Sheila and Eric

Birling there is also a housemaid she lives in the house with the

Birlings, she is called Edna. The play was written in the winter of

1944-5 it was finalised in a week.

The play is set in 1912 before the start of World War 1. J.B priestly

was born in Bedford in 1899 he worked in a local woollen firm, but

soon wrote poems and stories which became his main occupation. In 1914

he fought in France with the army. In the Second World War he was a

weekly wartime presenter on the radio for a year in 1957 he helped

launch the campaign for nuclear disarmament (cnd). J.B Priestly used

this play as an opportunity to explore his views on the society he

lived in by setting the play in 1912 he knew that the audience, the

readers, would be able to relate to the social background of the play

because it would still be in their memory.

I feel that the play is good and has remained a popular play because

he is able to use the characters and the social background of the play

to make strong comments about the society he lived in.

In the 1912 there was rapid change going on. It was set in the year

that the titanic sank and in a speech that Mr Birling makes he says

that "he Titanic is invincible and that it is unsinkable", then one

day the Titanic sinks making Mr Birling very stupid because it has

sank.