AT THE END OF MOST PLAY, SOME CHARACTERS HAVE CHANGED AND SOME HAVE NOT. DISCUSS TWO CHARCTERS: ONE WHO CHANGES, AND ONE WHO DOESN’T IN THE PLAY CALLED “AN INSPECTOR CALLS” – BY J.B. PRIESTLY The play ‘An Inspector Calls” by J.B Priestly, is set on an April evening in 1912. The play concerns the Birling family and Gerald Croft quietly celebrating over Gerald and (Mr. Birling’s daughter) Sheila Birling’s engagement, when an Inspector arrives unexpectedly amidst their family celebration to enquire about a suicide of a young pregnant girl called, Eva Smith. Through questioning, the inspector uncovers that they all have some kind of an involvement to the young girl’s death. In the play, some characters are changed by the Inspector’s arrival and news. Some however, remain the same. One character who remains the same is Mrs Birling. In Act One, we are given a general impression of her; a well-mannered woman but one who knows her power of authority (being the wife of a well-off businessman and the chairwoman of Brumley Women’s Charitable Society). In Act Two, Mrs. Birling introduces herself in a polite and respectable manner to the inspector (quite unlike the character that she progresses into) but he finds it hard to get information out of Mrs. Birling, this can be shown with the these quotes (taken from just after the Inspector has shown Mrs. Birling a photograph of Eva); (Inspector) “You recognise her?” (Mrs Birling) “No. Why should I?” Later in the play, the truth comes out that Mrs Birling had met the girl in the photo. Sheila supported the Inspector when Mrs Birling wouldn’t give out any information about Eva and tried to persuade her mother to talk but Mrs Birling took her as being rude and insolent and showed that she doesn’t like being contradicted. When Mrs Birling does tell the Inspector about Eva coming to her committee for help, she showed no remorse for the young girl. She took Eva as being impertinent when Eva said that her name was ‘Mrs Birling’ and was prejudiced against her case. Therefore, she used her power and authority (as being the chairwoman) to influence the others on the committee to abandon her case. Mrs Birling tried to reason with the Inspector about her judgments of Eva and with a clear conscience; she said she was, “ . . . perfectly justified in advising my committee not to allow her claim for assistance.
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.
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.
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
JB Priestley’s intent in ‘An Inspector Calls’ was to convey the attitudes of socialism to the minds of the society in the Edwardian Era as he was a passionate believer of the concept. Priestley has attempted this through the employment of ‘Inspector Goole’ in the play. In the play drama is displayed through a variety of methods for the interest of the audience and the communication of personal views from JB Priestley.
Blaming Someone for the Death of Eva Smith in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
This simplistic appearance accentuated by the basic adjective ‘plain’ that mirrors how the Inspector believes that appearance and materialistic value is less significant than moral value of a person, which is a stark contrast to the airs and duplicitous nature the Birlings incorporate into their personalities. Furthermore, the fact that he doesn’t wear a police uniform of the time, causes suspicion in the Birlings later, when they are desperate to exonerate their faults. Priestly uses a variety of stage directions to enhance the Inspectors speech and overall influence over the Birlings. He often speaks ‘impressively’ or ‘weightily’ with confidence, displaying his implacable nature which is useful for exposing their faults, constantly giving him the upper hand in interrogations. The Playwright presents Inspector Goole as a strong-minded socialist, that detests the common capitalist beliefs of 1912, hence his reasoning for interrupting Birlings speech, and the overall communal morals he conveys in his speech. Birling claims he was prejudiced from the start, ‘probably a Socialist or some sort of crank’, which portrays the fact that although it is clear to him the Inspector has come to present the socialist ideals, he still refuses to accept any moral value and change his ways, writing off the communal and fair man as a ‘crank’. Despite being constantly undermined by the Birlings, in addition to Birling trying to intimidate him, the Inspector remains implacable and an authoritative figure throughout the
Though Sheila and Eva are both in their twenties and 'pretty', the cardinal reason behind their difference is class. As a working class, poor woman, Eva is forced to work in 'cheap labour' and go 'onto the streets' - a euphemism for prostitution. Mr Birling shows much disregard for the death of Eva as he impatiently states 'I don't understand why you should come here'. Nonetheless, when the Inspector informs Sheila of the details of Eva's death, Mr Birling interrupts the Inspector 'angrily' exclaiming 'why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?'. The massive difference between his attitudes for the two situations shows how he feels that bad things could happen to other classes and people but should not happen to his child. Explicitly, Priestley shows the hypocrisy of Mr Birling and of society. In the Edwardian Era, two-thirds of the country's wealth belonged to less than one percent of society in addition to there being a clear divide between the rich and the poor. Wealthier families such as the Birlings lived in 'large, substantial homes' and have a maid - a reminder of the Birling's wealth - whilst people in poverty represented by Eva Smith lived in rooms out back. Priestley may be trying to convey how the upper classes and the wealthy were blind to how horrible the lives of the
In this section at the end of Act Two we find out that Mrs Birling
Some people will say that this is fantastic nonsense, and that it was I that had changed, not the play. Most imagine that when a work of art leaves the hand of the master, it remains in changeless beauty forever, though succeeding generations may feel differently about it, seeing it from different angles. It is to point out the fallacy of this common opinion that I am writing this essay.
Mr. Birling, the first to be interrogated by the Inspector, represents an entirely contrasting view on social responsibility to that of the author, J.B. Priestly. Two years prior to the events in the play, Arthur Birling sacked Eva for requesting a pay rise.
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.
Sheila Birling is another character in ?An Inspector Calls? who also points this out during the play, ?You fool- he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don?t know yet. You?ll see. You?ll see.?
During the course of the play the personal and physical change is perceptible. Both the main characters and the environment are changing. For an example in act two, Herbert Georg Beutler alias Sir Isaac Newton turns out to be a long lost world famous physicist
The first character I chose to explain my reaction to is Mrs. Dorling. My feeling is Antipathy because she expresses the characteristic inhospitable and unfriendly. When the narrator when to their address the lady represented herself as if she didn’t know her, she stated, “It’s not convenient now, said the women, I can’t invite you in. Another time” (36). She acted very unfriendly. The second character I chose is Mrs. Dorling’s daughter. My feeling is Apathy because I had no feeling for her as her character is very static and basic we don’t know much about her other than the fact she is very friendly. When the narrator comes their house Mrs. Dorling’s daughter says, “I had already made tea for her. Would you like some?”(38).
However, all of these perceptions that we have at first slowly begin to change as the play goes on and we come to realize the true personalities of all of the characters.