J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

An Inspector calls was written by J B Priestly in 1945, just after the

Second World War. Born in 1894 in Bradford, John Boynton Priestly

gained fame for his book The Good Companions, written in 1929. He is

well known for incorporating his own views into his books to put

across messages to his readers. In An Inspector Calls, he displays his

attitude towards socialism, using the Inspector as a means to do so.

In this essay, I will aim to investigate what effect he has had on the

characters and their reactions towards him.

The characters that I have chosen to investigate are Arthur Birling, a

prosperous factory owner, and Sheila, his daughter. Arthur is shown in

the play to be an arrogant man and very ambitious. In the play, he

represents the typical businessmen: rich and unconcerned with anything

other than his affairs. Priestly included him into his play to show

the disregard he had for the lives of his inferiors, and to criticise

society and the huge difference between rich and poor. His daughter

Sheila is, at the start at least, the conventional daughter of a rich

person. She is spoilt, and in her encounter with Eva Smith is shown to

use her social position to get what she wants. She is perhaps the most

affected by the Inspector, ‘It seems you’ve made quite an impression

on our daughter’, and is the moral character in the play. Priestly

uses her to show the readers what lessons can be learnt and how

society should be. Also, when Inspector Goole leaves, she takes over

the ‘role’ of being the voice of Priestly in the play.

At the start of the play, they are all enjoying a relaxing evening an...

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... rich people, father and daughter, enjoying

life; both having used their positions to get what they wanted, and

both had some connection with the death of Eva Smith. Now, we see that

Sheila has changed, and become regretful and less arrogant. What is

interesting about her character is that she reacts to the Inspector’s

visit very quickly – almost as soon as she sees the photo. Mr Birling,

however, maintains his stance right up to the end, ‘Inspector, I’d

give thousands – yes thousands’, which shows that he firmly believes

that money can sort out life’s problems, and Priestly uses these

tactics to shock the reader to realising that society cannot succeed

when people like Mr Birling influence it, and great reforms are needed

before society can be made better for all, which is the message J B

Priestly wove into his books.