J.B. Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls

941 Words2 Pages

J.B. Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls The production of 'An Inspector Calls' showed what J.B. Priestley thought of British society. The play could be seen on two different levels. One level is the fairly straightforward idea of 'whodunnit', the mystery story approach. On a more significant level, the play can be seen as a criticism of the way society is organised. Priestly, being a socialist, believed in equal rights and opportunities for everyone. He disapproved of the British class system and wrote this play, along with many others, to try and get across his socialist message. The play was written and set at two different times. It was written in 1945 at the end of World War two, but it was set in 1912 in the Edwardian period, just before World War One. His reason for doing this was that in Edwardian times, if you were poor, there was no one in society to help you. No NHS, low life expectancy, no Social Services - if you lost your house or had problems with children there wasn't any help. Education was not available to the poor as they were needed by their parents to work, Trade Unions were in their infancy - very new and weak organisations, and if you were treated unfairly at work or lost your job there was nothing to fall back on. Priestley set it at this time to show people just how difficult life was for the working class and to show that if you fell on hard times you had no help. The director chose to set the play in Edwardian times and have the characters all appropriately dressed. The scenery also looked Edwardian, but Priestley cleverly gave the play a different slant and made it known that it was written in the 2nd World War by putting subtle bits of scenery around the stage. There was rubble on the ground, air raid sirens, air raid wardens, bombs dropping, a wireless and other things like that. The scenery in the play was very unusual.

Open Document