Moral Messages in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

Moral Messages in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

Priestley wrote an Inspector Calls in 1945 - just before the end of

WW2. However, The play itself is set in 1912 - just before the start

of WW1, and in Edwardian England. Priestley was a socialist writer who

had left wing political views with very strong beliefs; he enjoyed

using types of theatre to get his messages across.

When the platy was set, there was a lot of historical events going on

at the time; Titanic, Captain Scott falling to reach S Pole,

Suffragette movement campaigning for women's rights, worker striking

for better pay and conditions, Russia unrest, no NHS/DHSS, and no help

from state for poor. All of these are mentioned in the play at some

point - either briefly or to get messages across. In Edwardian times -

when the play was set - class was deemed as being very important. You

were expected to know your class and stick to it. The Birling's were

wealthy middle-class landowners; they were well respected and had

hopes of climbing the social ladder.

Mr. Birling had hopes of a knighthood, putting him in high up in the

social status, and he was the owner of a factory he had a lot of

power. This was shown when he got rid of Eva Smith. Although we only

see him speak of the event, you can tell from the way he speaks about

it - "they suddenly decided to ask for more money…I refused, of

course", and then after questioned why, he replied, "I don't see that

it's any concern of yours how I choose to run my business." Here, he

shows his stubbornness; as he sacked her, it must've been the right

decision. Not only this, but it's showing how he doesn't care about

his w...

... middle of paper ...

...nd not

so much poverty.

The final character to appear was Eric. Eric was very ill disciplined

when it came to his behaviour, yet he was also caring for her. Rather

than being intentionally bad, it was more a case of one bad thing lead

to another, with the sex and stolen money. Generally, pre-marital sex

was frowned upon in those days, and I think this was in the play to

compare the reaction received by Eric, and by Gerald. Eric is the

black sheep of the family, and when Mrs B says whoever did the actions

of Eric would be "entirely responsible", and then it was interesting

to see how the 'upper class' family reacted to this. Whether they

would protect their family, or their pride. When they chose their

pride, it was an important message by Priestley demonstrating how it

all worked back in 1912 in terms of classes.