An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

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An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

Title: How does Priestley's play give an audience a dramatic

experience in which they are made to think about how people ought to

live their lives?

Answer with reference to the script and any productions you may have

seen or heard about.

J.B. Priestley wrote 'An Inspector Calls' in 1945, at the end of the

Second World War and set the 20th Century drama in 1912, just before

the First World War. Many of the audience of the play therefore would

have lived through the horrors of the First World War and all through

the Second. J.B Priestley may have chosen to set 'An Inspector Calls',

at a pre-war date to compare society at these two points in time. The

precise setting of the play is on the night of Sunday 14th April 1912,

the evening the Titanic sunk. The Titanic was a symbol of the hopes

and achievements of the age, and was considered unsinkable. Perhaps

Priestley chose this date to symbolise the Inspector as the Iceberg

that destroys the Birling family's ship.

The Birling family are a rich, upper class family who have profited

from the Industrial Revolution. The Birling's are represented in 'An

Inspector Calls' as the uncaring class of the rich people in Britain.

In 1912, the date the play is set, Britain was strictly divided into

social classes; the Upper and Middle classes who took two thirds of

the countries income and the working class who numbered around

thirty-nine million and were often paid less than one pound per week.

Eva Smith and Edna, represent the working class and the 'do not

have's' of society in the play.

Mr Birling, the head of the house, runs his own successful comp...

... middle of paper ...

... to make the audience think about what

happened throughout the play and how they are responsible for the

actions that they take in everyday life. The audience therefore leaves

the theatre feeling slightly guilt about the way in which they treat

people but optimistic that there will not be another world war and

that things will change if they all put together, like they did in the

First World War.

The message that 'An Inspector Calls' presents, in my opinion is still

relevant to a 21st Century audience. Although we are not on the brink

of another world war and we live in a Socialist Britain, the message

the Inspector gives is of taking Social Responsibility for the actions

we take and makes us think about the way we live our lives; this

message is presented through a thoroughly stimulating and exciting

experience.

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