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How does Priestley explore the importance of social class in An Inspector Call
how does priestley present the importance of social class in an inspector calls
the understanding of inspector calls
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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.
This coursework focuses on how each character contributes to the suicide of a poor girl Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley In the introduction of Act One, we are given a few brief details about
to say for herself she gets the sack. And this is what the author is
'An Inspector Calls' is a morality play - a form of play developed in the late middle ages in which a Christian moral lesson was brought out through the struggle between the forces of good and evil - set in 1912, and revolves around the questioning of a family by Inspector Goole about the suicide of a young woman (Eva Smith) that the family knew.The author, J.B. Priestley is trying to show us what some people's arrogance and selfishness can cause without them even noticing. Priestley was a socialist, therefore by writing this play he was drawing attention to the bad things about capitalism. The Inspector was intending to teach the Birlings that ?...we have to share something. If there?s nothing else, we?ll have to share our guilt? Act One. By saying this, he is telling them they are all as guilty as each other of the suicide of Eva Smith, this also links to Priestley being a socialist because he is putting the Birlings to shame.
Discuss the presentation of the character Arthur Birling in Act One of ‘An Inspector Calls’.
or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and begin to
An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J. B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. It was written in a time when Britain was ruled by a Labour government and socialist policies were seen to be a good way to go. It was a common way of thinking at that time so Priestley's aim for the play was to influence the unconvinced in society.
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector calls," by J. B. Priestley was written in 1946 and set in 1912. Priestley was a politician and a socialist who believed in equality and equilibrium for all, sex, race and class. Priestley had a long but arduous life, 1894-1984. He lived through both world wars, the unsinkable Titanic sank in 1912, the general strike in 1926, labour government resigning in 1931, and the two destructive atom bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Priestley deliberately set the play in 1912 because the audience watching the play had to have lived through all of this and would have empathised with him.
in jeopardy than how he may have driven a young girl down a spiral to
JB Priestley uses dramatic devices to make An inspector calls a modern day morality play, to do this he uses dramatic devices, such as dramatic irony and tension in order to convey the message through the entire play. They are used accurately considering the time in which the play is set. Priestley also uses the characters as dramatic devices, they symbolise the dramatic devices, an example of this is Priestley makes us hate Mr. Birling because he symbolises capitalism, and in Priestley’s eyes capitalism is wrong. Throughout the pl...
Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young
J.B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls" in 1945 and set it in 1912. These dates are both relevant because he wrote his play in a world emerging from the Second World War, at a time when people were getting nostalgic about pre-world war one. Priestley used his play to try and show people that the idea of a community in 1912 was gradually being washed away by the upper classes and that the world needed to change rather than return to the egotistical society that existed in pre war England.
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.
The Inspector is never wrong- in any of the situations that occur throughout the play- he is always right, and makes the other characters seem almost stupid if they do not agree with him. ?Don?t start on that. I want to get on?? That reflects off from the writer, Priestley, as being very determined to convey his message across to his audience.
make him a better writer, and he felt that he 'must spend at least the