A Review of An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley This play is written by J.B. Priestley in 1945 but is set in an earlier period before World War I. Priestley has wanted us to accept our responsibility for all our work, in this play and has preached a compassionate and broad type of socialism. The Inspector, an enigmatic figure, is used to portray this message. It is through the idea of the detective thriller, that Priestley conveys his moral message, which particularly had considerable dramatic impact on the audiences at that time. The purpose of Inspector’s visit in the play is the same as Priestley’s purpose for writing the play as they both want to reveal the truth and help to change the attitudes of people towards the society. In this play, Priestley uses the Inspector as a substitute of him self to put his socialist points across which adds drama in the play because we have to think about what he is trying to do. Priestly conveys his message through the character of the Inspector who although is not real but adds a great deal of tension and drama. The inspector in the play plays a role of a socialist as he is against capitalist views and so is Priestley. The play concerns the Birling’s who are celebrating their daughter’s engagement to Gerald Croft at the beginning of the play. The evening celebration was for Sheila, Mr Birling’s daughter, and Gerald’s engagement. During the night they talk about joyful memories and good times. Mr Birling, who is a successful factory owner, frequently comments about his status in society, even whilst Gerald and the reader know that his wife Sybil, who is said to be “rather cold”, is social... ... middle of paper ... ...matic impact because the audience feels, responds and takes sides with characters as they are being questioned and are involved throughout the play. However post war audiences would appreciate Priestley’s divination of a lesson, ‘they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish’. Overall, the message that priestly is trying to convey is that we all should take responsibility for our actions and consider the consequences that might have for other members of society. Priestley is also trying to say that we shouldn’t keep things secret because our conscience could unravel them. Though he is successful in changing the younger generation, but cannot change the older generation. The play ends with suspense, as the family have to face the consequences of not learning their mistakes, which priestly wants to ‘tell’ us.
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
eager and keen to find out who is at the door and what they want. The
In Act One of 'An Inspector Calls' how does J.B. Priestley use dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to the members of the audience, as well as interest and involve them in his play?
technology and how a man should live. He says 'A man has to make his
or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and begin to
talks with. He is a man who has come to the Birling's house to do his
The Inspector, straight form his introduction, is commanding and authoritative. Upon his entrance he creates, “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”(PG.11) The Inspector continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while people around him crumble and fall to pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven by the fact he remains on task despite numerous attempts from Birling to digress from the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful’; this is shown where he explains to Birling that Birlings way of thinking “Every man must only look out for himself,” is not the case, and all warps of society are interlinked. The view is best illustrated in the Inspectors final speech, where he says, “We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”(p.56). This idea is one that Priestley, himself believed in deeply, and many of Priestleys writing shared this very theme.
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.
When the play was set in 1912, women had lacked empowerment and rights, while men had a higher status in society, despite women had no important role in society. By using Priestley’s Inspector Calls we can identify how women were portrayed in the early 20th century. Priestley has explored this in a variety of ways, by customizing the different types of female character to show an insight on how they have viewed upon the world and importantly on how they were treated differently based on several factors like class, money, and age. For an instance, Priestley uses traditional women and transitional women to contrast their lifestyle when it was set in the Edwardian Era.
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.
At this point everyone is in a happy mood, however their mood soon changes when the inspector arrives, the play shows Mr Birling as an inpatient powerful businessman, the play also shows that Mr Birling is a really proud man he is proud of himself and what he has accomplished. Almost the first thing Mr birling says to the inspector is “I was a alderman for years-and lord mayor two years ago-and I’m still on the bench-so I think I know Bromley police officers pretty well.” Mr Birling is trying to emphasise his status and how important he is to the inspector. His first intention is to make a good impression rather than finding out why the inspector has called; when Mr Birling does ask why the inspector has called Mr Birling soon becomes impatient when the inspector does not fully answer the question. This shows that Mr Birling is an impatient man and it also shows that Mr Birling thinks he is...
make him a better writer, and he felt that he 'must spend at least the
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
In William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, William Wycherley enlightens the audience to capture several different ironical statements and questionable behaviors. The play fits perfectly into Greenwald’s definition of a comedy of manners: “[Critics] assert that a comedy of manners and the people who inhabit it represent the ostentatiously idle upper-class” (“Social Heirarchy” web). Wycherley also distinguishes several oddities in his characters not typically used to describe the upper-class. For example, Mr. Pinchwife, a wealthy newlywed husband, is so afraid that he is going to become a cuckold, that he does not allow his wife to leave the house (Wycherley act two). One of Wycherley’s goals in writing The Country Wife is to point out the flaws of society (“Q & A” web). Wycherley understands that no one is perfect and that a person’s virtues can be altered if pressures and outside influences become prominent. This is precisely how Wycherley uses Mrs. Margery Pinchwife’s character. Mrs. Pinchwife, a virtuous woman, still succumbs to the immorality of the city of London. Wycherley develops characters who precisely bring out Mrs. Pinchwife’s flaws. Mrs. Pinchwife takes the risks of public shame and a damage reputation to have an affair with Mr. Horner.