JB Priestley was a socialist and strived for a more equal society. So when he wrote An Inspector Calls at the end of WWll he wasn’t just writing a play. He was trying to change the mind set of post war Britain. What class of person you belonged to meant everything and climbing the social status ladder was far more important than helping others or giving to charity. There was no NHS or welfare state and there was a lot of prejudice against you if you worked in a factory for a living. As a socialist Priestley disagreed with the way the rich treated the poor. In an inspector calls he tells almost an Aesop’s Fable or moral play to try and change the opinion the rich had to make Britain wake up.
Arthur Birling is a rich factory owner in the early 20th century. He has two grown-up children and a wife. He is an arrogant man with little respect for people poorer than him. Priestley shows us this when Arthur says ‘the way some if these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that’. He clearly regards poorer people as being nothing to do with him.
He is linked to Eva because she used to work for him. Her and some other of his employees disagreed with their pay and asked for just over two more shillings a week. Arthur refused to pay them this and then sacked Eva. This was the first in a chain of events that led to Eva’s death. Arthur refuses to share or take any of the blame for this as he feels he did nothing wrong by sacking her.
To be honest there isn’t much to like about Arthur. He likes to constantly remind people of how important he is and how he is a ‘hard headed, practical man of business. To a 1940’s ...
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... actually dead (yet). He leaves in a mysterious manor. When the Birlings and Gerald investigate they learn he was not a real inspector and no girl had died in the infirmary. As they celebrate this news they receive a call to say a girl just died and there is an inspector on his way to speak to them. Leaving a question for the audience, was the inspector real at all?
I think what Priestley tried to do was very clever. He knew that the audience to his play would be upper class, exactly the people he was trying to change. He used clever tactics to hook the audience in and has a good twist at the end. By making the younger characters change into more morally aware people I think it sort of reflected the people he was trying to change. Because the younger generations will carry the view forward into the future.
Works Cited
An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly
family, but it must not be 'cosy’ or homely. The lighting is to be a
There would be more of an effect on the audience at the time, as it
as it matters ‘a devil of a lot to him’. He is relieved that there is
Sheila says this to Eric at the table. As we can see this is quite a
I think that Priestley’s main aim in the play is to get across to the
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
the play is set in 1912. The main themes of the play are lies, love,
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley In the introduction of Act One, we are given a few brief details about
Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls The play an Inspector Call’s was written at the time of 1945 but is set in 1912. Priestley conveys a lot of social and important messages in this play. He conveys the messages through the character of Inspector Goole. One most important message that Priestley conveys is about Socialism.
J.B. Priestley's Motives Behind An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894. His mother
That is probably why Priestley had created Inspector Calls as he had believed we are part of one community and that people should help each other to maintain a thriving community. This especially starts with that Priestley think we should give people from the lower class and women more respect if they were to function as a community, so all inequalities would remain absent. This reflects more on the audience to change and realize that they can also change in themselves and try to reduce the inequalities in their
Criticism in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism. What is being criticised. Explain some of the dramatic techniques which Priestley uses to achieve the play's effects. "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism as Priestley condemned the many different injustices that existed in the society between the first and second world wars.
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 characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’ are mainly upper-middle class (Mr and Mrs Birling, Gerald, Sheila, Eric), but the Inspector is middle class and Eva Smith is working class. Most of the characters in ‘An Inspector Calls’ have varied opinions about social classes, but there are mainly two sides. The first main opinion is that the upper-middle class are the most important and the lower working classes are not important and that it doesn’t matter what happens to them (this is the view of Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald). For example Sheila and Mrs Birling need to be protected from the horrid things such as Eva Smith’s death because they are upper-middle class, whilst Eva Smith doesn’t need to be protected from horrid things in life because she is working class. The other opinion is that although they are working class, they should still be treated fairly even if they are different classes and that Eva Smith’s death is very tragic even if she wasn’t upper class (this is Eric, Sheila and The Inspector’s...
The play "An Inspector Calls" was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, when the British people were recovering from over six years of constant warfare and danger. As a result of two world wars, class distinctions were greatly reduced and women had achieved a much higher place in society. It was due to this and a great desire for social change that Labour's Clement Attlee won a landslide victory over the conservative Winston Churchill. He nationalized the gas steel and electrical industries, established the NHS and introduced the Welfare State. The play was set in Brumley, a fictional industrial city, in 1912.The playwright believed passionately in the left wing perspective and his message is overtly political. He uses techniques such as "dramatic irony" and "direct mouthpieces", which define the genre of the play as non-illusory, to impart his left-wing message.