The function of Priestley’s Inspector is an intriguing and inspirational one. The play was first performed in 1946, just one year after the end of the Second World War. The play is set in the year or 1912 when a harsh figure of a police Inspector joined the capitalist family home for an evening of interrogation and revelation. The Inspector cross-examines all of the Birling family about a young working-class woman who is, surprisingly, connected in some way to them all. He lectures the family about their inconsiderate ways and forces confessions out of them about their role in Eva Smith’s suicide. He preaches to them a socialist message and makes them feel sympathy for the girl, taking responsibility for their actions towards others. The Inspector …show more content…
Priestley also conveys this message to the audience as they will be aware of the consequences of war all too well. The Inspector becomes a dominant socialist mouthpiece for Priestley’s views, influencing the audience as well as the Birlings. The Inspector creates a very tense atmosphere when he first enters the Birling household, as the Birlings are all a little wary of the Inspector’s presence that late at night. The atmosphere changes significantly as the lighting goes form being “pink and intimate” to “brighter and harder”. This is a way of revealing to the audience that the Inspector is present to interrogate the Birlings. The bright light is like the spotlight in a police questioning which makes the audience know that something terrible is going to be brought upon the Birlings. The stage directions when the Inspector first enters describe him as ‘a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period. He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’ this stage …show more content…
I think Priestley used the idea of war to convey his message because it was a major issue when the play was written and everyone would have suffered from it and would care greatly about it. Also, this warning intimidates the Birlings and makes them realise what they have all done. This links in with Priestley’s political opinion as it refers to the fact that both of them, the writer and the Inspector, are both socialists. It promotes the idea of socialism, as a society in which community and responsibility are central. Priestley uses the Inspector as his socialist vehicle for expressing his ideas and views about life, and the world around him, therefore wanting everybody to treat others with compassion. Priestley emphasises the difference between the upper and lower classes very strongly throughout the play. He uses the Birling family as a representative of the Upper Class and Eva Smith as a representative of the Lower Class. Priestley shows how in 1912, Upper Class
...are lower class or upper class (‘[W]e don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.’). Priestley believed in socialism, he uses the Inspector to express his thoughts about this. This is the main message that he wanted the audience to take away.
There would be more of an effect on the audience at the time, as it
J B Priestley clearly had a strong moral conscience which led him to hold socialist beliefs wanting to bring about change against the capitalists who were exploiting the poor working class. In 'An Inspector Calls' Priestley cleverly uses dramatic techniques, lighting and stage directions to produce an emotionally charged setting to bring home a very important message to the correct society of his day and remains a challenge to the society in which we live in now.
it will create. He makes a toast to the couple and to the fact that
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
The war was said to bring fire blood & anguish in to our lives. WW1 -
As the play was meant to be produced on stage, rather than to be written as a book format, 'An Inspector Calls' is very dramatic; to capture the audiences' attention, and to keep them thinking as the play develops. Each of the three acts are very dramatic, but I am choosing to analyse the first half of Act One of 'An Inspector Calls', because in my opinion, this is where J.B. Priestley's use of dramatic devices is most evident. This part of the play is very important, because it is the opening scene. Not only must the opening scene of the play grab the audiences' attention, it must also give impressions and introductions to the main characters. J.B. Priestley has used the scene to capture the audiences' attention and imagination, and gives a good introduction to the characters and their personality.
· The social class system at the time when the play is set, (rich and
eager and keen to find out who is at the door and what they want. The
'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.
"And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don't need to know any
Socialism is one of the greatest messages that Priestley conveys. This message is spoken through the inspector. The Inspector represents Priestley’s strong moral views. Through the play, the Inspector’s character is shown as if he is Priestley’s image, and also shows that he is no ordinary Inspector. His character is shown as if he is more concerned with morality than legality, other than that of an ordinary Policeman/Inspector.
The whole family’s actions are the cause of Eva’s death however the message about responsibility the Inspector presents is only take on board by Eric and Sheila. In conclusion, Priestley clearly gets across his message of responsibility towards others in the play. A clever script cunningly executed points out Priestley’s views to the audience. ‘Responsibility’ is the focal point of the play and is consistently addressed at the end of each interrogation, but the Birlings fail to recognise this.
The history of the time the play was written helps us to understand the views and the feelings expressed by Priestley in the play. The inspector transfers Priestley’s views and he shows the difference in social classes at the time. A gap which he wants to diminish. He illustrates the reason for this in the play, via the inspector, where he outlines the ways each of the Birlings have influenced someone from a completely different background and social class. This is the way Priestley viewed pre-war England.
Through his play Priestley endeavoured to convey a message to the audiences, that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He used the Birling family as an example of the Capitalist family that was common amongst the higher classes in 1912, who took no responsibility for other people and he showed this with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector; the uneasy facade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they considered to be lower class could not stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what had happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.