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An Inspector Calls By J. B. Priestley

472 Words2 Pages

An inspector calls was written in 1964 by J.B priestly when World War 2 was ending. However priestly set the play in 1912 which is 2 years before the titanic sank. In 1912 the world was very set on what class you are meaning if you were in the working class, you would not be very wealthy but if you were in the upper class, you would be very wealthy, and this gets shown in the play with Eva smith and mr Birling . Mr Birling is presented as capitalist in the play and does not accept any responsibility for the death of Eva smith.

Priestly uses a dramatic effect of using the lighting in he play to show the audience things. At the start of the play the lights are described as ‘pink and intimate’ this shows that the birling family don’t have any cares in the world. When inspector enters the lights changed to ‘bright and hard’ which shows that he is important but when the lighting gets put onto the …show more content…

This gets shown when Shiela is marrying Gerald because mr birling wants them to get married since Gerald has a a wealthy family and if they were to get married, they could Join family businesses so they can get lots more money.

Mr birling does not react well to Eva smiths' death he refuses to take any responsibility towards the death of Eva and shows in the play that he does not care about her and that she is just one of many women who have worked for him. He also shows that it's not his fault because he doesn’t care if he fired Eva because she was just someone, he didn’t have to pay a lot of money to.

By the end of the play mr birling does not change at all, he still doesn’t take responsibility of Eva’s deaths and only cares about money. He is happy when he realises the inspector wasn’t real at the end of the play. Priestly shows that capitalist men lie mr birling are too selfish to

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In act 2, Mrs. Birling is inspected as she refused her responsibility to give Eva the charity she needed as a result of being pregnant at the hand of her son. Mrs. Birling claims the inspector "look for the father of the child as it is his responsibility". As the audience are aware of the situation yet Sybil Birling is not the dramatic irony is allowed to play out as Mrs. Birling further pushes away her responsibility. She regrets her recommendations of who the inspector should really correct after knowing her son (Eric) is the father responsible. This regret after knowing the truth shows she was not true to what she said and only made these suggestions because she is a capitalist who will say anything to not be held

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Having money makes him overconfident and feel important therefore he becomes greedy and always wants more. Additionally, Birling is corrupt, addressing the inspector he says ‘I’ll give thousands - yes thousands’ offering money only because he does not want his reputation ruined even if the method is not legal, he will do anything to protect what makes him money. He is a mouthpiece of capitalism and serves as a warning about the dangers of unchecked greed and ambition. His character highlights the corrupting influence of money and the lack of concern for the welfare of others. Eva smith rebrands herself as Daisy Renton as she turns to prostitution as her last resort to making money to survive.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

Mr. Burns has multiple instances of the lighting affecting the overall mood of the play. As previously mentioned, the first act has a generally somber mood, and the lighting of the first act is very tactically dim. The lights would shift to focus on the speakers but would strategically be low so that our main focus was on the actors and not everything around them. The second act requires a lot from the set so there are a lot more lighting, and it’s a lot brighter all across the board. The third act has more serious tone so the lighting is brighter than the first act but very minimal.

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1410 Words | 6 Pages

The repition of "I am a hard headed man of business" shows his arrogance and his capitalistic and emotionless mentality. "I say there isn't a chance of war" show his stubborn and arrogance. Priestly uses this dramatic irony to persuade the audience to side against Birling as they will think that he is foolish, unsympathetic and untrustworthy. As of portraying their stubborn and heard headed personality was not enough, Priestly makes it sure that the audience is able to clearly see mentality and coldness that capitalism brings to a human by making men emotionless and unsympathetic. "Well, we've several hundred young women there, y'know, and they keep changing.

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504 Words | 3 Pages

In the play An Inspector Calls written by J.B Priestley, the use of morality and double standards gives us an insight into the society of the early 1900s; which remains relevant in social stratification, cultural and deviance aspects. Through the story of Arthur Birling, Mrs. Sybil Birling and their children Eric and Sheila. The upper-class family, with untouchable reputation, enjoy of an intimate party soiree in honour of Sheila's engagement to Gerald Croft. Son of a well-known business man, Sir George Croft from Crofts Limited. When Inspector Goole pays a mood-changing visit, resulting in the systematic manipulation of the presumably respectable characters.

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928 Words | 4 Pages

The characters entrances and exits all throughout the play are essential to show how the Inspector develops his interrogation and indicate its role in the play. The fact that the Inspector arrives for the first time in the perfect timing just after Mr. Birling says "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own" and then the door bell rings creating tension in the room tells that the Inspector 's visit is foreshadowing a big contradiction to what Mr. Birling is trying to imply and what the Inspector is going to show them. This also displays social responsibility and the different views of it; Mr.Birling is selfish and believes everyone is responsible for themselves and not for others and that foreshadows The Inspectors point of view that we don 't live

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In addition, it seems that Sheila becomes a 'Second Inspector ' towards the end of the play in order to reinforce Priestley 's message. The importance of Sheila is to illustrate the Social Divide in 1912, between the upper-class and the lower-class. The fact that Mr. Birling, who owns "Birling and Company," is a well-known and successful businessman, would suggest that Sheila would like to secure a wealthy husband (Gerald Croft, next heir to the Croft Industries) in order to continue her affluent lifestyle. The Inspector makes Sheila aware of the fact that she mistreated Eva Smith by insisting that she must be dismissed from Milwards. In a flashback Sheila confessed that she had reported her to the staff and said "This girl is very impertinent."

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The truth forces Shelia to change and, in the light of those new circumstances, she comes out of the evening as a more mature individual. In antithesis to this, Mr Birling remains with his original capitalist views and refuses the idea that he could be involved with the death of a person who worked for him years ago. His fixed harshness shows a business man that rejects small responsibilities. Their contrasting views cause conflict in the Birling family resulting in their heated arguments over who is morally correct. This supports Priestley's message that the younger generation of an upper class family can become more empathetic towards the lower classes.

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1046 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the play Priestley presents

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838 Words | 4 Pages

He tells the Inspector that it’s his “duty to keep labour costs down”. The noun ‘duty’ illustrates the upper class’ twisted view of morality, with Birling believing he is completely right, and even morally correct in, denying his workers adequate pay. This continues throughout the play, with Birling claiming that if they don't “come down hard” on the working classes “they’ll soon be asking for the earth”. This hyperbole demonstrates the extent of Birling’s greed, suggesting that he believes his workers asking for a fair wage is ridiculous and extortionate. The Inspector, a mouthpiece for Priestley and symbol of socialism in the play, responds that “it’s better to ask for the earth than to take it”.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

At this moment of the play, Mr Birling is strikingly portrayed as an authoritive figure but slowly reveals that Mr Birling is arrogant. Priestly highlights Mr Birling’s authority with the difference of ratio lines. Mr Birling has speeches while others have one or two lines. This conveys that Mr Birling is the one in charge and holds majority of the power. Priestly has purposely done this to indicate the amount of power Birling holds to make the audience realise Mr Birling’s power.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

At first, the Inspector is presented as an outsider, challenging the authority the Birlings hold dear and breaking through their facades. Prior to his entry to the Birlings’ house, the lighting in the play was stated to be “pink and

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1316 Words | 6 Pages

Mr.Birling is suddenly interrupted when Inspector Goole arrives to interrogate the Birlings about the suicide of a working-class women called Eva Smith; whose death was led by a series of events. The Birling’s are consumed with lies, lack of responsibility and the certain manipulation /powerfulness of the Inspector. The Inspector is used by J.B Priestley to communicate that our actions affect each other, and throughout this play Priestley portrays the Inspector’s character as dominant and superior: “Because what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events” pg 14.

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338 Words | 2 Pages

Should College really be free? To get into a university in today’s world a student in high school has to get good grades, but what if there was a way to get in to college with the first two years being free. Now most students would agree with going to college for free, but with that there would be an issue like too many students at Universities. This would be just one of the many problems with college being free.

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1642 Words | 7 Pages

Priestly attempts to exemplify in Mr Birling’s character into the type of mentality that majority of upper class capitalist business men had in the early 1900s in England. It is extremely ironic that the Inspector rings the bell of the house just as Mr Birling is telling Eric and Gerald that people must look out solely for their own interests ("a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own - and - “ act 1): throughout his interrogation, the Inspector champions the very opposite idea - that "we are all responsible for each other.” The Inspectors view on community as a whole is considered a very socialist view. Notably, Priestly was socialist after all and used the play as a more socially acceptable way of stating his opinion on social responsibility, politics and labour rights. The

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