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An Inspector Calls Gender Analysis

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How does Priestley explore the difference in attitudes between older and younger generations in An Inspector Calls?

In ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley exposes the lack of responsibility among the middle and upper classes and offers a cry for change, commanding his 1945 audience to show greater compassion for the working classes and promote greater social responsibility in British society. Priestley uses the contrast between older and younger characters in the play to reveal the chasm between traditional classist attitudes and more progressive socialist ideals, hoping that the transformation of his younger characters will propel his audience on the same trajectory and build a fairer, more equal society for all.

Priestley …show more content…

It is clear that, before the Inspector’s arrival, Sheila is immature and selfish. She is extremely ‘pleased’ with herself at the start of the play because she is engaged to a respectable gentleman, and the entire family are celebrating her engagement. When the Inspector arrives, Sheila is forced to face up to the fact that she selfishly had Eva Smith fired from her job at Milwards because she was jealous of her good looks. It is clear, therefore, that Sheila had quite willingingly misused her parents’ account at Milwards to get what she wanted. However, when the Inspector questions Sheila, Sheila goes as far as to say ‘I started it’. The audience knows, in fact, that it was Arthur Birling who started it but, unlike Sheila, Arthur Birling feels no sympathy and no guilt. Through Sheila’s character, Priestley offers hope to his audience that the younger generation will be more socially responsible, and will take actions that benefit …show more content…

When the family learn that Eric is the father of Eva Smith’s unborn child, both parents are shocked; they could never have imagined that their son would have got himself involved with a working class girl in this way. However, as soon as they learn from Gerald that the Inspector isn’t real, they are happy to return to the way things were, feeling confident in the knowledge that Eric’s actions won’t damage their reputation. In this sense, they display double standards. Arthur Birling was highly critical of Eva Smith for stepping out of line in asking for a pay rise, yet seems happy to ignore and forget the irresponsible behaviour of his son. Sybil looks down on ‘girls of that class’ for getting themselves into difficult situations, yet is also happy to return to the celebratory mood in spite of the fact that it was her own son who contributed to Eva Smith’s situation. Eric, on the other hand, feels terrible guilt for his actions. When questioned by the Inspector, he describes the circumstances in which he met Eva Smith as ‘hellish’. It is clear that he regrets drinking too much and forcing himself upon her. He cannot believe it when his parents are prepared to go back to the way things were, accusing them of ‘beginning to pretend now that nothing really happened at all’. Priestley uses Eric’s confrontational attitude to highlight the extreme difference in the thoughts and behaviour of the older and

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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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In An Inspector calls, Priestley uses The Inspector to present injustice in society through his questioning of the Birling family and Gerald Croft. The Inspector gradually uncovers the selfish and unjust acts which the family enacts upon the lower classes through their abuse of their power and status over people, not showing the slightest bit of care for their wellbeing, barely treating their workers as individual beings with their own lives and emotions, just caring about the money they are making for them, and treating the lower class in general as lower beings in general, not being worth the time to understand or sympathise with. The Inspector exposes the acts of injustice by the upper class towards the lower classes through his questioning

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How does Priestley Present Gerald in An Inspector Calls In his didactic play ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley presents Gerald, and the upper class as a whole, to be extremely callous and unwilling to accept the opportunity for redemption. He explores themes and ideologies such as patriarchy in order to excoriate those for living protected in an ‘ivory tower’ of wealth, luxury and, most significantly, denial. The methods used by Priestley to do all of this encourages the audience in a contemporary society to look at themselves with an inverted eye and strive for equality.

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This makes us respect Eric and value his honesty, despite the crimes he has committed. Priestley also reflects that Eric “wasn’t in love with her or anything - but I liked her - she was pretty and a good sport.” Despite his honesty, Eric frequently hesitates before telling the truth which shows that he is confused and still might not have realised that lying will dig him deeper into the already deep hole. In Eric’s defence, we might blame his parents, because they are snobbish and only care about reputation.

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As a result of the Birlings'' for all intents and purposes capitalist viewpoint, Priestley clearly actually shows the disparity between the for all intents and purposes upper and definitely lower classes in An Inspector Calls, which basically leads to Eva Smith\'s very tragic suicide as a result of the Birlings\' kind of capitalist viewpoint on life in a subtle way. There specifically is no doubt that Priestley focused on the patriarchal nature of sort of British society at the time, doing so to emphasise the need for change to basically take place in Britain, especially for families like the Birlings, who mostly are represented by Priestley\'s work, which basically is quite significant. At the start of the play Priestley actually highlights

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In J.B Priestley's novel ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestley uses a range of techniques to highlight the divergence between the upper and richer classes compared to the working poor classes. Their attitudes are represented through the characterisation of its characters significantly Mr Birling and Sheila during their first encounter with Inspector Goole. From the beginning Mr Birling is characterised as an embodiment of the social ideology capitalism and displayed all the negative consequences this belief has. In Act 1 he proudly reveals his narcissistic behaviours towards the audience and the inspector making his character intolerable to the majority. The first line of the entire text begins with Mr Birling offering Gerald the alcoholic drink

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In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley fundamentally presents a class ridden society through the characters attitudes and behaviour's within the play. The Birling family is seen to be attentive towards their class in society, especially Mr and Mrs Birling. Priestley uses the Birling family and The Inspector to imply how an arrogant and conceited mindset can destroy the lives of the less privileged through actions and words. Mr Birling is shown to be an extremely selfish, arrogant and stubborn character in the play.

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Priestly depicts gender stereotypes to emphasise gender in a capitalistic, misogynistic and patriarchal society, in his play 'An Inspector Calls'. Priestly portrays women as emotional, commodified, materialistic and irresponsible to highlight the way that a misogynistic capitalist society operates. In a similar manner, Priestly presents men as arrogant, ambitious, dominant, and strong. By doing this Priestly aims to critique capitalism and the underlying implications and undercurrent of problems which capitalism brings to provoke a reaction in the audience to promote socialism. Priestly presents women as weak, emotional and irresponsible throughout the entire play by using Sheila to show the 'pink and intimate' safety bubble and facade which her family lives in.

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In An Inspector Calls, John Boynton Priestley uses the characters, actions and their consequences to show the lack of social responsibility and exploitation of power in 1912. He uses the character’s actions and their reactions to what the inspector reveals to show the different ways in which people are exploited, such as for financial gain, self-esteem and sexual desires. He shows the misuse of these things and teaches the audience an important lesson about inequality. In Act 1, Priestley uses the sacking of Eva Smith by Mr Birling as a way to show how the lower class were exploited for financial gain, and the stubbornness of the rich by defending himself.

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In An Inspector Calls the character Sheila changes and matures significantly throughout the play. Priestly aims to encourage and persuade the 1912 audience to consider the negative power of capitalists and that socialism is a better way forward. Sheila contributes to Priestly’s moral message about socialism and capitalism by emphasising the possibility for change which is up to the younger generation. At the start of the play, Sheila is portrayed as a spoiled daughter who has been taught to be submissive to her parents.

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During the course of the play the Inspector shows the audience and the characters that social classes should learn to look after each other, he also delves into the fact that those of upper classes have some social responsibility towards those of lower class. Priestley, who presents his labour vs capital views through the character of the inspector, uses the case of Eva Smith as a vehicle to show both the characters and the audience the importance of labour rights over capitalism. An example of Priestley’s use of the Inspector to put his point across would be when the Inspector states to Mr Birling ‘Public men, Mr. Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.’ Priestley uses the Inspector to make it known that he feels the higher social

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The inspector leaves the Birling household, and once he has, Mr Birling and Gerald come to a conclusion that they had been had and that there was no suicide. Mr Birling, along with his wife and Gerald celebrate with glee. But Eric and Sheila cannot get over the information that has been let out. Mr Birling’s opinion has not

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Kingston’s mother exposes the story of her aunt to her as somewhat of a warning. Kingston’s mother explains to her how crucial it is to understand that what she does as a woman in their society is looked upon closely

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