An Inspector Calls is a morality play, filled with controversial political viewpoints attempting to persuade the audience that socialism is the way forward. Such views are voiced by The inspector, Priestley's mouthpiece. The play is set in 1912, A year followed by world war 1, the miners' strike and the sinking of the Titanic, therefore, supplying the writer with the opportunities to use dramatic irony, which Priestley does, to further influence his audience in act 2 to reconsider accepting a capitalist society. Sybil Birling is one of Priestley's characters that lack development in their attitudes towards society, particularly the lower class.
An Inspector Calls ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play written Just after the second world war by the playwright J.B Priestly, The Play is set in 1912 with a working class family in brumley when an inspector shows up during a family celebration but it does not turn out the best. The Character of Mr Arthur Birling is meant to be a ‘Responsible’ man but after he has given his fair share of advice to Gerald and Eric we quickly learn that he is rather more selfish than responsible during his speech he says “A man has to make his own way - has to look after himself - and his family too, of course... The cranks talking as if we were all mixed up together” prior to this the Birling Family were celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling and Gerald
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
Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" is a complex one, and opinions differ on whether or not he is a hypocrite. Some argue that he is inconsistent in his behavior and actions, while others believe that his actions are justified by his overarching mission to expose the hypocrisy of the Birling family. In this essay, we will explore the evidence for and against the idea that Inspector Goole is a hypocrite. On the one hand, there are several instances in the play where Inspector Goole's actions could be seen as hypocritical.
An Inspector Calls written by J. B. Priestly was first published in 1945. It is a play which has a strong focus on the themes of social responsibility, age, gender, and class. Priestly uses these themes to remind us that not being aware of our actions can sometimes lead to other receiving them as consequences. He wants us to be responsible for both the welfare and behaviours of ourselves but also of others. In the play, we find that some characters tend to be more immersed in either themselves or money/business and this leads them to being a lot less of an admirable character than the ones who are willing to recognise and acknowledge their mistakes.
AMDG Inspector Calls 8/6/24. “Choose a play in which the writer creates an interesting character”. “An Inspector Calls” written by JB Priestley is a play which takes place within the Birling household. These main themes include: forgiveness, honesty, taking accountability for your actions, as well as having compassion for others. The storyline follows the unfortunate life of Eva Smith, and the events which prompted her suicide.
The playwright initially explores the significance of confessions in An Inspector Calls through Mr Birling, who is a successful and wealthy businessman. Priestley portrays Birling as selfish because of his attitude towards the severe and intense investigation led by Inspector Goole. Birling, who is extremely pig-headed, claims that he “can’t accept any responsibility [for the suicide of Eva Smith]”. This highlights Birling’s ignorance because he started the “chain of events” when Eva Smith was fired from her job in his factory. In addition, Priestley shows that Birling clearly does not understand what he did was wrong.
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.
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
“An inspector calls” Eric Birling - development throughout the play Eric Birling is one of the main characters in J.B. Priestley’s play “An inspector calls”. He is the son of the wealthy capitalist Arthur Birling and works at his factory “Birling and Co” Early on in the play we get to know Eric’s character better. He is a rather naive and shy young man who has been having drinking problems for two years. We realise this when he is first introduced in the opening stage directions : he is “ quite not at ease”, “half shy/ half assertive”.
J.B. Priestley's play 'An Inspector Calls' is a thought-provoking piece of drama that examines the themes of responsibility, class, and morality. In Act 1, Priestley introduces a range of characters who each play an important role in the unfolding of the story. This essay will explore how each character is presented in Act 1, with reference to quotes and examples from the play, as well as historical context. The character of Mr. Birling is the first to be introduced in Act 1.
In An Inspector Calls, J B Priestley highlights social inequality of class and gender prevalent in 1912 pre World war one Britain. At the centre of the play are the Birlings, an upper middle class family ambitious to improve their social status, with a possible involvement in the suicide of a desperate working class girl, Eva Smith. Actions, emotions, tones and the setting are used to convey the prominent social inequality resulting from the capitalistic economic and political system. Priestley encourages a creates disapproval towards of the relationship between his social inequality and society in order to convey his socialist views on how the upper classes should be responsible for those other than themselves.
The protagonist of ‘An Inspector Calls’ is the Inspector who is presented as being very distinctive and remarkable. He 's full of fantastic qualities and possesses skills far beyond reach of most if not all human beings. John Boynton Priestley, the author of the play has presented him in various ways. The Inspector carries himself as a mysterious character; so that the reader finds it challenging to analyse his persona only from one perspective. There have been various interpretations such as “Who really is the Inspector” or “What does he truly represent?”
An Inspector Calls is a play concerned with the idea of social responsibility. The play was set in 1912, a time when there was a strict class division in Britain. People were expected to know their place in society and not attempt to disrupt the status quo. At the same time, these notions of class and one’s position in society were beginning to be challenged, with the increasing popularity of socialism, suffragetism and the development of trade union politics in Britain. Priestly’s play was written and first performed in 1945, just after two world wars had ended and Britain had endured years of hardship, rationing and the destruction of its previous social strata.
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
