Examples Of Marxism In An Inspector Calls

Throughout ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley puts in contrast the capitalist and socialist views of society. He does so, by using the morality play as a mouthpiece to send a message to the public about socialism. JB Priestley himself was an eager socialist and by using ‘An Inspector Calls’ as his vehicle to coax the audience about the importance of socialism, he would meet the demands of that changed society, that had just gone through a world war, and as a consequence of such hard times, they were more united than ever. Ultimately, Priestley’s main objective with the drama was to raise awareness and move away from such avarice that comes with capitalism. The characters Sheila and Arthur Birling represent those opposite worlds, not only socialists

This lack of prejudgment from Sheila only comes after she realises that she took part in Eva’s path to suicide. Feeling guilt and remorse, Sheila consequently takes moral responsibility for her negative actions towards Eva Smith, this is shown when she admits “I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse”, the abstract noun “rotten” gives the audience the impression that she felt disgusted about her actions. As the Inspector gives more and more details of the poor girls’ story, Sheila’s conscience gets even heavier and she takes full responsibility for her death, she sorrowfully says “And I know I’m to blame- and I’m desperately sorry”. This quote shows Sheila’s true self and that she is not a self-centred spoiled wretch, but the antithesis, she is an amiable and soft-heated lady, that is seeking her acceptance in such a complicated and judging

Throughout the play, the audience realises that this ‘nasty temper’ was what contributed to Eva's suicide. This harmless comment encourages the audience to closely think about how small attitudes that seem inoffensive can impact people's lives and be pernicious to their health and future. The writer’s way of describing Sheila enables the audience to relate to her promptly. By the audience being able to see themselves in the characters, Priestley hoped that they would also learn from their actions. As a natural human behaviour we tend to think of ourselves as decent people, and relating to the good characters in stories just like the audience may think of themselves as Sheila. However, even though Sheila is the good character she also has blemishes, and may have a negative impact on others around her. This understanding may possibly lead to the audience observing that even the most innocent characters are also flawed.

Mr Birling is first introduced as a "heavy-looking, rather portentous man", which may explain Priestley's use of him to represent the typical capitalist, patriarch men in the 1910's. The adjective portentous gives the reader the impression that he is a well-known, pompous business owner that probably doesn't really care about the proletariat just like all other businessmen. Many of his viewpoints are capitalist, for example when he claims it is all