ipl-logo

How Does Priestley Present Social Class In An Inspector Calls

3596 Words15 Pages

An Inspector Calls
How does Priestley explore the theme of social class in An Inspector Calls?

Priestley explores the theme of social class by comparing the upper class' naivety with the lower class’ struggles, this is shown through the treatment of Eva Smith. The upper class have a presupposed authority over the lower class and this is exhibited by the inspector. The inspector questions Priestley’s character's social and political views and exhibits to us how the upper class acted at this time. This is done by giving us characters who are very different from each other, the younger generation which contrast the older generation. Priestley uses this contrast to allude to how there is a shift towards socialism within the younger generation. …show more content…

By using Arthur Birling, Priestley is able to portray to us how people of the upper class acted at that time and their views on society. Arthur Birling deems himself to be more important and more knowledgeable than people of the lower class. This is shown when he states, “ We hard headed practical business men must say something sometime”. As a ‘hard headed practical business man’ he believes his opinions are fact and anyone who disagrees is below him. He sees himself as a remarkable man and he is very conceited and very arrogant and this reflects on what most men were like in this time period. He uses his age to reflect on his knowledge and ignores any opinions from his two children, which would’ve been common thing to do for a man like him at the time. He dismisses other people's observations to the conversation, and sees his own as always being factual. This is shown when he dismisses his son, “ Just let me finish, Eric. You’ve a lot to learn yet.”, he does this because he thinks that he has better judgement than his son, due to his age and social status. Priestley also uses the technique of dramatic irony to explore the theme of social class in the play and this is partly exhibited by Arthur Birling. Arthur Birling dismisses any inklings from his younger son about war happening, and he gives a lecture to everyone about how there will not be a war, The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war’, this shows how ignorant Mr Birling is. He states that the titanic is ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’, placing emphasis on the word ‘unsinkable’ and the adverb ‘absolutely’ shows how sure of himself Mr Birling is, he is convinced he’s correct. We as the audience both know these two statements are incorrect as both happen and when the play was published, the Titanic had already sunk and the War had happened, which is why Priestley uses them as examples; they show the audience how he acts like a

Show More
Related

How Does Flannery O Connor Present The Theme Of Ignorance In Good Country People

1277 Words | 6 Pages

Hopewell displays great ignorance. Adhering to her last name, Mrs. Hopewell sees the world through an optimistic lens, believing the world around her to be uncomplicated. In other words, Mrs. Hopewell hires Mrs. Freeman with the intent to allow her to be “into everything” after the warning from Mrs. Freeman’s previous employer (O’Connor 3). Therefore, Mrs. Hopewell decides to give Mrs. Freeman full responsibility; in turn, Mrs. Hopewell is able to use Mrs. Freeman “in… a constructive way” (O’Connor 3). Nevertheless, the point that Mrs. Hopewell does not appreciate is the necessity of Mrs. Freeman to be in others “business”, or life, as well, not just in regards to the job (O’Connor 3).

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Money In An Inspector Calls

1538 Words | 7 Pages

In the enigmatic morality play ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestley unequivocally conveys money as a fundamental theme, signifying how money motivates others, presenting how those at the lowest social order are dehumanised by their lack of money and how dependent on maturity the ability to handle money is affected. Priestley exhibits how the level of maturity someone has affects how they handle money. This is portrayed through the characterisation of Eric as he lacks financial literacy. Mr Birling states Eric has 'more money to spend and time to spare than I had’ demonstrating his inability to appreciate the significance of money and his obliviousness of how individuals in the lower class, such as Eva, live in poverty struggling to make enough money

Read More

Attitudes To Social Standing In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

1178 Words | 5 Pages

Through the treatment of different characters and their attitudes to class and marriage, it is possible to come to conclusions about Hitchcock's own attitude to how the two are and ought to be

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Injustice In An Inspector Calls

1425 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Gerald In An Inspector Calls

994 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

How Is Gerald Presented In An Inspector Calls

605 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Mccarthyism In An Inspector Calls

1401 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More

Mr Birling Presented In An Inspector Calls

476 Words | 2 Pages

In the opening of the play the Inspector begins to question Mr Birling after dinner about a photo of a young girl. Mr Birling is shown to be narrow minded in the opening of an Inspector calls. He is displayed as this through his poor political understanding , his business minded views as well as this distancing him from people. Firstly, Mr Birling is shown as narrow minded through his poor political understanding.

Read More

How Does Priestley Present The Character Of Mr Birling

514 Words | 3 Pages

In Inspector Calls, Priestley explores and engineers the character of Mr Birling as a clear representation of the avaricious upper classes. Priestley constructs Mr Birling as a character and how he symbolises the corrupted capitalist society in 1912.Priestly exposes Mr Birling through The quote ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’. This clearly demonstrates how Mr Birling is implying that we are all responsible for ourselves. This could suggest how Mr Birling is acting dismissive towards the working class, as we inferior. This quote may also suggest that Mr Birling is trying to spread a message by saying that charity begins at home, which is entirely untrue as the less fortunate are suffering and are in need.

Read More

How Does Priestley Present Mr Birling

1855 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More

Gender Stereotypes In An Inspector Calls Essay

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.

Read More

Sheila's Role In An Inspector Calls

873 Words | 4 Pages

However, he, as an upper class gentleman, also represents the ‘chain of events’ that powers the cycle of the patriarchy. The first introduction of Eric is portrayed to be ‘half-shy, half- assertive’, the fragmented and undefined description highlights Eric's liminal nature and defines his unawareness of his role in society. Later the audience learns that he is ‘squiffy’. The colloquialism demonstrates his upper class position, but also is used by Priestley as a wider message to his audience. He questions his fathers inhumane work ethic, rejects Geralds jeers and responds ‘ why shouldn’t they try for higher wages…we try for the highest possible prices’.

Read More

Examples Of Dramatic Irony In An Inspector Calls

747 Words | 3 Pages

One of the several themes that Priestley has introduced to the play is ‘Time,’ and this theme not only interlinks with some others like ‘Age and Youth’ and ‘Social Responsibility,’ but also introduces a very important drama technique into the play for the audience called the dramatic irony. In Act One, Mr. Birling, as a representative of the older generation of the play and the head of the family, is talking to the others about the progress humanity is making and mentions the liner, Titanic saying it is “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” The word ‘absolutely’ in this context shows just how confident in his words Mr. Birling is, without understanding that it will all change. As the play is set back in 1912, but is performed much later in 1946, after the audience knows, and finds it ironic that Mr. Birling, thinking he is an old, wise man says such nonsense, as time will show.

Read More

Serial Killer Characteristics

2062 Words | 9 Pages

Serial Killers in America What defines a serial killer? A serial killer is a person who murders two or more people alone, over a period of one month. They usually have a cooling period between each murder, in order to perfect the next one. Serial Killers are people who “are… driven by instinct and a desire to kill” (Nature Vs.

Read More

Inspector Goole Character Analysis

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

Read More

More about How Does Priestley Present Social Class In An Inspector Calls

Related Topics

Open Document