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.
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.
Arthur was the first member of the family who was shown to be greedy through the inspector’s questioning, as he revealed to care very little about his worker’s wellbeing and just cares about the money they are making for him, as shown by Arthur’s solution to improve his company's profitability being ‘Lower costs and higher prices’, which perfectly illustrates his complete disregard for the wellbeing of his workers, and when his workers went on a strike to get their rates increased from twenty two sixpence to twenty five sixpence, he immediately refused and fired the people who were the leaders of the protest, not caring for what would happen to them after. The Inspector reveals to both the reader and the Birling family that Eva Smith was one of the people who were fired for this reason and set the stage for her misfortune that eventually led to her death. After Eva Smith was fired, she found another job working at Millwards, where she fell victim to Sheila Birling’s selfishness. Sheila abused her links to the shop and her mother to blackmail the manager of Millwards to fire Eva Smith out of pure jealousy due to the fact that Sheila looked bad in a dress whereas Eva looked stunning with it. This alone drove Sheila to do all she could to get her fired due to just the fact that Eva looked better than her.
How is Mrs birling presented in An inspector calls In an inspector call, Mrs Birling is presented in a way that makes her unlikeable. She is shown to be rude and condescending as well as arrogant. She can be seen as condescending as she often corrects her family members, especially at the begging of the first act, she is very concerned with keeping up appearances and making sure that her family behaves properly.
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.
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.
“An Inspector Calls”, is a play written by JB Priestley in 1945. It is a thought-provoking play that explores the issues of accepting responsibility. The play centers on a wealthy family in the upper class, who refuse to accept their involvement in Eva Smiths death. Using the Inspector as a mouthpiece, Priestley is able to discredit the capitalist views of the audience and Mr. Birling.
In J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls," Mr Birling is portrayed as a wealthy businessman and a prominent member of the community. He is the head of a family that represents the upper class of Edwardian society, and his views and opinions reflect the prevailing attitudes of his time. Mr Birling's views on gender are typical of the patriarchal and conservative attitudes of his time. He believes that women should be submissive and should not have a say in political or economic matters.
The society’s institutions, practices, and officials reveal these differences. Equality, the gifted, brilliant-minded protagonist of the story, struggles to live in his society because of the contrasting views on morality he has compared to his society. Even his society realizes something unique about him, and are afraid of him. The Council assigns him the job of Street Sweeper, even though Equality longed to be a scientist and a Scholar.
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."
Divisions of class are obstacles to relationships of love. Mrs Fairfax seeks company, “I’m glad your come… In winter one can feel a little dreary and alone.” Although, “John and Martha are good people,” she is constrained by society to remain their acquaintance rather than friend for, “they are servants. One cannot talk to them in terms of equality.”
How is the theme of responsibility presented in act 1 of An Inspector Calls? The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is set in a turbulent 1912 filled with threats of war and catastrophe. Priestley used this play to send a message to the generations in 1945 about how each one of them caused the war, and how we are all responsible for each other. There are many ways responsibility is presented within each character, depending on their generation, gender and class.
Polly sometimes envys the Shaw’s for having money, being able to buy what they want when they want it, while she on the other hand has to earn her own money to buy practical things rather than new dresses. The conflict intensifies when Tom was talking to Fanny one night at the opera, and said to his sister “It’s just Polly.” This deeply upsets Polly to hear one of her dearest friends say such a thing, and to refer to her as just Polly rather than a friend. Even Fanny continues to call Polly “Old fashioned” she might not mean it to be rude, but it still hurts Polly to be called names by her friends.
Michael Gugliotta 12/8/14 English 2 Honors Mrs. Salvatorelli Character Sketch Bob was a towering, muscular, short man with jet-black hair who had lengthy arms and legs, and had a gigantic, bushy mustache. His arms and legs were toned, ripped with muscle all around, and his torso had a six- pack. He was able to bench 425 pounds with ease. Bob had a scar on his right hand from a burn. It made him look tough and even stronger than he already was.
Priestley uses the setting in "An Inspector Calls" to present ideas about society. " An Inspector Calls" is set in a "fairly
