The Dramatic Methods Used by Priestley to Convey the Social and Moral Message of An Inspector Calls
J.B Priestley’s play “An Inspector Calls” is a medium to express his
thoughts and feelings towards socialism. Priestley was known to
sympathise with the plight of the lower classes. He was involved in
many socialist movements, and during 1934, wrote a book called
“English Journey.” This outlined Britain's complacency during the
prosperous Industrial Revolution, which had led to the slump of the
First World War.
During the play, Priestley portrayed these views in the form of the
Inspector. He uses the Inspector to act as a mouthpiece, displaying
and uncovering the lying and deceitfulness of the Birling family and
showing the moral and social message of the play. He conveys that the
actions and the thoughtlessness of the upper classes have
repercussions on the lives of the lower classes.
The play is set in the 1912, but was first performed in 1946.
Priestley used this to his advantage by creating a plateau to base
many examples of dramatic irony on. He could do this because of the
time settings. The play relies greatly on the audiences’
foreknowledge.
An early example of dramatic irony is in one of Mr Birling’s speeches.
Mr Birling is a self-made and a self admitted “hard-headed
businessman.” He lives comfortably as part of high/middle class, which
during the era is obviously a capitalist status. In the speech he
declares, “The world is developing so fast that it’ll make the war
impossible.” Already that gives us an insight to how invalid anything
he says is. It makes Mr Birling and his views of capitalism sound
uneducated ...
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...e play is successful at conveying the moral and social message. It
leaves you thinking about the gaps in class and status still are
intact today. I have always believed that status should be earned
instead of inheriting it, as Sheila and Eric did. However this view
was one sided and in today's modern world there is no right or wrong
side to be on, if it be capitalist or socialist. This is why I believe
that in parts the play is too didactic, and I feel J.D Priestley is
preaching to me. This is because the play “An Inspector Calls” was not
written primarily for enjoyment, but Priestley’s main agenda was to
show the moral and social message behind it. This is not what, in my
opinion a play should be. On the other hand, the novel has opened up
my eyes to the difficult debate and tensions between socialism and
capitalism.
J B Priestley clearly had a strong moral conscience which led him to hold socialist beliefs wanting to bring about change against the capitalists who were exploiting the poor working class. In 'An Inspector Calls' Priestley cleverly uses dramatic techniques, lighting and stage directions to produce an emotionally charged setting to bring home a very important message to the correct society of his day and remains a challenge to the society in which we live in now.
How Priestly Uses the Characters to Represent His Own Views on Society The play "An Inspector Calls" is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Edwardian society at that time (1912) was strictly divided into social classes and over two-thirds of the nation's wealth was in the hands of less than 1% of the population. Below the very rich were the middle classes (doctors and merchants, shop workers and clerks), after that came the craftsmen and skilled workers. At the very bottom of the social ladder was the largest class of all - the ordinary workers and the poor, many of whom lived below the poverty level. The men of industry treated the workers very badly and they were paid pittance.
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
As the play was meant to be produced on stage, rather than to be written as a book format, 'An Inspector Calls' is very dramatic; to capture the audiences' attention, and to keep them thinking as the play develops. Each of the three acts are very dramatic, but I am choosing to analyse the first half of Act One of 'An Inspector Calls', because in my opinion, this is where J.B. Priestley's use of dramatic devices is most evident. This part of the play is very important, because it is the opening scene. Not only must the opening scene of the play grab the audiences' attention, it must also give impressions and introductions to the main characters. J.B. Priestley has used the scene to capture the audiences' attention and imagination, and gives a good introduction to the characters and their personality.
J.B. Priestley's Motives Behind An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894. His mother
...y guilty and sympathetic for what she has done, whereas Mr and Mrs Birling couldn?t care less and remain unsympathetic throughout. The way Mr and Mrs Birling don?t care makes the play interesting for the audience, as they are waiting for them to crack, the Inspector also helps maintain the audiences concentration by the way he slowly unravels the story and the way he interrogates people in the order that they met the girl.
The Reflection of J. B. Priestley's Political and Philosophical Beliefs in An Inspector Calls In 1945 J. B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls". It is a very tense play; the audience are always on the edge of their seats. It is didactic as it conveys a social and moral meaning to the play.
Examine Priestley's use of dramatic techniques to create tension in the play. Priestly was a socialist writer, and 'An Inspector Calls' is one of the plays in which he tried to display his socialist ideals in. The play was written in the 1940's, a little after the end of the Second World War, and it was first performed in 1946, in Russia, then later in England. Priestly had served in World War 1, and the terrible scenes he saw lead to him having socialist views. He was inspired by other writers whose views he shared, especially George Orwell and H.G.
Priestley's Social Message in An Inspector Calls The play an Inspector Call’s was written at the time of 1945 but is set in 1912. Priestley conveys a lot of social and important messages in this play. He conveys the messages through the character of Inspector Goole. One most important message that Priestley conveys is about Socialism.
The Inspector, straight form his introduction, is commanding and authoritative. Upon his entrance he creates, “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”(PG.11) The Inspector continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while people around him crumble and fall to pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven by the fact he remains on task despite numerous attempts from Birling to digress from the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful’; this is shown where he explains to Birling that Birlings way of thinking “Every man must only look out for himself,” is not the case, and all warps of society are interlinked. The view is best illustrated in the Inspectors final speech, where he says, “We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”(p.56). This idea is one that Priestley, himself believed in deeply, and many of Priestleys writing shared this very theme.
This helped Priestley promote socialism against capitalism. JB Priestley uses dramatic devices to make An inspector calls a modern day morality play, to do this he uses dramatic devices, such as dramatic irony and tension in order to convey the message through the entire play. They are used accurately considering the time in which the play is set. Priestley also uses the characters as dramatic devices, they symbolise the dramatic devices, an example of this is Priestley makes us hate Mr. Birling because he symbolises capitalism, and in Priestley’s eyes capitalism is wrong. Throughout the play, Mr. Birling is the voice of capitalism....
In order to encourage the audience to apply their critical faculties, Priestley makes them feel superior to Birling.He thoroughly discredits and degrades Birling, and through him, the right wing philosophy. This tells us very early on that Priestley uses Birling as a diametric mouthpiece to voice his left-wing opinions and that the play is completely biased to the socialist perspective. The theatricality of the dramatic irony Priestley uses makes the audience think outside the proscenium arch, about the world and their relationships to it. This is all part of the non-illusory experience.
The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft
was genuine and this allows the audience to almost predict their own ending; how will the family react to the arrival of the real Inspector? Will they acknowledge this as a chance to admit to their mistakes or will they try and conceal their guilt? I thoroughly enjoyed studying An Inspector Calls and have learned a great deal about how society has changed and how moral ideals have evolved over time. I found the play effective although because of the way in which society has developed Priestley's morals may not be applicable to life today. As wealth and power have become increasingly more important socialist feelings of responsibility for one another have been progressively weakened.
As a reader, one can overlook “the detective’s social abnormality only because these are attached to individuals we take to be normal” (Gregoriou 25) as well as Watson’s adoration for Holmes pores through the narration and binds the reader.