An Inspector Call's Essay

Inspector call's

chose a scene of the play which is dramatically effective. show how this contributes to the overall understanding of the key theme(s) of the play.

Inspector call's is a thought provoking play written by J.B Pristely it is set in the 1912. The play is about a family called the Birlings who have all misused their powers and have done something morally wrong at some point in the play. They are all at a family dinner pary celebratig their daughter's engagement. When a inspector comes in and starts interogating them about the succide of a pretty young working class women. This play has a scene in it which is dramatically effective to contribute to the overall understanding of the key theme of the play. In this essay I will be

talking about this scene and how it is effective in conveying the theme of the play.

Near the start of the scene, the writer uses the Inspector to reassert a key element of the theme of the social responsibility. First of all he uses the Inspector to undermine the class snobery which had already been a factor in the ill treatment of the girl Known by the Inspector as Eva Smith . Sheila Birling was jelous of Eva Smith as she was a pretty and confident women.
"so you were jelous of her... yes I suppose so "
This made Sheila feel insecure as she thought that a girl of that class couldn't have been more prettier than her so she used her position and got her fired from her job. This shows snobbery because her attitude toward Eva Smith shows that she feels that she is better than her because of her social class.

Then Mrs Birling tries to use her social position to avoid answering the Inspector's questions. When shown the photograph by the inspector,she denies ever seeing the women in question. However the Inspector then challenges her,
"You're not telling me the truth".
Mrs Birling takes offense even though she is actually lying.

The inspector does not let her away with this. In this way,the writer uses the writer to show how class snobbery should not be an excuse to ignore what is right. Using the Inspector in this way is effective because the shows us how he will not back down even when challenged. When asked to apologise to Mrs Birling he responds, "Apologise for what doing my duty". The writer has shown him as a strong character throughout the play- he often challenges and interupts. This proving to the audience that there is another approach that society can take: we do not need to bow down to class snobery.

In this scene the writer repeats to a technique that he uses in other important parts of the play, by using the inspector this way in a number of occasions, most noticeably in his final speech when he talks about

"millions and millions of Eva Smith and Jhon Smiths still left with us."

Such speech unashmedly clearly shows the theme to the audienece, that we must ensure a true sense of social responsibility.The message is also the socialist principle,echoing priestly's beliefs in the voice of the inspector.

The writer then uses Mrs Birling's character to emphasis how social class snobbery prevents us from showing true social responsibility.

"Mrs B: First she called herself Mrs Birling.... I think it was simply a piece of gross impertience quite dileberate- and naturally that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case."

This quote shows that Mrs Birling thinks highly of herself and can't stand the fact that Eva Smith called herself Mrs Birling. This shows Mrs Birling fells she is superior than the girl and because of her social class she dosen't even want to be associated with her. The writer has used this technique to emphasis his point that this barrier of social class stops us from realising that we are all human and we have a responsibility towards each other.
Another effective dramatic technique used by pristely throughout the play is the negative characters fall into the moral traps set by the inspector. By doing this the writer clevarly lets the anti social responsibility characters prove themselves in the wrong . The end of this very dramatic example of this. The Inspector gets Mrs Birling into a position where she makes Eric responsible for the death of Eva smith.
"Find this young man and then make sure that he's compelled to confess in public his responsibility"
Mrs Birling dosen't realise that Eric has made Eva Smith pregnant and unintentionally makes her son responsible for it all.

This is a very effective technique because it is showing the reader that Mrs Birling was refusing to take responsibility for her actions and tries to blame the entire situation on the boy. However has not realised the trouble that she has put her son in trouble. Finally, the writer effecively shows the audience how the lack of social responsibility shown by the Birling family creates great distress for themselves. Mrs Birling refused to help Eva Smith when she was pregnant with Eric's child which was her grand child and when she reliased this then the feeling of killing her grandad will haunt her forever. You killed them both- damn you - damn you". This quote is again also heighlighting the fact that this incident may have a negative impact on the relationship between Eric and Mrs Birling because she is responsible for the death of his child and this quote convey's an angry tone which shows Eric's annoyance at his

mother.
In conclusion I feel this is an effective scene in understanding the key theme of the play as in this scene we discover the theme of social responsibility. The writer uses the technique of snobbery to show how class snobbery can create a barier which prevents us from fulfilling our social responsibility. He then uses the character of the inspector to make the audience feel as if things are going to change as someone has came to challenge this inequality. Pristely has wrote an unique and effective play which clearly illustrates the theme of the play which is social responsibility by using his use of language and stage directions. Expectionally this scene which echos pristely's views about what comes around goes around he emphasis this point by using Mrs Birling as an example. She is responsible for the death of her own grandchild and she did all this due to the fact that she refused to accept her social responsibility. Overall I feel this is a key scene in the play as it revels a new turn into the play and it also clearly shows the theme of the play. I feel Pristely has wrote an amazing play which is very interesting and has a lot of twists and turns.