Analysis of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

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Analysis of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

In ‘An Inspector calls’, Priestly looks at many characters, their

stage actions, language and their ideas in great detail. In this essay

I will be exploring and analysing the relationship between Arthur

Birling and his son Eric. After reading the play, I found out that Mr

Birling and his son Eric did not have a strong relationship. This is

because Arthur did not realise when his son started drinking so much

and stole money from his office. Making a girl pregnant could not be

hidden from a father, but Arthur did not come to know anything about

it until the end. I will be using quotes and stage actions to show the

relationship between Arthur and Eric.

At the start of the play, when the inspector had arrived and was

talking to Arthur about Eva Smith/Daisy Renton, Eric was constantly

accusing Arthur and telling him that what he did was bad and he

shouldn’t have done that, and this is evident as Eric had said, ‘He

(Arthur) could have kept her (Eva Smith) on instead of throwing her

out’ (pg.15). Here all Eric was doing was making Mr Birling (Arthur)

feel guilty. This proves one of my points where I had mentioned about

Mr Birling and Eric having a weak relationship, because normally in a

situation like this a son would be doing his best to sort out a

problem his father has. But here all Eric was doing was trying to make

Arthur feel guilty, which obviously wasn’t working.

As we went through the play, Priestly shows us that Eric did not have

a good relationship with his father and couldn’t talk to him about

everything and this is shown when Eric had told Arthur himself by

saying, ‘ … Your not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s

in trouble’ (pg.54). In a case like this a father should always be

there so the son can talk to him, listen to his problems, and give him

the advice he needs.

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