“An Inspector calls” is a play written by J.B Priestly with lot a lot of political messages. The play was written in 1945 but is set during the pre world war 1 period during 1912, in a house located in an industrial city. The play revolves around an inspector and the Birling's who are a wealthy family living in the North Midlands, as it goes along it is revealed how each of them played a death in Eva Smiths death. I feel like Priestly has used the inspector as a puppet to convey his socialist views to the and I feel like he has done so in a very smart way- by putting it in a play, a more entertaining method of getting his message out to the people. Priestly a socialist uses inspector Goole as a puppet to convey his message to the public. …show more content…
To show support of his socialist views Priestly also rejected a knighthood. When the inspector is first introduced in Act 1, he is described to be “dressed in a plain darkish suit.” Priestly having socialist beliefs could be implying that the inspector is not showing off and dresses in simple plain attire.
A plain dark suit could symbolize that he is not superficial unlike Mr. Birling who would probably be wearing an expensive suit to show off his wealth to Gerald. This could also mean that the inspector does not like to show off his wealth and is a simple, down to earth man. Priestly uses simple adjectives - “plain and darkish” to reflect his personality and seriousness to his “duty”. Priestly using the inspector to represent socialism could have dressed the inspector to appear like this may be that he is trying to use plain as a symbol of unity and a society where no one is superior to anyone …show more content…
else. In the play the inspector is shown to oppose the idea of dividing society.
As the inspector is taking to Mr. Birling in act , he tries to show off to the inspector and give him a warning about not to mess with him as he has many connections - “Perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine ” here I think Priestley is trying to say that the rich people during that time were using their money and connections to manipulate and take control of the lower class society. Mr. Birling also adds “We play golf together” I think Priestly is using golf here as a divisional sport - which is separating the rich and poor. Golf has always been revered to a rich man's sport and is a power game which the wealthy or upper class uses for status. To this the inspector replies by saying “I don't play golf” here the inspector states that he does not play and is not interested in playing a sport which divides the rich and the poor. He gives a quick short answer to Birling I think the inspector isn't interested in activities that are divisional which are traits of a socialist. The inspector is trying to say that we are all humans and even if we don not have the same amount of money and we should be treated equally. The inspector has a very stern posture and takes control of the whole family - as they break out into numerous arguments the inspector comes and sorts it. He doesn't really reveal the story of Eva Smith but he allows it to unfold as he talks to each member of the family and lets
them connect the dots. The inspector is portrayed to be a mysterious character throughout the play, he is portrayed to be an all knowing character. “Why-you fool-he knows. Of course he knows.” - Sheila talking to Gerald. Even all the other characters acknowledge that he knows more than them. His name - “Goole” also makes him more peculiar. During 1945 (The victorian era) people enjoyed ghost stories, his name sounds very similar to ghoul which is an evil spirit epically because Priestley was a very religious man, he could be portraying inspector as an avenging angle here to take them to hell, he knows all their wrong doings and he wants them to confess their sins and unless they own up to their mistakes they will be taught in -“blood, fire and anguish” as the inspector says in his closing speech. The closing speech of the inspector before he leaves is very direct and personal, not only to the Birling's but to the audience watching the play. The Inspector here strongly expresses his views and opinions. He is portrayed to be a prophet; coming to warn everyone about the future. He says that people and society must change or else everyone will experience the consequences - “Burn in blood, fire and anguish” which is indirectly referring to hell. While saying this he sounds like he is a time traveler who seems sure about the future. He has seen what happens and he has come back to try and convince them to change for the better. Priestly was also a strong believer in Christianity so the inspector could be saying his speech referring to biblical context. “One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths left with us” Here the inspector is saying that even if they made a mistake once they still have many opportunities
family, but it must not be 'cosy’ or homely. The lighting is to be a
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
The play "An Inspector Calls" was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, when the British people were recovering from over six years of constant warfare and danger. As a result of two world wars, class distinctions were greatly reduced and women had achieved a much higher place in society. It was due to this and a great desire for social change that Labour's Clement Attlee won a landslide victory over the conservative Winston Churchill. He nationalized the gas steel and electrical industries, established the NHS and introduced the Welfare State. The play was set in Brumley, a fictional industrial city, in 1912.The playwright believed passionately in the left wing perspective and his message is overtly political. He uses techniques such as "dramatic irony" and "direct mouthpieces", which define the genre of the play as non-illusory, to impart his left-wing message.
"And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don't need to know any
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.
An Inspector Calls is a play with multiple social and political messages, J.B Priestly was a socialist and was also against capitalism as he believed it favoured the rich and powerful and encouraged greed and selfishness.
Throughout the play the inspector is extracting small threads of information from each member of the family and slowly interweaves the small threads to form one big picture, once the picture is formed the audience can narrow it down to the main culprit this acts as the first conclusion of the play, but once the audience have realised that there isn't one culprit but instead the whole family are guilty for her death this really drives the message home. The inspector uses a photograph very cleverly because the family believe that the inspector is showing the same pictures to everyone, as an alternative these could be pictures of different people. After the inspector has carried out all his investigations the family is split into two sections, one being the people who are sorry for all the hurt and pain they have caused, these are the people that have taken in Priestley's and the inspectors message, the socialists. On the other hand the other group are the elders that are stuck in there old fashioned ways and believe that society functions better as individuals and not a team these are the people that Priestley is rebelling against, the capitalists, the money driven people who don't
When the Inspector enters, his manner conflicts with Mr Birling’s, as well as his opinion of society. He is relatively reserved, although he is not intimidated to ask questions to the Birling’s ...
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.
JB Priestley’s intent in ‘An Inspector Calls’ was to convey the attitudes of socialism to the minds of the society in the Edwardian Era as he was a passionate believer of the concept. Priestley has attempted this through the employment of ‘Inspector Goole’ in the play. In the play drama is displayed through a variety of methods for the interest of the audience and the communication of personal views from JB Priestley.
Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself. He wanted to communicate the message that our actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, always affect others.
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.
An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J. B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. It was written in a time when Britain was ruled by a Labour government and socialist policies were seen to be a good way to go. It was a common way of thinking at that time so Priestley's aim for the play was to influence the unconvinced in society.
A morality play is a medieval play designed to teach the audience right from wrong. JB Priestley uses An Inspector call to convey a moral message, which is that you should not judge people on their class i.e. lower working class/higher class. He also expands the views of socialism within the message; this is all made very clear by the use of dramatic devices. Although it is a morality play it is not in the traditional format. Priestley makes it very clear in what he wants the audience to think is moral and immoral. The play also conveys a strong political message. The play encourages the idea of socialism, a society in which responsibility and community are essential, also a place where the community all work together and are responsible for their actions. This is in contrast with capitalism. JB priestly wrote the play in 1945, but it was set in 1912 just before the war, it was later performed in 1946. The play was written after World War I and World War II, Priestley used this to his advantage, it makes the audience feel awful after what has just happened, the majority of the audience would have either lived through one or both of the wars. This helped Priestley promote socialism against capitalism.
He interrogates each individual with a different tone of voice with his impression of masivness , and his purposefulness gives a feeling of power wich intimidates Sheila . Inspector Goole makes her feel