How Does Priestley Present The Message In An Inspector Calls

912 Words2 Pages

“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…

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…

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

Open Document