J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

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Recommended: American literature and women's views

J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

John Boynton Priestley was one of the most popular, versatile and

greatest authors of his day. His works of popular history and literary

criticism are numerous, ending with

the story of Literature and the western woman. However it was as a

playwright and as a social thinker that he was especially important.

Politically, J.B. Priestley was a patriotic socialist who did not

believe in the case of social class or rich dominancy, he believed

that people should help each other and not be so competitive towards

others. He hated social class because of the way upper class people

took advantage of the working classes.

"An Inspector calls" was written in 1912 and based in Brumley; it was

one of Priestley's most famous plays and is remembered as a soliditary

message to the people of that time. The play was a dramatic

combination of action and mortality, action because of the

conversations had are exciting and pulsing with emotion and mortality

because of the way it sets out a message to people like the Birlings.

At the beginning of scene 1, the Birling family and Gerald are having

a dinner celebration for the engagement of Sheila Birling and Gerald

Croft the son of the man who has been industrially competing with Mr

Birling as Crofts Ltd. The dinner gets off to a start as Mr Birling

holds a toast mostly consisting of more business than it does wishing

well to Sheila and Geralds future. During the speech Sheila begins to

get distracted by the ring Gerald had given her that evening sealing

there engagement, to which Mr Birling responds, "Are you listening

Sheila, this concerns you too," to which...

... middle of paper ...

... it changes right at the end with a huge dramatic

twist that makes the audience want to read on.

In conclusion Priestley has used his own socialist views of life to

create a rich higher-class family, which represents real life

characters and then placing himself in the play to tell rich

higher-class people how he truly feels. In a way, Sheilas change is

what he feels people should be like once they realise the error of

their ways, and as the great John Boynton Priestley said "we have to

fight this great battle, not only with guns in daylight, but alone in

the night, communing with our souls, strengthening our faith that in

common men everywhere there is a spring of innocent aspiration and

good will that shall not be sealed". Priestley has used an "Inspector

Calls" as a way of interpretating his feelings and emotions.

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