Message in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Message in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

J.B Priestley sets the stage play of An Inspector Calls within the

fictional industrialised city of Brumley. Brumley is most likely

typical of many towns where the factory owners, who supplied much

required employment, were able to run things in essence how they

wanted. All action of the performance is carried out in the Birling's

dining room. Mr Birling, his wife and their fully-grown children, Eric

and Sheila have been enjoying a family banquet celebrating the

engagement of Sheila Birling to Gerald Croft. The entrance of a police

Inspector named Goole, investigating the suicide of a young woman, Eva

Smith, interrupts the night. Priestley conveys various messages in a

number of ways, to the audience, through the Inspector. I will explore

these in close detail, throughout this essay.

The play was actually written by J.B Priestley in 1945, but it was set

in 1912. The play was first performed in 1946, with a purpose of being

theatrical, unique, and extraordinary. Priestley wanted to put across

strong messages to the audience regarding them. He set this play in

1912 to give the play a focused social and historical context. Many

historically significant events had taken place prior to 1946, such

events include: both World Wars, the sinking of the Titanic, and the

formation of the first Labour government. By setting the play in 1912,

it enabled Priestley to use dramatic devices to a powerful extent. The

1946 audience would be aware of the events that had taken place and

they would be conscious of Priestley's use of dramatic devices in the

'polemical' piece of writing.

In this essay I i...

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...d colder way. This is shown in the didactic made by the

Inspector at the end of the play.

"if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire

and blood and anguish."

Priestley is aware that the 1946 audience are just recovering from the

disastrous effects of the Second World War. Through the Inspector's

monologue at the end of the play he aims to convey the message that

had people been willing to accept some of the socialist viewpoints

prior the Second World War, such an event may have been avoided. The

final speech makes the Inspector sound prophetic, which implies he may

be something more than a regular police Inspector. I feel that perhaps

Priestley shouldn't have done this, but should've relied on the play

to be proficient enough to carry the point without a sort of sermon

being sneaked in.