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

'An Inspector Calls' Essay

In Act One of 'An Inspector Calls' how does J.B. Priestley use dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to the members of the audience, as well as interest and involve them in his play?

'An Inspector Calls' is a morality play - a form of play developed in the late middle ages in which a Christian moral lesson was brought out through the struggle between the forces of good and evil - set in 1912, and revolves around the questioning of a family by Inspector Goole about the suicide of a young woman (Eva Smith) that the family knew.The author, J.B. Priestley is trying to show us what some people's arrogance and selfishness can cause without them even noticing. Priestley was a socialist, therefore by writing this play he was drawing attention to the bad things about capitalism. The Inspector was intending to teach the Birlings that ?...we have to share something. If there?s nothing else, we?ll have to share our guilt? Act One. By saying this, he is telling them they are all as guilty as each other of the suicide of Eva Smith, this also links to Priestley being a socialist because he is putting the Birlings to shame.

The doorbell ringing appears to separate the two moods (before and after the Inspector arrives). Priestley has used dramatic irony by making the doorbell ring to interrupt Birling?s speech, just as he is talking about looking after ?...yourself and your own? Act One, by saying this before the doorbell rings, Birling is already digging himself into a hole before he even knows it. It is ironic because the Inspector is here to teach him his responsibilities for other people, when he is saying you should only look after your self and your family.

As the Inspector enters the ch...

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...y guilty and sympathetic for what she has done, whereas Mr and Mrs Birling couldn?t care less and remain unsympathetic throughout. The way Mr and Mrs Birling don?t care makes the play interesting for the audience, as they are waiting for them to crack, the Inspector also helps maintain the audiences concentration by the way he slowly unravels the story and the way he interrogates people in the order that they met the girl.

I think the playwright hopes to teach people that money isn?t everything and that people who are arrogant and selfish will get their comeuppances eventually. The moral of the play still, applies to today?s society because it makes us think about the things we do that involve ignoring people less fortunate than us when we realise that there are Eva Smiths all around us just waiting for a chance to make it through the cruel world we live in.