J.B Priestley is the writer of the play 'An Inspector Calls'. The play is based in the period of 1912, however, it was in the year 1946 that he decided to get his message across: The importance of the welfare state.
The First World War began in 1914 and the Second World War ended in 1945. Between these years, the world changed in many ways- there was a lot of time and money being spent on people thinking up ways to kill each other. The Russian Revolution also took place. (see the novel ?Animal Farm?, by George Orwell- which is created in a similar manner to ?An Inspector Calls?) This was an area where the Royal Family was abolished. Initially, there was democracy, then communism.
The play is about the death of a young woman, called Eva Smith- her demise relates to a family of the early 20th century. Through this story, Priestley finds clever ways in which to diminish his audience, although the time lapse allows them to not take it too personally.
J.B Priestley feels very strongly about the Welfare state, which is why he expresses his opinions and views, in a variety of ways. One, in particular, is through the main character, Inspector Goole.
The Inspector is never wrong- in any of the situations that occur throughout the play- he is always right, and makes the other characters seem almost stupid if they do not agree with him. ?Don?t start on that. I want to get on?? That reflects off from the writer, Priestley, as being very determined to convey his message across to his audience.
Sheila Birling is another character in ?An Inspector Calls? who also points this out during the play, ?You fool- he knows. Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don?t know yet. You?ll see. You?ll see.?
Sheila is the daughter of a very proud man, named Arthur Birling. He is very opinionated, and shown as a typical figure of the time or 1912. J.B Priestley presents him to the audience, as obdurate and biased. We can see this, when he says ?And then she got herself into trouble there, I suppose?? This also tells us he is very unthoughtful, and he is the sort of person who is ignorant, and wouldn?t want himself to ?go down to someone else?s level?.
Priestley is attempting to convey to his audience that Mr Birling needs to change, and not only Mr Birling, but the rest of the society that is comparable to him.
Discuss Priestley's depiction of the Birling household and Gerald Croft, prior to the arrival of Inspector Goole In this submission I hope to fully discuss Priestley's depiction of the Birling household and Gerald Croft, prior to the arrival of Inspector Goole. The play is set in the fictional town of Brumley, an industrial town in the North Midlands. It is evening in the town, in the spring of 1912. At the moment the play starts the characters are celebrating the engagement between Gerald Croft and the Birling family's only daughter Sheila. They are all very pleased with themselves and are enjoying the occasion.
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
The play is very simplistic and overtly political. It heavily features varying aspects of non-illusory theatre to semaphor Priestley's political message. When reading the play, it is important to remember that the characters are not people but caricatures Priestley employs to manipulate the reader. This combines with the artificiality of the plot to form a completely biased play, from whichever angle one looks at it. However at the time of its publication it was not so outlandish, because it upheld the New Labour government, struggling so hard to bring about its reforms and stay in favour of a people who had suffered many hardships and were now looking to more years of difficulty and discomfort.
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
The Reflection of J. B. Priestley's Political and Philosophical Beliefs in An Inspector Calls In 1945 J. B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls". It is a very tense play; the audience are always on the edge of their seats. It is didactic as it conveys a social and moral meaning to the play.
Sheila is described as a ‘pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited.’ The fact that it says ‘very pleased with life’ and ‘rather excited’ shows that she is very proud of herself; this is typical with a girl in her twenties coming from an upper-class British family in the 1910’s. Priestley has done this carefully to blend in with the historical context of the play, which was set in 1912.
‘ An Inspector Calls ’ is a play written by J Priestley in the year 1945 and but the play was set in the year 1912. The play is set right before World War One, in an upper-class house belonging to the Birlings, a high-status family, whose lives are suddenly affected by the death of a woman called Eva Smith. Throughout the play, there are 4 main themes; social responsibility, social class, and age. In the play, Priestley explores different social classes by presenting views from a range of characters with different social images and backgrounds. Priestley uses many devices such as irony and foreshadowing to
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.
Socialism is one of the greatest messages that Priestley conveys. This message is spoken through the inspector. The Inspector represents Priestley’s strong moral views. Through the play, the Inspector’s character is shown as if he is Priestley’s image, and also shows that he is no ordinary Inspector. His character is shown as if he is more concerned with morality than legality, other than that of an ordinary Policeman/Inspector.
A ‘sharp ring is heard of the front door bell’ interrupting Mr. Birling’s dialogue that explicates “that a man has to make his own way- has to look after himself” as though the ‘sharpness’ of the ring is opposing Birling’s ‘solemnity’ in his words. The stage direction instantly demonstrates juxtaposition between the Birling and the other anonymous individual; this also generates tension because of the fact that the individual is yet to be introduced. Eric felt very ‘uneasy’ after Edna said to Birling that an Inspector has arrived which gives the audience clues of Eric being involved in a crime, Eric’s uneasiness also makes Birling ‘sharply’ stare at Eric- this creates suspense for the audience.
He uses the downfall of Eva Smith and a chain of events to demonstrate this. This leads to a very convincing and well-devised play, which puts across JB Priestley’s views clearly and precisely. In Edwardian Britain there was a great difference in the roles of men and women in society and the outlook of what and was not accepted differed substantially. A prime example of this in the play is when Mr Birling says ‘Nothing to do with you, Sheila.
The Inspector, straight form his introduction, is commanding and authoritative. Upon his entrance he creates, “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.”(PG.11) The Inspector continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while people around him crumble and fall to pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven by the fact he remains on task despite numerous attempts from Birling to digress from the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful’; this is shown where he explains to Birling that Birlings way of thinking “Every man must only look out for himself,” is not the case, and all warps of society are interlinked. The view is best illustrated in the Inspectors final speech, where he says, “We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”(p.56). This idea is one that Priestley, himself believed in deeply, and many of Priestleys writing shared this very theme.
How Priestly Uses the Inspector to Create Tension and Suspense in An Inspector Calls J.B Priestly wrote 'An Inspector Calls' in 1945 just when the welfare state began. J.B Priestly set his play in Edwardian Britain 1912; however Edwardian Britain society was still very Victorian in its attitude and structure. For example the rich, who were privileged, were meant to help out the poor through charities, as there was no welfare state. As well as the fact that social benefits did not exist at that time, but they chose not to. It was classed as the Victorian ways.
J B Priestley clearly had a strong moral conscience which led him to hold socialist beliefs wanting to bring about change against the capitalists who were exploiting the poor working class. In 'An Inspector Calls' Priestley cleverly uses dramatic techniques, lighting and stage directions to produce an emotionally charged setting to bring home a very important message to the correct society of his day and remains a challenge to the society in which we live in now.
Pg. 6: 'Are you listening, Sheila? This worries you too. And in any case I don’t regularly make speeches at you