The Style of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

The Style of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

"An Inspector Calls" is set in England, in a town called Brumley. The

date is 1912, two weeks before the Titanic sets sail. The book was

written towards the end of the Second World War in 1945. In the play,

the house of the Birling family is elaborately decorated in expensive

taste and shows that the family are high class and very wealthy.

Seated around the table are Mr and Mrs Birling, their son Eric and

their daughter Sheila who has just got engaged to Gerald Croft. The

atmosphere at the beginning of the play is fairly relaxed. In "An

Inspector Calls", Priestley was emphasising the importance of liberty,

democracy and faith in ordinary people. He also showed that

everybody's actions can have a collective responsibility.

"An Inspector Calls" is rarely comic because it is about the death of

a young girl and although it has a detective, it is far from a

detective thriller. It is, however, a modern morality. Modern morality

in "An Inspector Calls" is the ethics in which we should live by that

are outlined by Priestley. This includes not committing the seven

deadly sins. This is clearly shown in "An Inspector Calls" and the

presentation of moral issues supports, not weakens, the drama. In the

play there are many examples of morality such as Priestley believes in

accepting responsibility.

The play, as I have mentioned, is not a detective thriller but it is a

mystery thriller. The play is not looking at specific or actual crimes

but at the lack of morality. The play includes most, if not all of the

deadly sins with the most obvious being pride.

"BIRLING: So - Well - I gather there...

... middle of paper ...

...uestions them on the way they acted towards the girl, probing

their conscience rather than concentrating on the crime.

Towards the end of the play he becomes rude when he questions Mrs

Birling.

QUOTE - page 41 - "You mean you don't…"

The play ends on another 'cliff-hanger' ending but this time there are

no answers waiting in the next scene. This keeps the audience guessing

and keeps them thinking about "An Inspector Calls". It is cunningly

written to 'grab' the audience's attention.

I think that overall this play works excellently in entertaining as

well as informing the audience. Despite it being enjoyable, it does

contain many, hidden, serious messages which Priestley wanted people

to be aware of. "An Inspector Calls" entertained me a lot and I

enjoyed working on it. It is cleverly written and original.