"An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestley is full of lies and deceit. Write fully about the way Priestley exposes weakness and wickedness, not only in the characters on stage, but also in society.

When told about Eva’s death Mrs Birling speaks in an “easy tone” and she smiles which shows that she doesn’t really care about what has happened to this girl as long as it doesn’t affect her this is also show by her saying “I don’t think we can help you much”. She says this before hearing anything the inspector has to say. This shows that she doesn’t have any interest in what it is that she has been told and that she doesn’t think she has done anything wrong. Mrs Birling's reaction makes her disliked by the audience as the play moves on as she

see that this is true by looking at his speech and at the manner in

Mrs Birling is described as "…her husband's social superior". She is a snob and is very aware of the differences between social classes. She tries to deny things that she doesn't want to believe a prime example would be Eric’s drinking she says at the beginning of Act 3 “you don’t get drunk” this line really emphasises the extent at which Eric is not only insignificant to the older generation but ignored. The reader is shocked by this statement as we know at the beginning of the play he is a drunk by the way he responds and sits in his chair ‘half at ease’ and it is ironic that his own mother is oblivious to it. As they are higher class than Eva Smith they also feel as though the death is less important, as Mrs Birling states 'Girls of that class -” this shows that she was prejudice towards the girl due to her class and her position (getting pregnant and not being married) she was therefore in Mrs Birling’s eyes not worthy of receiving any money from the charity, this is echoed when she says “I'm Mrs Birling, y'know” using a patronising

The use of the words “girl” and “clear out” connote the idea that Eva Smith was very insignificant and that eliminating her from Mr Birling’s factory came with no difficulty, showing how needless she was to him. Furthermore, the fact that he simply told Eva Smith to “clear out” presents how little emotion he felt for her and supports the idea that he feels no sympathy for lower class women and gives no effort in caring for his employees. The idea that Priestley characterises lower class women as disposable is supported when the inspector states, “she’d been turned out and turned down too many times, ” which acknowledges the fact that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a job or source of income to support her. This lead her to believe that death was a simple option, all caused by the upper class showing no sympathy and exhibiting how little effort it took to liberate her. The words “turned out and turned down” illustrate how hard Eva Smith had tried to support herself, showing her virtuous side, but most of these times she had failed. The words “too many times” symbolises the amount of people that had contributed to her death, mostly from the upper class, whom showed little care or pity towards her, easily disposing of her. However, when she found work at Milwards, it was described as; “it seemed she liked working there. It was a nice change from the factory.” Priestley uses this line to show Eva Smith conforming to moral principles, portraying lower class women as righteous. The words “liked working there” illustrates her pleasure in having something to do and being able to fend for herself, showing her enjoyment of the little time she had where she wasn’t portrayed as a disposable object

" The character Mrs. Birling automatically tries to pass the blame and responsibility of the suicide of Eva Smith onto someone else, willingly creating a scapegoat, "Go and look for the father of the child, it's his responsibility", she tells the Inspector. Although Sheila Birling's views are more socialist she represents the younger generation in society, she is more concerned with fashion, her appearance and family life, rather that the

He shows we must all look out for each other and think before taking actions. Priestley uses Eva Smith’s death as an example of the suffering of lower class women in Edwardian times and directs the blame at the whole family caused by their small but consequential, chain of events. Priestley cleverly brings in the inspector at a strategic moment, just after Birling has stated ‘that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’. This is the speech that Birling has just made, which reveals his true character. That of a narcissistic, unsparing old man.

In melodrama the weak and the innocent often fall prey to the evil villain, who is rich and powerful. Birling is a caricature of the grasping capitalist. Eva Smith is a caricature of the poor, downtrodden victim who retains her dignity and nobility of spirit. She is too good to be true .Mr and Mrs Birling remain the archetypical villains to the end because they fail to learn the moral lesson of the play.

Mrs. Birling reacts to Eva Smith’s death, by saying “She only had herself to blame”, whereas Sheila exclaims “Oh — how horrible!”. Mrs. Birling reacts instantly by thinking about herself, claiming her debatable innocence and emphasising that Eva Smith only had herself to blame and therefore everyone aprt from her is innocent, whereas Sheila reacts instantly by sympathising with the dead young woman and exclaiming her shock about the suicide. Priestley tries to tell the audience that the youth, who are not politically socialist, do develop socialist ideas subconsciously. The purpose of this, is to make the audience realise that even if they are capitalist at heart, they can still alter their views and become more

In the play 'An Inspector Calls', many contrasts and paradox's are present and at the centre of them all is the character known as Inspector Goole. However, the inspector is not any ordinary inspector. I believe that the inspector is used as a device by Priestley to explore the wider themes of the play and to depict other characters true personalities. This essay will explore some of the techniques Priestley presents the inspector in An Inspector Calls.

Birling enters “briskly and self-confidently”, with her social superiority to the Inspector being made very apparent following her social and easy tone. She then proceeds to deny responsibility for Eva’s death, which besides leading audience to form a negative bias towards her, also prompts Sheila to interrupt her and warn her about saying or doing “something that (she’ll) be sorry for afterwards.” This brings about Mrs. Birling’s protective side, with her first instinct being to send Sheila to bed, proclaiming her beliefs and statements to be “nothing but morbid curiosity.” This statement at first glance appears to be a mother sheltering her child from what may be a matter too gruesome to discuss, however, when Sheila denies the request, it is made obvious that the suggestion was made only to get Sheila out of the way, who at this point in the story, according to Mrs. Birling’s beliefs, is greatly impressioned by the Inspector. She conducts in the same manner later in the play, when talking about Eric’s drinking habits, using euphemism to explain his behaviour as “an excitable silly mood” and calling him “only a boy” and also when suggesting that “it would be much better if Sheila didn’t listen” to Gerald’s account of his affair with Eva. This leads the audience to believe that Mrs Birling either does not pay attention to her kids and their

Mrs Birling is also held responsible for the death of Eva Smith in various different ways. She is selfish as she won’t accept any blame for it, and once again, she is also doing the same as Mr Birling. She is taking the two generations and differentiating then according to how responsibilities are taken.

The play is set in 1912, just before the First World War in 1914-1918 and the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. The historical context of the play is displayed, for example, in Mr Birling’s speech, where he says that the Titanic is ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’, of which a modern audience would know is false. Priestley uses this context to undermine Mr Birling’s capitalist views, because the audience would know that what Mr Birling says is false, and therefore project the views of socialism. Additionally, the play was written in 1945, after the second World War. 1945 was a great decision point for the UK, because there was a general election with a clear choice between Winston Churchill and the Conservative party and Clement Attlee and the Labour party. The war economy was essentially a socialist economy run by the state and the UK was allied with the Soviet union - thought of as a socialist state. JB Priestley set up a new political party in 1942 - the Common Wealth party - that later merged

A number of other issues that were around at the time the play was set

J.B Priestly employs a various methods to present the inspector as well as showing his importance such as stage directions and from the language he uses. These methods allow us to understand and relate to the moral messages put across in the play.

It is no doubt that the cause of the tortured condition of the state of affairs in the world today had to start somewhere. The universe which is created and governed by God can be a friendly habitat for humans as long as they follow their moral ideals. If there is a deviation from moral ideals, we can be sure that the forces of evil will find root in our thoughts and actions. Since ideals proceed from our minds, they become our own intentions. The two plays, York: the Fall of the Angels and Chester: the Fall of Lucifer are prime examples of deviation from God’s moral ideals and submitting to the forces of evil that are governed by pride and greed. Particular elements of pride