Comparing The Lives Of Sheila And Eva Smith

An Inspector Calls is a three-act drama, which takes place on a single night in 1912, and focuses on the Birling family, who live in a wealthy but not particulary homely house in Brumley. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. The idea of the play, and particularly the role of the inspector, is to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. In Act Three, the Inspector tells the Birling family: “The girl killed herself and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.” But who was really the

Priestly presents Mrs Birling as a cold and heartless Character. As her character they play goes on she never takes responsibility for what she done and tries to pass the blame to everyone else.

During this time the social class depended on how much land you owned. Royalty in your Kings and Queens was part of the upper class; the noble lords and vassals followed the

Mr Birling is very selfish towards the other characters, and believes he is in control. However as the play continues, his behaviour becomes increasingly different and he starts to lose control and power over his family. He becomes agitated and uncomfortable, and displays anger towards his children. An example is when Mr Birling responds (angrily) to Eric ”Don't talk to me like that. Your trouble is – you've been spoilt--”. To contrast with Mr Birling’s behaviour, Inspector Goole remains calm and collected throughout the play. Unlike Mr Birling, Inspector Goole asserts his authority successfully over the other characters. He is an authority figure. An example is when the inspector yells “Stop!”, and all the characters are suddenly quiet, looking at him. Looking at both of their behaviours and how they interact with the other characters, can make the audience form an opinion about them both, and can make them place a liking over one character more than the

The events of the play reveal that most people in the upper-middle class (Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald) look down on the lower class with derision (‘girls of that class’) and the only middle class person in the play (the Inspector) seems to detest the upper-middle class because he believes in socialism.

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.

What is Priestley's main aim in `An inspector calls`? How successfully does he achieve it.

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.

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is set in the North Midlands, the industrial city of Brumley in 1912. The play revolves around the death of a young girl named Eva Smith and the wealthy, middle class Birling family. The Birling family consists of four main members. In addition, there is Gerald Croft who is engaged to the daughter of the family, Sheila Birling, and the maid Edna who plays a small role in the play.

for putting on airs and that if we've any sense we wont try", and "And

The upper, middle, and lower class. The upper class streamed from the aristocrats of earlier time periods. The middle and lower classes were the working classes. The middle class however had jobs with better pay, a better standard of living ,and better sanitation then the lower class but still had struggles with day to day necessities. The lower class were very poor and had difficult lives. Many children worked in the lower class. This relates to A Brave New World as the lower classes were not focused on in society very often, and had difficult jobs and less access to resources from their conception, this caused the lower classes to in general have low

"I've done nothing wrong - and you know it!" Mrs Birling exclaims, refusing to take responsibility for her actions, which is just one of the reasons why the audience may not see Mrs Birling as a very likable character. This essay is going to explore how J.B. Priestley creates such a disagreeable character and why the audience feels this way about her.

Before the inspector entered the birling household Sheila presented herself as the perfect fiancé to Gerald, despite knowing something happened during the summer she is still very reserved in what she says. With the inspector acting as a defence she begins to take on the role of the

soon find out that Eva worked in his factory, and how she was fired by

How does JB Priestly explore and present the theme of gender in the play ‘An Inspector Calls”?