Eva Smith In An Inspector Calls By J. B. Priestley

An inspector calls is a morality play that challenges the ideas of an upper class Edwardian audience,preistley achieves this both through the attitudes of the play but also through his implementation of personal morals. Sheila is initially presented as the stereotypical Edwardian daughter but soon freely presents her emotions, without the need for approval from her parents.

In An Inspector Calls the theme of gender inequality is explored comprehensively. In the play, most of the women are portrayed as feeble characters, unable to make decisions for themselves. Many people often think this of Sheila, who the men feel needs protecting from lots of things, like the information that a girl has committed suicide. The play was set in 1912 when the patriarchal society was the norm. So the women that were in the play would have been seen as possessions to their husband and therefore did not work or have careers. However it would have been accepted for women to participate in charity work as Mrs Birling was. Apart from that, women would have been simply seen as wives and mothers not workers and fighters. Women did not have the same rights as men most notably women did not even have the right to vote. The

This is evident in “We are responsible for each other.” The inspector implies that everyone is responsible for one another, utterly contradicting Mr. Birling’s speech before he came in. The inspector is the most conflicting character in the entire play as he stands cool and hard before the Birlings and the audience and unveils the consequences of their actions on those below them. The dramatic irony reinforces that the inspector is in fact voicing Priestley’s message out, therefore emphasizing the effect. Furthermore, the inspector is presented as the figure of authority in the play. This is reinforced in "massively taking charge as dispute erupts between them." He is the only character that calms down the household when an argument breaks. He also expresses no interest towards Mr. birling’s authoritative friends and disregards his threats. The stage directions reinforce that when capitalism destroys everything, socialism is the only answer. Both contemporary and modern audience is left in a conflicting situation as he creates conflict in the play between other

he a question he will now answer it, he will just ask a question back.

I consider ? is a trifle impertinent Inspector?, indicating she does not like it when she is not superior to others or is undermined in some way. Throughout being questioned, Mrs Birling is reticent and has to be asked small details so the Inspector can extract the right information out of her, ?And if I was, what business is it of yours?? indicating that she may have something to hide. Like her husband, Mrs Birling refuses to accept any responsibility for her actions and is constantly in denial when questioned, ?I?ve done nothing wrong and you know it?. Perhaps this could be because she actually believes she has done nothing wrong, or because she is hiding what she has done wrong. However, not a completely cold-hearted or self-absorbed woman, she does not knowingly place the blame on the rest of her family, but on the father of Eva?s child, who she later learns is Eric. She asks the Inspector to force the father of the child make a ?public confession of responsibility? and so Mrs Birling is really condemning the family to bad publicity, exactly what Mr Birling has not wanted all throughout the play.

In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses different characters to portray women. At the start of the play, Sheila is seen as fragile, materialistic and inferior to the men in her life, which is typically the view of higher-class women. This is followed by the perspective of lower class women having excellent morals yet being disposable, which is seen through Eva Smith’s character. This contradicts to Mrs Birling’s control on others and her strong social class views.

Throughout Priestley’s play, ‘An inspector calls’, a main theme runs about responsibility and differentiation between classes. Each character is accountable of doing something that brought about the death of Eva smith. All the characters contribute to her death in one way or the other, and all of them are at fault for the death of

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

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

The writer used the Inspector Goole to give Mr. Birling’s family a lesson as well as the writer’s thoughts about the situation. Hence, the Inspector Goole is one of the most important characters because he is the one questioning the Birling family and making them see that they are responsible for Eva Smith’s death. In the play it highlights the theme of the generation gaps.

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

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.

Throughout the play An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley, it is clear that Priestley strongly believes in the importance of a caring society and the consequences of our actions. He presents these views on inequalities through the presentation of Sheila Birling. This is done in various different ways using numerous techniques.

In his final speech to the Birlings, the Inspector explicitly tells the both the family and the audience that “we are all responsible for each other”. Responsibility is a theme that has come up again and again in the play, with most if not all of the characters talk about it at some point or another. From his entrance, Priestley has made it clear that the Inspector is to serve as more of a device or a mouthpiece of the socialist viewpoint, than as a developed character, so as we near the end of the play, it is very clear to the audience that Priestley’s socialist message is that we all have a responsibility to each other and to the world we live in, and if we neglect it, we will bring suffering onto ourselves and those around us. Indeed, as the speech progresses, the Inspector talks to the consequences being “fire and blood and anguish”. This could be

Although there are some clear aspects of the inspector that show presents the inspector in different lights, but there are also slightly more subtle points Priestley made to present the inspector differently. One of these ways is through the identity of Inspector Goole. The fact that the inspectors name is 'Goole', gets the audience questioning his existence. This is because, although some people will argue that ghosts and such exist and others will argue against that, there is always a slight hint of doubt due to the fact that it cannot be proven. By naming the inspector 'Inspector Goole', the audience start to question the reality of what is happening in the story, later to realize that his name foreshadows what is too come. The audience also,, respond to the inspector in a slightly negative way as, stereotypically, ghosts and gooles are not usually viewed as a good thing, but as something supernatural and out of place. This also makes the audience become slightly sceptical of the inspector's intentions of questioning the Birling family and Gerald. For a different way of looking at how Priestley presents the inspector, you can relate the inspectors' name to the two main theories of time. The theory that I believe most relates to the inspector is