Theme Of Women In An Inspector Calls

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

Priestley creates Mrs Birling as an unlikeable character to try and get across the message of the play, that the rich should treat the poor better. He does this by making

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

John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on September 13th 1984. The play “An Inspector Calls” was written by him in 1945, and came onstage in 1914. An Inspector calls, is a play that revolves around the apparent suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith. In the play, the unsuspecting Birling family are visited by the mysterious Inspector Goole. Priestley uses a variety of different techniques, especially language and quotations, to contrast and elicit differing responses to Mr Birling and Inspector Goole.

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.

An Inspector Calls is a play written in 1945 by J.B Priestly. It was set in 1912 where there were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes. Therefore, to convey the socialist message, Priestly portrays characters from the upper class in an exposed manner. He definitely doesn’t hide any of their flaws. Gerald Croft is one of the main characters in the play that Priestly has done a great job at showing the thoughts of the upper class.

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

The play "An Inspector Calls" was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, when the British people were recovering from over six years of constant warfare and danger. As a result of two world wars, class distinctions were greatly reduced and women had achieved a much higher place in society. It was due to this and a great desire for social change that Labour's Clement Attlee won a landslide victory over the conservative Winston Churchill. He nationalized the gas steel and electrical industries, established the NHS and introduced the Welfare State. The play was set in Brumley, a fictional industrial city, in 1912.The playwright believed passionately in the left wing perspective and his message is overtly political. He uses techniques such as

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.

Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the Inspector says, "You're not telling me the truth" and she replies, "I beg your pardon!" She seems horrified that somebody could speak like that to a lady of her class. This is not only an example of how she is portrayed as self-important but also

In this essay, I am going to discuss how the character Eva Smith in the play An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley is treated in the play and the relation of this to the socialist views of the playwright. I will look at the historical context of when the play was written and when it was set, describe what happens to Eva Smith throughout the play and then link this to a socialist viewpoint.

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.

Throughout this play JB Priestly has included a range of female characters in the play, from an upper class snob, through a mature daughter and a working class girl. However Eva Smith, the working class girl, was the only character who suffered the most because of her gender, she was treated differently by all character throughout the play. She had no value in society what so ever and we’ve seen this on many different occasions, firstly when Mr.Birling talks about her and quotes, “We were paying the usual rates and if they didn’t like those rates, they could go work somewhere else”, this quote informs us about Mr.Birling views

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.