“An Inspector Calls” was written in 1945 but set in 1912 during the Edwardian era of British Society by J.B. Priestley. Priestley creates the character, Sheila, the only daughter of Arthur and Sybil Birling who are a middle-class family establishing their way up to wealth. They built their wealth through Mr Birling's business, where he had cheap labour and high earnings. Priestley uses these characters to convey messages about change being needed from a capitalist society to a socialist society.
The inspector is used very effectively to highlight the corruption and the selfish attitudes of the twentieth century society. Through the Inspector’s final dramatic speech, Priestly skillfully warns the audience of the potential social disasters of failing to support to help those in need. In fact, the inspector acts as a mouthpiece of Priestly projecting his political views. The inspector employs metaphor to explore ideas about social responsibility
Explore the ways Priestley presents strong attitudes in ‘An Inspector Calls’ ‘An Inspector Calls is a moralistic play set in 1912 and written in 1945 in which both: the audience and the characters learn something. One of the way Priestley presents strong attitudes is through the characters in the play. The majority of them are given strong opinions. Although, the author himself may disagree with them he has used dichotomy to differentiate between the different classes: lower and upper and the different
Character of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly The play "An Inspector Calls" is about an inspector who visits the Birling family, Mr Arthur Birling, Mrs Sybil Birling, Mr Eric Birling, Miss Sheila Birling and Sheila's fiancé Gerald Croft. This play is set in 1912, in the Edwardian era. When the Inspector enters every thing is based on him. None of the family can go any where or do any thing without his consent. As soon as the Inspector enters the Birling
An Inspector Calls - Examining the Role of Sheila After the Inspector has Left Examining the Role of Sheila After the Inspector has Left An Inspector Calls is a play that was written by J.B. Priestley in 1945 and is set in 1912, focusing on a respectable upper class family; the Birlings. 'Inspector Goole' interrupts a joyful engagement celebration party between Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft, and the Inspector announces the horrifying news that, "Two hours ago a young woman died in
“An Inspector Calls” is a play written by J.B. Priestly in 1945. The play, which is set in 1912, illustrates the vast status difference in society at the time. Priestly wanted to show to the audience a more dramatic look at the relationship between the wealthy and the poor. Priestley, a socialist, believed that we are all part of a community and have responsibilities to look after one another. Using the inspector as a mouthpiece, Priestley was able to cleverly convey his ideas of socialism and
agree with this description of the role of the Inspector? The quotation, " he's giving us the rope to hang ourselves." I think means that the Inspector will allow the family to condemn themselves by criticizing each other, instead of staying together and supporting each other. In this way, the Inspector would be able to clinch information that otherwise he would not be able to get from normal methods of interrogation. It suggests that the Inspector sets the family members against each other by
To consider the impact of guilt across the play Both “Macbeth and “An Inspector Calls” by William Shakespeare and J.B. Priestley both explores the impact of guilt on their characters. For Shakespeare whose novel was set in Medieval Times and written in 1606 Jacobean Times, he writes the play for King James 1 of Scotland in order to gain patronage from King. However, Priestley (a socialist) whose novel was 1912 and written in 1945 (the end of WW2), he focuses on a capitalist family in Brumley just
How does Priestley present Gerald as an upper-class 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
photograph. He even Priestley describes the Inspector, when he first appears on stage, in terms of 'massiveness, solidity and purposefulness' (p.11), symbolizing the fact that he is an unstoppable force within the play. His 'disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking' (p.11) gives the impression that he sees through surface appearances to the real person beneath. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtlessness of each character's