Preview

How Does Priestley Present Mccarthyism In An Inspector Calls

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
529 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does Priestley Present Mccarthyism In An Inspector Calls
The playwright of 'An Inspector Calls' John Boynton Priestly was alive between 1894 and 1984, in this time he served in the First World War where in 1916 he was badly injured. It wasn't until the end of the Second World War in 1945 that he wrote 'An Inspector Calls'; he chose to set the play thirty years in the past before either wars had happened- in 1912. Priestly was a renowned socialist and highly respected in his time- with his own radio show which around twenty million tuned into each week. Unfortunately, Priestley was seen as too popular- for the conservative government at the time- and taken off air for fear that communities would listen to his left wing ideas more then the prime minister, Winston Churchill. Priestley's ideas of socialism and morality are …show more content…
In act 1 The Birling family and Gerald are celebrating Gerald and Sheila's engagement in the dining room. Sheila and Eric are arguing in a not really serious way, while Gerald and Mr. Birling are talking about business, politics mostly about the Titanic. Mr. Birling is on his way to the next social class by getting an knighthood. Lady Croft has a very strong view of social classes; it looks like she isn't too happy about the fact, that her son is engaged to a girl of a lower class. Just before the ring bells and the inspector arrives, Mr. Birling shows his outlook on life to Gerald and Eric "a man has to make his own way, has to look after himself and his family". The inspector enters and tells them about the suicide. He shows a photograph to Mr.Birling. and starts questioning him. It turns out that Eva Smith had been one of Mr.Birlings. employees and later on was discharged because she asked for more money, had been refused and went on a strike along with allot of other employees, and was later fired for being one of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Priestley shows us that the older generation –Mr and Mrs Birling - are less ‘impressionable’ (as the inspector said) than the younger generation – Eric and Sheila. This means that they are less able to learn for their actions and change their ways. In the middle of the generations is Gerald, who portrays traits of both age groups at different times during the play.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As soon as they meet in act one, Birling attempts to show his social superiority to the Inspector, boasting about his contacts in the police force, this shows Birlings character and the type of person he is, big headed and boastfull. Within the play Mr and Mrs Birling seems to be the only characters that are unable to accept the fact that they helped in the death of eva smith. In contrast to Mr and Mrs Birling Sheila has total opposite views and realises what she did was wrong, and wishes that she could go back and never get Eva sacked-…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Furthermore, Mr Birling was the employer of Eva Smith and he fired her just because she was taking part in a petition for a pay rise, eventually starting the chain of events that lead to the death of the innocent Eva. It’s evident that Mr Birling is not the main reason of Eva’s suicide, however he passively contributed in it. Plus when questioned by the Inspector, Mr Birling continues to be stubborn and arrogant and argues that he is completely guiltless. This fact is quite obvious when he declares himself that “still” he cannot accept any responsibility.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Through his play Priestley encourages people to seize the opportunity the end of the war had given them to build a better, more caring society and put an end to the “Golden Age” Which Winston Churchill of the Conservative party favoured. However Priestley favoured Clement Attlee of the opposing party Labour; he thought Labour were more fair and equal and spoke the truth, Priestley thought many people had forgotten the truth, that the rich had all the power and the poor had nothing during the “Golden Age.” His play “An Inspector Calls” serves to remind people that the “Golden Age” was not as carefree as Churchill made out; in fact, it was the rich who held all the power over the poor. Society was ruled by money, class and gender!…

    • 2614 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birlings often show their wealth and power through gestures of grandeur. In act 1, Mr Birling assures Gerald that that what he is marrying into is a honourable family. He does these countless times through sly mentioning of the port they’re drinking or the size of their business. At this moment Sheila also makes teasing comments to Gerald, but towards Gerald Mr and Mrs Birling feel obligated to portray a family with great manners including a modest and obedient daughter. Eric shows the flawed behaviour in their family, as he constantly misbehaves and is obviously fond of drinking.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Timing of entrances and exits is crucial. For example, the Inspector arrives immediately after Birling has told Gerald about his impending knighthood and about how "a man has to look after himself and his own. The sound of the inspector ringing the bell can be seen as a clear division between the peaceful ignorant life the Birlings once knew and the disaster of learning the truth about…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birlings are a family of wealth and power, who take pride in their high social position. Mr. Birling is a successful businessman, and the family inhabits a nice home with a maid (and likely other servants). The play begins with the family celebrating and feeling generally pleased with themselves and their fortunate circumstance. Throughout the Inspector’s investigation, however, it comes out that several of the Birlings have used their power and influence immorally, in disempowering and worsening the position of a girl from a lower class: Mr. Birling used his high professional position to force Eva Smith out of his factory when she led a faction of workers in demanding a raise; Sheila, in a bad temper, used her social status and her family’s…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The play “An Inspector calls” is written by the author J.B Priestley, all three acts are taken place in the dining-room of the Birlings’ house in Brumply, an industrial city in the North Midlands. The time it was set was an evening in spring, 1912. The play was first produced at the New Theatre in October, 1946. The story contains the characters: Arthur Birling, Sybil Birling, Eric Birling, Gerald Croft, Edna and INSPECTOR GOOLE. The detective thriller really gets the audience’s attention, from the build up to what's going to happen next, the cliff hanger round each corner to the terrible twists near to the end, these kind of things really catch the eye of the reader and makes them want to read more and more into the book. The lifelike picture…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is really critical and crucial that Mrs. Birling behaves without any feeling of responsibility when she knew that Eva Smith was pregnant at the time. However, she refused and didn’t accept her responsibility about it by saying ‘…Go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility.’ We can infer that Mrs. Birling doesn’t seem like to know the father of her child is Eric. She thinks upper class shouldn’t get any type of relationship with working class like Eva Smith. She was really frightened when the fact that Eva has baby of Eric was…

    • 1855 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    guilt is not the major issue put forward in the play. The major issue is that of…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eric seems desperate for his father’s approval, and for Mr Birling to show any sort of affection or love towards Eric, which Mr Birling is oblivious to ‘Because you’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’. However, by the end of the play, Eric does not appear to care what his father thinks of him, as when Mr Birling says to Eric ‘You’re the one I blame for this’, and Eric replies ‘I’ll bet I am… I don’t care now’. If Mr Birling had said that to Eric in the beginning of Act 1, Eric would have assumed that it is his fault, and would have begged for Mr Birling’s forgiveness. Eric also now realises that his parents are not perfect- ‘I’m ashamed of you as well- yes both of you’. In addition, after Inspector Goole leaves the Birling’s, after his speech about capitalism and communism, one of the first things that Mr Birling says is that ‘There’ll be a public scandal… I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours list’. This reveals how little Mr Birling learns or cares about what happened, and also how he is not in the slightest concerned about Eric’s welfare after he has heard such shocking news. Mr Birling also tries to blame Eric by accusing Eric- ‘you’ve been spoilt’. In addition, Mr Birling takes no responsibility for Eric allegedly spoiling Eric, even though Mr Birling played a big part in helping to raise Eric. Even though Eric appears to be very jealous of Gerald and Mr Birling’s relationship, as they both stay in the dinning room while Eric, Shelia and Mrs Birling go into the drawing room. This shows how Eric is not yet considered a man, and still viewed as a child, which is why he goes with his…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inspector Calls

    • 768 Words
    • 2 Pages

    We also realise later on in the play that Sheila is very perceptive, and a lot clever than she may have seemed on the surface, much more so than her parents. We see this when Mrs Birling is blaming the father of Eva Smith’s child (who we soon find out to be Eric Birling himself) for her suicide. Sheila tries to stop her mother from speaking out because she realises before anyone else the horrible situation that her mother is putting the family in. This shows the audience a huge contrast between Sheila and her mother that the Inspector has drawn out, and how she is altogether more perceptive and open than her parents. She understands the consequences of not cooperating with the Inspector and whilst the realisation about Eric exposes her mother as a hypocrite, it shows us that Sheila has intelligence and awareness that we have never seen before, and we, as the readers, warm to her.…

    • 768 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Act 1, Priestley uses the character of Inspector Goole to arrive unexpectedly at the Birlings household and not only shatter the very foundations of their lives but challenge us all to examine our senses of right and wrong. His use of the Inspector opens the door to explore responsibility in this play as he one by one challenges them to reveal their guilt. I think that the idea of the play and particularly the role of the Inspector are 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. Therefore it could be said that Eva Smith was simply a victim of her class and time. This point is very significant and is the basis of the entire play, to grasp it is imperative to the understanding of the play, without this, an analysis of responsibility would be far more difficult.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Priestley presents the inspector as a man who enjoys allowing people to feel intimidated by his presence. This is shown in the quote:…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sheila Biriling

    • 1038 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sheila Birling, perhaps is a representation of a very stereotypical female. Naive, probably is the most suitable word to describe this young innocent woman who is marked by unaffected simplicity. Her infantalisation can be seen by referring her parents as 'mummy' and 'daddy'. Moreover, she referred the death of Eva Smith as 'an accident' in 'Oh-how horrible! Was it an accident?' when it mustn't be 'an accident'. Sheila presents the idea that woman in this era was only seen as an object, a vase who only has a beautiful appearance and nothing else. The repetition of the word 'admiringly' when Sheila looks at her ring, we see what's Sheila cares most is her appearance, this can also be reflected when she became jealous of Eva in the shop. This characteristic of Sheila reflected the life of a woman in this era was only suppose to dress themselves beautifully and to get married. Her diction reflects her initial happiness at the start of the play; she specks in a light, joking voice about 'these purpled-faced old man' who know all about port, and in 'mock aggressiveness' to Gerald as the whether he might 'object' to jointing her…

    • 1038 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays