J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
"An Inspector Calls": Issues and Priestly's Viewpoint
22nd March 1997 Martin Howitt 11W
Discuss some of the issues raised in "An Inspector Calls" and show how Priestly expresses his own viewpoint in the play.
The play is set in the 1912 on an English street scene in the evening.
The plot of "An Inspector Calls" is about a police inspector who interrupts an elegant engagement dinner party to question the family and their guests about an unsuspected suicide of a young working-class girl called Eva Smith. There are many plot twists and changes which work well with the characters portrayed in
Priestley's play. The play is set in an upper-class household where class distinctions are breaking down, where privilege and responsibility …show more content…
But Moral guilt is not the major issue put forward in the play. The major issue is that of how class-conscious England has been put forward in the play and how the
Capitalist's and Socialist's are shown. Birling is a ruthless industrialist who worked extremely hard to make his money, and when he finally reaches the top his wealth and popularity is threatened by a suicide scandal.
The characters are a mixture of Capitalist's and Socialist's, Mr Birling being a self made upper-class Capitalist, his wife also has great belief in the family name, and works hard to keep a good reputation for herself and her family. The secretive but most sympathetic of the Birling's is Eric their son, who has a great deal to do with the Suicide of Eva Smith. Eric's sister is Sheila who gets on well with Eric but seems rather spoilt. Another key member in the play is
Sheila's fiancée Gerald Croft who is another wealthy industrialist, although
Gerald has inherited his wealth unlike Birling.
Each of these people in turn is implicated in Eva Smith's death. Priestley puts his hope and his beliefs in Sheila and Eric, whose consciences have not …show more content…
Priestly is a strong Socialist and shows this by portraying the Birling's as a ruthless family. Priestly cleverly uses Eric and Gerald in the play, as they both sleep with Eva Smith, thus causing a family discrase because they had been with someone from a lower-class. Which although now would not even be thought of, but in 1912 scandal and discrase would have been brought on to any family in the
Birling's situation.
I think that because maybe Priestly despises the capitalist's a little he makes fun of the Birling family, a good of example of this is how Mrs Birling decides to blame somebody other than her family for the whole suicide, she blames it on the father of Eva's child. This made her feel good about herself until she found out that Eric her son was the father of the child therefore making her the grandmother of the child. So after all Mrs Birling only brought more shame onto the family.
"Mrs Birling- I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have, if as she said, he didn't belong to her class, and was some drunken young idler, then that's all the more reason why he shouldn't escape."
Notice how Mrs Birling makes reference to classes herself, she totally
22nd March 1997 Martin Howitt 11W
Discuss some of the issues raised in "An Inspector Calls" and show how Priestly expresses his own viewpoint in the play.
The play is set in the 1912 on an English street scene in the evening.
The plot of "An Inspector Calls" is about a police inspector who interrupts an elegant engagement dinner party to question the family and their guests about an unsuspected suicide of a young working-class girl called Eva Smith. There are many plot twists and changes which work well with the characters portrayed in
Priestley's play. The play is set in an upper-class household where class distinctions are breaking down, where privilege and responsibility …show more content…
But Moral guilt is not the major issue put forward in the play. The major issue is that of how class-conscious England has been put forward in the play and how the
Capitalist's and Socialist's are shown. Birling is a ruthless industrialist who worked extremely hard to make his money, and when he finally reaches the top his wealth and popularity is threatened by a suicide scandal.
The characters are a mixture of Capitalist's and Socialist's, Mr Birling being a self made upper-class Capitalist, his wife also has great belief in the family name, and works hard to keep a good reputation for herself and her family. The secretive but most sympathetic of the Birling's is Eric their son, who has a great deal to do with the Suicide of Eva Smith. Eric's sister is Sheila who gets on well with Eric but seems rather spoilt. Another key member in the play is
Sheila's fiancée Gerald Croft who is another wealthy industrialist, although
Gerald has inherited his wealth unlike Birling.
Each of these people in turn is implicated in Eva Smith's death. Priestley puts his hope and his beliefs in Sheila and Eric, whose consciences have not …show more content…
Priestly is a strong Socialist and shows this by portraying the Birling's as a ruthless family. Priestly cleverly uses Eric and Gerald in the play, as they both sleep with Eva Smith, thus causing a family discrase because they had been with someone from a lower-class. Which although now would not even be thought of, but in 1912 scandal and discrase would have been brought on to any family in the
Birling's situation.
I think that because maybe Priestly despises the capitalist's a little he makes fun of the Birling family, a good of example of this is how Mrs Birling decides to blame somebody other than her family for the whole suicide, she blames it on the father of Eva's child. This made her feel good about herself until she found out that Eric her son was the father of the child therefore making her the grandmother of the child. So after all Mrs Birling only brought more shame onto the family.
"Mrs Birling- I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have, if as she said, he didn't belong to her class, and was some drunken young idler, then that's all the more reason why he shouldn't escape."
Notice how Mrs Birling makes reference to classes herself, she totally