Inspector Calls A Grade

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'An Inspector Calls' - John Boynton Priestley

John Boynton Priestley or probably better known as J.B Priestley is widely regarded as one of England's greatest play writers. As well as writing and creating brilliant plays Priestley was also known for his great intriguing novels. As an English novelist Priestley published more than 100 hundred novels most notably 'the good companions' in 1929. However, away from his successful novels, Mr Priestley was also the author of the famous and fascinating 'An Inspector Calls' play. J.B Priestly was a playwright who found inspiration from his life and experiences during world war one and two to create such egocentric but ordinary characters at the time, which eventually resulted in change in society. This essay will be exploring why and how J.B Priestley presents Arthur Birling in this remarkable play 'An Inspector Calls'. J.B Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on the 13th September 1894. From early age Priestly studied at the Bradford school, however his education and career was interrupted due to service in World War 1. Priestly then made his breakthrough in 1927, where he published 'the good companions' which was very popular and gained huge success in the US and England.

Though his play was set in the spring of 1912, the actual play was written in 1945. This is purposefully done by Priestley to convey an important message about the morals and common social beliefs at the time. It is a play that attacks the social mores and attitudes of the time. In the time of Priestley people only seemed to look after themselves, their time and attention was not spent on the community but on themselves, Priestley had believed in social welfare and caring for the vulnerable. Mr Priestley was a socialist who believed that every person had the responsibility to look after others and not see any difference in classes. To portray his thoughts and beliefs he set his play in 1912, a time where there was a big division between the rich and poor. The play was then written and published in 1945 just after world war two had finished. This was a time where change occurred and reconstruction of Britain had started to take place with the setting up of the welfare state. The play helped people realise that there is no difference between upper and lower class and that together they comprise the community.

Priestley portrays his message through the use of the Birling family, typical characters for people in high society. Through the Birling family, readers come to recognise different attitudes between the new (Sheila and Eric) and the old (Arthur and Sybil Birling) generation. The most notable character in this play and a strong example of the older generation is Mr Birling. Birling is represented as foolish and self-satisfied through the use of dramatic irony. Another reason why this play was purposefully set in 1912 and a benefit of Priestley's use of dramatic irony is that the audience have the advantage of knowing what has occurred after 1912; therefore when Mr Birling states that the Titanic was 'unsinkable' and that world war would never happen, the audience have the knowledge that both events have actually happened. This makes Mr Birling look really foolish and this is made worse as he seems to be smart and confident.

Mr Birling is described as being 'pompous' and 'portentous' by Priestley. The use of such negative words portrays Birling as an unlikeable person. The audience can learn more about Mr Birling through the way he interacts with other characters in the play. The way Birling is presented in the play, gives readers the impression that he is one of those who like many others at the time believed that men were superior to women. This is shown when he says "women's clothes are a token of their self respect", it is evident that Birling is not a man that holds interest in women and regards them as being inferior. Life has changed a lot over the years and the idea of male superiority is obviously not considered in the modern generation. Once again another reason why the play was written in 1945 but set in 1912, is that the 1945 audience may have also disliked the idea of male superiority as during the years of war the roles of women changed and they were made to work hard and take on male type jobs. Therefore many may see Birling's statement as disrespectful and Birling himself a bit of a dinosaur as the idea of male superiority is now a thing of the past.

Another example of Mr Birling's ruthless and uncaring character is where he is asked a simple question by Inspector Goole about the dismissing of Eva Smith and wage demands in which he replies "...if you don't come done sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the Earth". This illustrates his poor treatment of his employees. In addition, the fact that he refers to his employees as 'these people' demonstrates how he has separated himself to his 'lower class' employees and this further shows how he is portrayed as arrogant through interaction with other characters. One clever thing that Priestly did was to present Birling as an extremely foolish person. For instance, where Birling makes a very strong confident speech in which he replies "fiddlesticks" to rumours of a potential war. However the audience knows that a war has occurred not once but twice, making Birling look silly. This is a technique that is used by Priestly so that when the 1945 audience read or watch the play, they can almost compare the old generation to the new and recognise the different attitudes.
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It is evident that Mr Birling is a man of money and it seems that he is only driven by money and success. The way Birling is presented also gives the audience the impression that he would whatever it takes increase the capital in his business, "Birling and Company". A very good example of this is the "arranged" marriage between Gerald Croft and Sheila Birling. Mr Birling saw an opportunity here to boost his financial projections with his company to merge with Gerald Crofts Company, "...working together for lower costs and higher prices". Once again, the benefit of ...

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