The Author (priestley) wanted to ensure life after the war was better than before and he hoped that through his writing he cou
Inspector calls: Responsibility
The Author (priestley) wanted to ensure life after the war was better than before and he hoped that through his writing he could influence people's ideas and change society. Although he wrote an Inspector Calls in 1945, (a week after the war ended) he deliberately set it in 1912 because that time represented the sort of society everybody wanted to leave behind. The message of the play was particularly effective to the audiences of 1946. Priestley knew that the message of his play would reach the war-weary audiences of the era more effectively than it would reach the audiences of a different time. The "fire and blood and anguish" reference to the First and Second World Wars would be very influential to the audience. The audiences had experienced the horrors of war and were not eager to experience them again, so they may think that if they followed JB Priestley's message, they would prevent yet another world war. ad;
Priestley wrote this play intentionally as he saw an urgent need for social change and used the play to express his desire for social equality. The time span between the dates used (1945-1912) is to make us aware of what has happened and learn from mistakes made. Priestley hoped his play would give society the chance with hindsight to look back on the past and not just carry on life in the same way as before. He was particularly concerned about the living conditions of the lower classes, represented by Eva Smith (the name "Smith" being cleverly used: a common name being used to represent all other people), and the way the upper classes behaved, represented by the Birlings and Gerald Croft. Mrs Birling, especially, was used to highlight the social differences between classes, with constant references to etiquette and behaviour: "Arthur, you're not supposed to say such things-" (pg 2) Mrs Birling consistently corrects the expressions said by other members of the family.
People were expected to know their place in society and stick to it and moving from one section of the class system to another was frowned upon by those in power.
Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through strikes and the formation of trade unions to co-ordinate these actions.
This was a strange idea to those who owned the factories and workplaces, who expected to have complete control over all aspects of their workers lives. The bosses wanted things to stay as they always had been, with them in control of the labour, jobs, conditions and pay. The bosses, being of a higher class than the workers, believed that they knew ...
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Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through strikes and the formation of trade unions to co-ordinate these actions.
This was a strange idea to those who owned the factories and workplaces, who expected to have complete control over all aspects of their workers lives. The bosses wanted things to stay as they always had been, with them in control of the labour, jobs, conditions and pay. The bosses, being of a higher class than the workers, believed that they knew best and should make decisions for the masses. These were mainly based on how much profit they could make and they rarely considered the welfare of the workers.
In the play itself the main family, the 'Birlings' are wealthy middle class landowners and proprietors of a large factory that was built up by the father of Mr. Birling. He has hopes of gaining a Knighthood, due to his service as a magistrate and as Lord Mayor, which he sees as his way to climb the social ladder to the lower rungs of the aristocracy. This is shown in the way in which he compares this to the mother of his daughter's fiancée, Lady Croft, who is already, part of the aristocracy. Therefore, it can be seen that by marrying Gerald Croft, Sheila is playing a part in the families' social climbing.
Another aim of writing the play was to comment on the changing role of women in this era.
Women at that time were seen as being delicate, fragile and obedient to their husbands or fathers. Women were trying to get rights the same as men, beginning the Suffragette movement.
Under Roman law, which influenced later British law, husband and wife were regarded as one, with the woman the "possession" of the man. As such, a woman had no legal control over her person, her own land and money, or her children.
Mrs Birling is a middle class woman of considerable influence - involved in good work, considered a suitable occupation for a lady in society. Women of higher classes did not work, but did only charitable work. This was seen as acceptable as it was a caring role that fitted with the idealised Victorian view, still held then, of women as mothers and carers.
Sheila follows this path by not working, the only occupation mentioned which she does is shopping. However, Sheila is starting to see that women should not always have to assume the role of their ancestors - it could be said that she had suffragette ideas. This is shown when Birling, Eric and Gerald wish to be left alone to speak about business, politics etc. Sheila does not see why she should not be allowed to stay, and objects. This shoes her changing attitudes.
Priestley believed that we should all help each other, which is the total opposite to what the Birlings believed. He uses the inspector to symbolise the conscience of the nation, and through him, challenges each of the characters (who represent a different part of society.) He shows that change is more likely to come through the young (Sheila and Eric) rather than through the older generation (Arthur and Sybil) or the upper classes symbolised by Gerald Croft.
'An Inspector Calls' is set in an industrial city in the Midlands of 1912. It concerns wealthy industrial businessman Arthur Birling, his family, the fiancé Gerald Croft and the part they all play in the events leading up to the suicide of lower class girl, Eva Smith. The play runs parallel to what was happening to society at the time. Each uncaring action and statement is backed up with ensuing consequences. The Play opens with a conversation between Mr Birling and family and Gerald Croft. The family is sitting in their dining room celebrating the success of their daughter Sheila's engagement to the son of a businessman of higher social status than the Birling family.
The timing of the entrance of the inspector is quite a prominent part of the play.
Just as Mr Birling begins to finish his speech saying, "man has to mind his own business and look after his own [family]" (PG 10) a ring of the doorbell interrupts him. When the Inspector calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family his startling revelations not only shatter the very foundations of their lives, but also challenge us all to examine our own consciences.
The inspector examines each character in turn, prompting them to 'confess' to their trigger to Eva's suicide. We are gradually introduced to each character, building greatly on our first impressions of them at the dinner party.e for be more dissertation be Do be not be redistribute
The first character the inspector focuses his attention on is Mr Birling, perhaps the character who needed the most work in realising his part in the collective blame for Eva's death. Mr Birling believes himself to be a "hard-headed business man" (PG 6) who is more concerned with high profits then the welfare of his employees. He believes he is a fair employer paying only what he has to and no more. If asked for a raise he would say it was his duty to keep costs low and prices high. He thought very highly of himself as he might find his "way into the next honours list" (PG 8) but regards with contempt the 'cranks' that say that "Everybody should look after everybody else."
Birling believes that through his experience he knows that there will be no war and as he claims the Titanic is unsinkable, the audience can easily understand his foolishness. This is just the start of Priestley's message, do not be as foolish as to think just because England has won the war it does not mean that it is safe from trouble, the use of dramatic irony helps to express this. Birling has the complete opposite view of life's values to Priestley, and by using this dramatic irony to show that Birling was wrong about future events Priestley hoped to convince the audience that Birling is also misguided about his views of community and shared responsibility. Every one of the predictions Birling makes are wrong; the Titanic sank on her maiden voyage, World War one broke out two years after the play was set and the American stock market crashed in 1929, plunging the world into economic chaos. This leads the audience to regard him as a man of many words but little sense! While Arthur Birling is moved to anger by the Inspector, he does not confront the effects of his actions until the Inspector is about to leave.!
The next character that is put intro the spotlight is the one character that seems to learn form her mistakes - Sheila Birling. At the start of the play, she is 'very pleased with life'. (PG 2) She is young, attractive and has just become engaged. Her happiness is soon to be destroyed, as is her faith in her family. Her response to the tragedy is one of the few encouraging things to come out of the play. She is genuinely upset when she hears of Eva's death and learns from her own behaviour. She is very distressed by the girl's suicide and thinks that her father's behaviour was unacceptable. She readily agrees that she behaved very badly and insists that she never meant the girl any harm. The Inspector says that she is only partly responsible and later on, when he is about to question Gerald, he encourages her to stay and listen to what he has to say so that she does not feel entirely responsible. Not only is she prepared to admit her faults, she also appears keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, "I will never, never do it again". (PG) She is aware of the mystery surrounding the Inspector, yet realises that there is no point in trying to hide the facts from him. She is mature about the breaking up of her engagement and remains calm. She will not be rushed into accepting the ring back once the Inspector has left. She is unable to accept her parents' attitude and is both amazed and concerned that they have not learned anything from the episode. Although the Inspector might be a hoax, the family have still behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner. She learns of her responsibilities to others less fortunate than herself (the idea of the community) and is sensitive. Her readiness to learn from experience is in great contrast to her parents.
