The outbreak of war meant that when Priestly was 20, he joined the Armed Services as an Infantry Man. At 25 (1919), Priestly left the army. During his time in the war he had been in active front-line service in France and had nearly been killed when a German bomb exploded at two or three yards away from him. He had also been the subject of a gas attack. Priestly says ,I was lucky in war and have never ceased to be aware of that’. I believe that coming so close to death and narrowly escaping with his life gave him confidence and the belief that he was meant to be alive, in retrospect we know his writing was to influence the way Britain was at the time. Priestly was a socialist man, meaning he believed in equality and fairness, something which was rare in most years of his life. Through his plays he tried to influence people into his way of thinking. He knew that the people who were in positions of power, from the Conservative party member to the Middle-Class factory owner, were only concerned with looking after themselves and were quite happy to over-look the poverty, inequality and injustice which tainted the lives of people less fortunate than them.
Common themes in Priestly plays were that the audience was shown possible projections of their actions in contrast to their present conditions at the time. Another recurring theme is responsibility, individual and collective, for those actions and their subsequent reactions. He wanted people to be aware that they need to be responsible for their actions and accountable for them. Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ in 1945.
A particularly important year for Presitly was in 19777 when Queen Elizabeth II made him a member of the Order of Merit, which was a great honour for him. In 1984 Priestly dies at the age of 89.
During the time in which an inspector calls is set there was a class system in Britain Lower class-foremen, hand-crafters, day labourers, domestic servants. Lower-Middle class- shopkeepers, small tradesmen. Diversified Middle class- moderately successful industrialists, merchants, professionals, doctors, lawyers. Upper Middle class- banking, industry, large-scale commercialists, politicians Upper Class- mostly royalty, inherited wealth.
Conditions for factory workers were disgraceful. There were no Health and safety rules or regulations. If they became ill, they wouldn’t get pay. During the industrial revolution, thousands of factories were built. However there were not enough jobs for the numbers of people that wanted work, this meant that factory owners could take advantages of workers by paying them low wages and treating them unfairly because they didn’t had top look hard to find a replacement should they decide to leave.
Wide-scale strikes for better pay and conditions were occurring regularly, the majority of strikes were between 1904 and 1926. At one point, 2.2 million people were unemployed in 1926, which contributed to the ‘General Strike, the largest strike ever conducted by the 3relativley new trade unions. This forced middle class factory owners to treat working call people better by giving them more pay and Health and Safety standards.
The conservative party where only concerned with the rights and needs of the Upper-Class and Middle-Class citizens, whereas the labour party (who were gaining support and strength) were socialists, so they wanted to improve workers rights and try to improve the poverty.
The introduction of the welfare state in 1945 was a milestone in the treatment of lower class people. They got unemployment benefits, minimum wage, free health service and generally a better standard of living.
The play opens in the dining room of a moderately large suburban house. It has solid wood furniture reflective of the style of the time. It is comfortable and of high quality but not relaxing, homelike and snug.
All of the characters are in evening dress. Arthur, Eric and Gerald are in tails with white ties. Arthur is said to be a self-assured and bulky man in his 50’s. Sybil Birling, his wife, is an unaffectionate, bleak and cold woman of about 50 years of age. Sheila Birling, the daughter of Sybil and Arthur Birling is an optimistic, content and elegant young woman in her early twenties.
Gerald Croft is a handsome, charming well brought up man in his thirties. He is said to be a ‘man-about-town’ which means that he is a womaniser basically.
The audience’s first impressions of the Birling family would be a normal, happy and content one. However, they should know that things are not always as they seem and would expect some shocking suprises.
