‘An Inspector Calls’ is a cleaver blend of the detective thriller and the morality play. Explore how Priestly uses these two stylistic models to convey his message and entertain his audience.

‘An Inspector Calls’ is a cleaver blend of the detective thriller and the morality play. Explore how Priestly uses these two stylistic models to convey his message and entertain his audience.

‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play that can be viewed on two levels. To start off with, we are faced with a typical detective thriller in that a crime has been committed and the law represented by the Inspector finds out the villains. It has the main body of a detective thriller with suspense, climaxes and anticipation. As the play unfolds it shows the concept of a morality play. It is more a social morality play, then a religious one. There’s a message be hides the play, that everyone is responsible for each other – collective responsibility. That no matter how small our actions seems to be, there will always be consequences for others. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’ exactly the opposite to what we are told to believe by Mr Birling, that everybody should look after themselves. Priestley conveyed his message well, showing us how the situation can be changed and who to depend on to change it.

Although each member of the Birling family and Gerald Croft have had contact with Eva Smith/Daisy Renton during the previous two years, none of them is aware of the others’ connection in the tragedy until the day of the inspector’s visit. He makes them aware of the part they have played in her tragic end. The characters each react differently to the news and to the degree of responsibility that they should bear.

The play of ‘An Inspector Calls’ is based in the Birling home in 1910. When the play starts they are all in the dinning room after dinner. The furniture is very typical for an upper call family in the early 20th century. The furniture is very solid – this represents the Birling business, strong, powerful, built to last. They are all wearing evening dress of that period. The whole play is set inside the Birling residence; this makes it right for a detective thriller because it lets the audience concentrate on one room rather then many. After viewing all of this, it allows the audience to be ‘educated’ further into what families of the period were like.  

The first person to have contact with Eva was Arthur Birling. He had employed her at his works until September 1910. At first when the inspector had asked him about Eva he couldn’t remember her until the inspector showed him a photograph of her. He then remembered her and explained about his involvement. Eva had been involved in a dispute over low wages and because she had been one of the leaders in the strike, he had dismissed her.
When told of the consequences of his actions, that Eva was out of work for two months and desperate for money, Arthur Birling showed no shame. He explained that:
“The girl had been causing trouble in the works.
I was quite justified.”
Gerald Croft backed him up where as Sheila and Eric disapproved.
Arthur Birling resents being challenged by the inspector and especially resents the suggestion that he just uses girls for cheap labour and getting rich on this exploitation. To Arthur Birling, as to others of his kind, workers were there to do a job and it was not his responsibility to look after their welfare. He firmly believed that he was being fair to his workers by paying them the going rates. He well thought-out it his duty to keep labour costs down and stamp out any unrest among his workforce. Although Arthur Birling set Eva’s tragedy in motion I don’t think he was to blame at all for her death because he was just behaving as any other manufacturer at that time would have done. However, I did dislike his attitude when he found out about her death. He was too concerned about keeping the story quiet to protect his position in society and his knighthood. Arthur Birling’s attitude that “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself” was precisely what JB Priestly was fighting against when he wrote this play. He believed that we should all help each other and take responsibility for our actions.

After being sacked from Birling’s Eva was out of work for two months but then she got a job as a sales assistant in a clothes shop. It was here where Sheila’s involvement took place. She had been a valued customer at Milwards and used this to her advantage to get Eva dismissed. Sheila had complained about Eva for laughing at her when she tried on a dress. What had perhaps annoyed her even more was that Eva looked better in the dress than she did. Eva was very pretty and Sheila was jealous of her and because of this she “couldn’t be sorry for her”.
Unlike her father Sheila felt guilty for having Eva sacked. As she says “I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a whole lot worse”. Eva’s second dismissal left her in a worse state than her first dismissal and she became hopeless. Sheila has been the cause of this further degeneration but we feel less inclined to blame her because of her remorse. Whereas Arthur sacked Eva quite cold bloodedly and never gave her a second thought, Sheila’s action was the result of a fit of temper and she regretted it right away. She seems real when she says,
“It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never do it again to anybody.”

This is the reaction JB Preistley wanted to get from his audience. He wanted people to feel sympathy and care for each other and take responsibility for their actions.

Perhaps Sheila does deserve more blame than her father. Although Sheila shows more remorse than Arthur her reasons for getting Eva sacked are less valid. Arthur saw Eva as a troublemaker who could upset his production. Sheila however got rid of her for a far less important reason caused by her own temper and jealousy.

Gerald Croft becomes involved with the girl at this stage but she has now changed her name to Daisy Renton in an attempt to start a new life. She is destitute and considers prostitution.
Gerald first met Daisy in a bar at the theatre. He saw Joe Meggarty harassing her and went to her rescue. He took her for a drink and a meal because he pitied her and he learnt she was desperate and so let her use his friend’s rooms. She then became his mistress and they were together for the whole summer of 1911. He finished with her and cast her aside because of his relationship with Sheila Birling.

Although he was probably fond of Daisy, there was never going to be any future in the relationship because of the class differences. Gerald was the son of Lord and Lady Croft and would be expected to marry someone of similar social standing. This was more important in the early 1900’s. Even Arthur Birling feels socially inferior and boasts about a possible knighthood to increase his own importance.

Being rejected by Gerald was probably more hurtful to Daisy than the dismissals inflicted on her by Arthur and Sheila Birling because there were strong emotions involved. Daisy was in love with Gerald and being thrown out by him left her not only homeless but heartbroken. Also she had been cared for by Gerald and enjoyed quite a luxurious lifestyle. She therefore had more to lose than previously. The drain on her emotions would have left her with less fighting spirit so her future looked even bleaker.