Account for the success and popularity of 'An Inspector Calls' over fifty-eight years.

Authors Avatar

English                Shraddha Patel

Account for the success and popularity of ‘An Inspector Calls’ over fifty-eight years.  Refer to one or two scenes in your answer.

Priestley wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ in 1945.  The play is set in the year 1912 and is at first sight a ‘straightforward detective thriller’ as Tim Bezant says in his Introduction.  Mysteries appeal to everybody.  This may be because there is a lot of suspense, causing tension.  If ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a very popular play, this is probably one of the main reasons.  This work also explores the changes that take place - or not, as the case may be - in human beings when their consciences are affected.  It is, above all, a play with a message.  

At the very beginning the author introduces all the characters and establishes the idea of a happy and united family looking forward to the future with a degree of confidence.  As this is a typical family the audience is engrossed in the play because we are fascinated with gossip and what events occur in other people’s lives.  An example of this is in the soap opera, ‘Eastenders’.  This is one of the most popular soap operas today due to the dramas and conflicts that occur in a few families.  

In retrospect, there are a number of hints that all is not as it seems but these are not particularly obvious until later in the play. There is nothing to warn us of the shock of the Inspector's visit.  Priestley also shows the relationships between each character.  These are universal themes that apply to human beings at any time and at any place.  An example of a universal theme is the relationship between Mr and Mrs Birling.  Mrs Birling evidently knows more about social matters then Mr Birling because her husband does not know how to host a party and she tells him off.

‘Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things.’

Mrs Birling says this after Mr Birling has complimented the cook on the dinner, when he is supposed to be the host of the party.  An audience at any period would laugh at this comment because it shows a typical argument between couples.  

A few lines later Mrs Birling says to Sheila:

“When you are married you’ll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get   used to that, just as I had.”

Join now!

This shows the relationship between middle class men and women in 1912.  The men worked and brought money into the house whereas women stayed at home and supervised the house and children, with servants to do the actual physical work.   Today, both women and men can get jobs but we still live in a male dominated world, where even if a woman goes out to work she will still usually be the one who is mainly responsible for the home and children.  Priestley gives us a symbol of separation between male and female just after Gerald has given Sheila ...

This is a preview of the whole essay