An Inspector Calls

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An Inspector Calls

In 1945 J.B. Priestley wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ however it is set in 1912 and is written in a murder mystery style.  J.B. Priestley explains throughout the story how all the members of the Birling family and Gerald Croft is responsible for the death of Eva Smith.  Priestley makes the story interesting as he links up the events leading up to Eva Smith’s suicide.  Priestley also explains how we are responsible for each other in society.  J.B. Priestley also brings ideas to life such as actors, staging and lighting.

‘An Inspector Calls’ was written in 1945 but set in 1912 to show the audience how industrialists like the Birlings and Gerald Croft were responsible for World War.  Priestley believed in a welfare state, he wanted a welfare state because then the likes of Eva Smith would not depend on families like the Birlings.  The Inspector arrives after Mr Birling’s speech; he slams the door as he comes in.  He slams the door to show he has come to look into and investigate their lives as well as to show how we are all connected in society.

The play is set in a rich industrialist’s dining room.  The lighting is ‘pink and intimate’ as an engagement is being celebrated until the determined Inspectors arrival.  When Inspector Goole arrives the lighting should be ‘brighter and harder’ as the Inspector has come to look into their lives.  The colour screen play is set in a luxurious dining room, whereas the theatre production play is set in no mans land and there are homeless people there, as well as a 1945 phone box.  The Birling’s house is elevated to show how they are cut of from society.  In the colour screen play there is a dramatic pause when the Inspector arrives, but in the theatre production the house opens up to show how the Inspector is going to investigate ‘opens’ their lives.  The theatre production is not realistic as the blitz occurred after 1912 and there were not any phone boxes in 1912.

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Firstly Priestley uses Mr Birling, a lavish character in ‘An Inspector Calls’ to represent the wealthy upper classes and industrialists.  Birling is described by Priestley as ‘a heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech.’  Furthermore, Priestley uses dramatic irony to show how people like Mr Birling were responsible for the war, for example Birling boasts ‘the titanic, she sails next week, absolutely unsinkable’ both a modern and 1946 audience would have known that this was the worst shipping disaster on record.  Moreover Birling claims that ‘the Germans don’t ...

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