An Inspector Calls

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English Coursework - 'An Inspector Calls'

'An Inspector Calls' is a murder mystery written in the form of a play set in 1912 and is written by J.B. Priestly. It revolves around one family of a high social status - the Birlings. The play begins with the family celebrating the engagement of their daughter, Sheila, to a man called Gerald Croft. Their celebration is interrupted by a call from an Inspector, making inquiries about a young girl called Eva Smith who has just died from swallowing a large amount of disinfectant. The Inspector then begins to question each member of the family to uncover their part in Eva's death. Priestly uses each character, including the Inspector, to teach the audience very important life lessons - both individual and collective responsibility. 'An Inspector Calls' has been called a modern day morality play because Priestly uses his characters to represent the many different people in the world and tries to bring them all together in a family unit to teach them a very important lesson. The lessons learnt can be applied to everyone's daily life, regardless of their status/situation and the lesson is one of moral values. This lesson is learnt through the Inspector and Priestly reinforces his main message through the layout and language of the play e.g. the dramatic irony, plain irony and varied characters making sure that everyone can identify to at least one and perhaps learn a lesson from them.

Priestly's main theme of the play is that we are all responsible for each other and we all have to think about our actions and what effect they will have on others. This is shown mainly through the parts that each family member play in the death of Eva Smith. Although not entirely to blame, each family member in some way contributed to her death. Even Gerald, one who is not yet in this family, was entwined in a web of immoral behaviour and deceit. Priestly uses each member of the family to represent characters in society. It is in this way that he attempts to enforce the message of responsibility because one is able to identify with at least one character or see it from their point of view. He chooses a family of high social status to bring about another important theme - high social status does not necessarily equal good moral and ethical values. The Birlings represent one such family.

Mr Birling is used to represent an upper class head of the family, whose main philosophy on life is that "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself." The very fact that Birling believes one must look after himself is in complete contrast with the theme of the play - collective responsibility. Priestly uses this contrast to teach Birling a lesson and to show the audience how wrong he is which will in turn prove the latter theory. Birling is also particularly preoccupied with social status. He is very conscious of the fact that people have an opinion of him and his family and that social status equals respect within the community. Any threat to his and his family's reputation must be quickly dealt with and covered up. This is shown clearly from his statement "I've got to cover this up as soon as I can" in reference to the fact that it has emerged that his son, Eric, has stolen a considerable amount of money form his account. This is also in some way connected to another one of Priestly's themes - social status does not equal good morals - Eric stealing money, especially from his father. Also, when it is revealed that Mrs Birling too played a part in Eva's part, a part that was cruel and malicious, Mr Birling does not seem to even acknowledge what she did was wrong in the slightest. His only words on the matter are, "...when this comes out at the inquest it isn't going to do us much good. The Press might easily take it up..." The part in which Birling played in Eva's death is the fact that, after a dispute over wages (Eva and various other girls working in the factory wanted a small yet significant pay rise), Birling fired her leaving her penniless and homeless. Birling refuses to accept any responsibility in Eva's death because he is not able to see how his firing her could in any way cause her death. The Inspector answers with the following, "What happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events." This statement sums up all of the family's involvement in her death - they were all responsible in part and all contributed to her suicide. Upon hearing this Birling adds some more philosophy - "...Still I can't accept responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward." The last part of his 'philosophy, "it would be very awkward wouldn't it", shows that not only can he not see how he contributed to her death (evident from the whole of his speech) but he finds it quite difficult to take responsibility for anything. He is simply not bothered in what happens to others. This shows how difficult it has become for him to accept those of lower status than himself (he thinks of Eva as just another girl who comes under the heading of cheap labour whom he is able to exploit). Even after the rest of the family is questioned and it becomes clear that his sacking of Eva did play, however small, some part in her death, he is unable to accept responsibility.
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The Inspector later questions Sheila and it emerges that she too played a part in Eva's death. After two months of desperation, without work and unable to buy food or pay for accommodation, Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton and managed to acquire a position in a shop called Millwards. Her run of bad luck did not end here. She then got fired from this shop because Sheila got her fired. Sheila was shopping with her mother in Millwards where Daisy worked and, against the advice of her mother and the assistant, tried on a dress, which ...

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