an inspector calls

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Christian Davies

“An Inspector Calls” Coursework

What message is J.B Priestly trying to get across in “An Inspector Calls” and how does he do it?

In this play Priestley is trying to get across the message that we are all responsible for each other and that we should not just care about our family and ourselves. The writer shows this when the Inspector says “we are all members of the body. We are responsible for each other.” This is most effective because it is the last thing he says before he leaves. This also leaves the audience thinking about the message the writer is trying to get across. The writer also keeps the stage and the plot very simple this is so the audience can really focus on the dialogue

One important device that Priestley uses to manipulate his audience is the use of time. The play is set in 1912, but it was written and performed more than thirty years later. This allows Priestley to make Mr. Birling seem even more stupid. In 1912 the Titanic is about to set sail and the prospects of a first world war are looking more and more likely. In Act I Mr Birling talks about these points when he says “nobody wants war as there is too much to lose and nothing to gain;” he also says “the Titanic is unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”. As these events had already happened when this play was written, Priestley uses dramatic irony to show how Mr Birling thinks he is right about everything when we know he is wrong. The Inspector is not afraid to challenge Mr Birling’s views about responsibility and how he was part of Eva’s road to suicide.

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In this play a young girl named Eva Smith has committed suicide: we know this because the Inspector tells us early on “a young girl has died in an infirmary by drinking too much disinfectant.” This gives the audience the message that something extremely horrible has gone wrong in this girl’s life to make her want to end her life in this way. Throughout the play the Inspector gives us little bits of information that leads up to us finding out that the whole family are involved in the series of events leading to this girl’s death.

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