An Inspector Calls Assignment: choose two occasions when the inspector's presence on stage has an effect on the audience.

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Jessica Mayell

Miss Scott

10S1

Modern Drama-

An Inspector Calls

Assignment: choose two occasions when the inspector’s presence on stage has an effect on the audience.

J. B. Priestly was born in 1894 in Bradford and he died on the 14th of August 1984. Before becoming a writer Priestly joined the British Army on the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent to France where in September 1915 he took part in the Battle of the Loos. Whilst he was in the army Priestly’s first book was published which was called ‘Chapman of rhymes’. After he left the army priestly went to become a student at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and there he gained a valuable experience by writing for the ‘Cambridge Review’. When he left the university Priestly married and from 1929 to 1947 priestly wrote novels such as- ‘the good companions’, ‘angel pavement’, ‘dangerous corner’, ‘time and the Conways’ and the famous play ‘an inspector calls’ which was written in 1946. An inspector calls is set in 1912 and is about an unsuspecting family of middle- class citizens who play a part in the alleged suicide of Eva Smith

 In my opinion he wrote this play to change the way people treat each other. It is a fact that Priestly was a moralist and had studied political science. I think that the way that he wrote this play is to show the consequences of treating people wrongly and at the very end of the play just before the inspector leaves, the Birling's find out that there is an inspector coming to the house to discuss the death of a young women called Eva Smith, the characters then have a choice- to either change their story in which someone admits to the reason that Eva committed suicide or to keep the same story and repeat and repeat until they learn their lesson.

The two occasions I have chosen to show the effect of the inspectors presence on the audience is at the beginning of the play when the inspector first appears and also at the very end of the play when the inspector miraculously disappears and stuns the other characters. In these two parts in the play the audience can see a clear change in the characters relationships for example at the beginning of the play the characters appear top be very friendly towards each other but when the inspector arrives there is a very tense atmosphere among the characters in which I think they are wondering who in the room is connected to this young women of who no one can recall.

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Before the inspector appears the Birling family appear like any other- quiet, happy and friendly. Mr Birling asks the housekeeper, Edna, to bring out the port so he and his wife can celebrate the betrovel of their daughter Sheila and Gerald Croft. Sheila also seems very immature in my opinion and it is likely that she has the mental age of a twelve or thirteen year old girl and is no where near capable of committing to a relationship.

        Then Sheila mentions that Gerald was away ‘all last summer’ where we later learn that that is when he had ...

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