achievements and hopes of the Edwardian age. In the early hours of its third day (April 14th) it
sea it sank. The setup of the Titanic symbolised the social structure of the time, as there were
very strong/strict social boundaries. There was the upper classes – upper decks, middle classes
– middle decks and working classes – bottom decks. In this period there was an ongoing war
between the capitalists and socialists. This created social unrest.
In the 1910s prime minister David Lloyd George (leader of the liberal democrats) introduced
the minimum wage act and was responsible for the raise in land taxes and a £3000 super tax to
pay for social reform programs. This meant that the rich were getting richer and the poor were
getting poorer. This also provoked strikes everywhere because people’s wages were being
capped and then they couldn’t afford to pay the extortionate taxes.
With this foresight Priestley is trying achieve an acknowledgement of how the class system
works against the country.
“An Inspector Calls” has a very simplistic and uncomplicated structure made up of 3 acts. This
enables everyone to understand the play and have a clear focus of his message. The structure is
very similar to that of classical Greek drama. It has a very unconventional ending because
people enter instead of exit at the end of an act. Priestley cleverly uses this structure to make it
easier for the audience to read between the lines and see the message. It also is used to
emphasise dramatic tension especially when at the end of act 2 when Eric walks in, and the
curtains draw. This leaves the audience on a cliffhanger because they want to know what
happens next.
Priestley uses a lot of dramatic irony and makes characters like Mrs Birling say things, which are
ironic. This is used to create a sense of tension, anxiety and a climatic storyline for the audience
to read. This has allowed Priestley to control his audiences reactions by using these at certain
points or when building up to key points. He also uses key characters to persuade people’s
views on the age (i.e. the way the upper classes acted and the way capitalism took over the
social classes [especially the upper classes]).
Priestley uses act two as a compulsory stage in his message. He uses this act to show how
capitalism was highly considered to be the only way of life by the upper classes. He used Mrs
Birling a lot for this. He portrayed Mrs Birling as a stubborn, ignorant and egotistical woman.
He uses a reasonable amount of irony and her egotistical character to show how the upper
classes acted towards people of a lower “rank”. This is shown by the relationship between Mrs
Birling and Inspector Goole. She treats him with utter disrespect and thinks he is ignorant and
has been mislead (IRONIC because she is extremely ignorant and lead astray). By getting the
daughter involved in the argument which shows that some of the upper class had respect for
others and have some foresight unlike the rest of the Birlings.
Priestley tries to show that if the upper classes had a bit more foresight and had the ability to
listen that it could completely change the actions and social structure of the time.
I think it is a good story with depth and I think that if it were modernised and put into film it
would do pretty well, because there is still a social structure today it is just not as blatant/strict
as before. Some people aren’t even aware of it. The majority of the UK is middle class but
there are still the pompous upper classes and the homeless and people in poverty could still be
seen as the lower classes. It had a real impact and was worth reading I would highly
recommend it.
