As Mrs birling enters, she is immediately out of place. Whilst the audience and rest of the cast are silent and thoughtful, Mrs birling enters and is cheerful, arrogant, and blissfully ignorant as is shown in her second speech in the act.
“I am Mrs Birling, y’know. My husband has just explained why you’re here, and while we’ll be glad to tell you anything you want to know, I don’t think we can help you much.”
To show her arrogance she is encircled in a warm colour such as red, but it is important to blend this colour in with the rest of the stage as otherwise she would look like an alien. I believe that the lines show as depressing and symbolise that the character have been beaten by the Inspector. To involve the audience, a small blue light could slowly move randomly over the rest of the auditorium. Birling is not the cold narrow-minded person that his wife is: he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play: it is the Birlings of the world whom Priestly feared- in the younger generation that Priestly hopefully looked instead. It is not sympathetic to what this capitalist believes.
He also undermines Birling’s relationship with his family, the only institution that Birling believes matters. In act two, both his children- who learn from the inspector in a way Birling never does behave badly in front of him. (Pp.32-33), and his heir Eric later revealed as both alcoholic and a thief.
After the Inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He cannot understand Sheila’s and Eric’s instance that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right up until the end, he claims that ‘there’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did- it turned out unfortunately, that’s all’ (p57). Birling is not the cold narrow-minded person that his wife is: he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play: it is the birlings of the world that Priestley feared- in 1945-would not be willing or able to learn the lessons of the past, and so it is to the younger generation that priestly hopefully looked instead. The Birlings have an attitude problem and this is what makes them different from the middle and lower class. The Inspector acts as a catalyst to bring responsibility to the family as he reveals secrets and lies.
Here is an extract from the play, at the end of Act 2 where the Inspector gets too involved: Inspector: "(very sternly) Her position now is that she lies with a burnt-out inside on a slab. (As Birling tries to protest, turns on him.) Don't stammer and yammer at me again, man. I'm losing all patience with you people. What did he Say? Here the Inspector gets to emotional about such a small thing. I also think that a real police inspector would treat Birling with more respect. It is true what Birling says about him being a public man and telling the chief of police because he is a friend. Here is an extract were the Inspector treats Birling with disrespect; it is near the beginning of Act 2: Sheila: (urgently, cutting in) you mustn't try to build up a kind of wall between that girl and us. If you do then the Inspector will just break it down. And it'll be worse when he does. Mrs B: I don't understand you. (To Inspector.) Do you? Inspector: Yes. And she's right. Mrs B: (haughtily) I beg your pardon! Inspector: (very plainly) I said Yes-I do understand her. And she's right. Mrs B from: That, I consider being a trifle impertinent, Inspector. Here the Inspector does not treat Mrs B. with the respect a police inspector would. I think there is a possibility that the Inspector could be Eva Smith and just goes back to haunt them.
This maybe quite far fetched by I would not rule it out completely, because if it were true then it would explain everything. Another quite reasonable explanation would be that the "Inspector" actually phoned them up and pretended to be the police just to give them one last scare. I think that a real Inspector would leave far more formally rather than just storming out: Inspector: But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone-but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do.
We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night. He walks straight out, leaving them staring subdued and wondering. Sheila is still crying. Mrs Birling has collapsed into a chair. Eric is brooding desperately. Birling, the only active one hears the front door slam, moves hesitatingly towards the door, stops, looks gloomily at the other three, then pours himself out a drink, which he hastily swallows. Here I firstly think that he leaves far too informally to be a convincing Inspector. Secondly I think that when he is coming to the end of his final speech he becomes too emotional to be a real person.
I feel he almost knows what is to come and as if he does this a lot to people. In conclusion I think that the Inspector is as real as every one else in the play but I think that he represents justice or truth and is a form of angel or something along those lines. While watching this play I enjoyed it immensely and I am very glad I have seen it. This play is more than just a detective thriller and you really have to look closely at it before you fully understand it. I am sure that there will always be a sense of mystery about this play;
“I know I’m to blame and I’m desperately sorry” Sheila Act 2
“I’ve told you all I know and it doesn’t seem to me very important.” Mr. Birling Act 1
This is Priestley´s way of saying that it is up to the younger generation of society to change because older people are a lot more resistant and attached to their lifestyle.
“It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anybody.”
This is the reaction JB Preistley wanted to get from his audience. He wanted people to feel sympathy and care for each other and take responsibility for their actions.
On reflection, perhaps Sheila does deserve more blame than her father. Although Sheila shows more remorse than Arthur her reasons for getting Eva sacked are less valid. Arthur saw Eva as a ringleader of troublemakers who could disrupt his production. Sheila however got rid of her for a far less important reason caused by her own temper and jealousy.
Priestley wanted to ensure life after the war was better than before and he hoped that through his writing he could influence people’s ideas and change society. Although he wrote an Inspector Calls in 1945 he deliberately set it in 1912 because that time represented the sort of society everybody wanted to leave behind. He was particularly concerned about the living conditions of the lower classes, represented by Eva, and the way the upper classes behaved, represented by the Birling´s and Gerald Croft. He believed that we should all help each other, which is the total opposite from what the Birlings believed. He uses the inspector to symbolise the conscience of the nation and through him challenges each of the characters that represent a part of society. He shows that change is more likely to come through the young (Sheila and Eric) rather than through the older generation (Arthur and Sybil) or the upper classes symbolised by Gerald Croft.
Priestly wanted the Inspector to appear to be intimidating. `He wasn’t a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. Omniscient and omnipotent the mysterious Inspector Goole persuades the Birling’s to confess to their crimes. Even his name has ghostly connotations; he seems to know everything he is in control. It’s almost as though he knows the future.
Inspector Goole’s dress sets him apart from the Birling’s. They are dressed to impress. `All five are in evening dress of the period, the men in tails and white ties, not dinner jackets’. The women wear long formal dresses. The Inspector by contrast is from dressed in a `plain darkish suit of the period’. He is dressed smartly but he is not concerned with status and appearance.
The moral of `An Inspector Calls’ is that no matter what class we are we are all equal and that we must work together. Priestly wanted to get this moral across, I think he did, but unfortunately there will always be people like the Birling’s. Also the morality of story is that Priestley represents a strong moral view. The moral dimension of allowing others to see they can find forgiveness through future good behaviour makes him different from the normal policeman. He is more concerned with morality than legality.
Inspector Goole.
He demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others. He sees the world as a community where everyone should be helping each other (socialism). The timing of his entry (at the point that Birling is saying that everyman must look after himself is very significant). The final speech is important too.
The way he uses the information he holds creates an impression of someone who is both an outsider and omniscient. This makes him appear mysterious and powerful.
Conclusion of story.
I think that the main theme of An Inspector Calls is responsibility, because the Inspector’s questioning reveals the irresponsible behaviour of each of the other characters in turn.
There are a lot of lies told in this play. Every character lies except the maid. In with the lies there is also hypocrisy e.g. when Mrs Birling told Eva Smith to “ go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility”. She made it clear to the Inspector, not knowing the father was her son that he should be found and “then make sure that he’s compelled to confess in public his responsibility The Birling family and Gerald Croft are all lying about their lives because they act as if they are in the upper class and are successful, but deep down they know they are not.
The play promotes a socialist idea through the Inspector very well for example when the inspector tries to promote the socialist idea and to make the Birling family see things from a different view or see things in a perspective. The audience ends up believing and understanding exactly what the Inspector is trying to put across. Over all it is a very clever play, making the audience think, not just of themselves but others as well.
Priestley uses the dramatic twist of the Inspector returning at the end of the play to emphasis this point, and makes it more effective by placing it just as the characters are beginning to relax. It serves to ‘prick’ the consciences of both the characters and the audience.
The aims of Priestley when he wrote this play, I believe, was to make up think, to make us question our own characters and beliefs. He wasted to show us that we can change, and we can decide which views we side with. He wanted us to ask ourselves if we wanted to be a Sheila or Sybil, an Eric or an Arthur. Or were we in-between like Gerald. Priestley wanted to make a difference: not a world changing difference, but a small difference in way people think. Then, if you think of every person who coming out of the play gave some money to a beggar in the street, you would see that Priestly did make a difference. It would have changed people’s views on society, however small those changes would be, and so Priestley achieved his aims in writing the play.
The Inspector sees through each character. He forces each character to admit what they already secretly know. He is Priestley’s vehicle for his views on social responsibility. He is the catalyst for the plays events. He controls the plays events. He has a moral dimension. He brings about each character’s punishment through their own actions. He is each characters last chance. The dramatic irony at his expense encourages us to question how many of his other beliefs are correct.
Priestly’s main aim was to encourage people to take responsibility for their actions, not to shift the blame on to others. Priestly’s attempts to convey his attitudes and ideas through the characters in the play. He uses the inspector to voice his own opinions. The Birlings are used to show how not to behave.
Priestly wanted the Inspector to appear to be intimidating.’ He wasn’t a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. The mysterious Inspector Goole persuades the Birling’s to confess to their crimes. Even his name has ghostly connotations; he seems to know everything he is in control. It’s almost as though he knows the future.
By Jamie Naran 11y.