An Inspector Calls, by J.B Priestly.

TASK 2

An Inspector Calls, by J.B Priestly, is the story of the visit by an Inspector to an apparently normal family, the Birling’s. The play is set in the early 1900s in the North Midlands. The family is celebrating the engagement between Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft, when they receive a surprise visit from Inspector Goole informing them of a suicide by a young girl earlier in the evening. At first all members of the family including Gerald, deny any knowledge of the victim, Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton. But as the play progresses, however the Inspector manages to reveal how each of them has a secret, which is in some way responsible for driving her to suicide.

This play attacks the social morals of the time. In the time when Priestly was writing the play, people only seemed to look after themselves, their time and attention was not spent on community, but on themselves. There was hardly any communal spirit or common wealth, and any such talk is dismissed, for example by Birling, “But the way that some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else as if we’re all together like bees in a hive, community and all that nonsense.”

A very important theme of the play was the class system. People were expected to know their place in society and stick to it and moving from one section of the class system to another was frowned upon by those in power. Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through strikes and the formation of trade unions to co-ordinate these actions.

This was a strange idea to those who owned the factories and workplaces, who expected to have complete control over all aspects of their workers lives. The bosses wanted things to stay as they always had been, with them in control of the labour, jobs, conditions and pay. The bosses, being of a higher class than the workers, believed that they knew best and should make decisions for the masses. These were mainly based on how much profit they could make and they rarely considered the welfare of the workers.

In the play itself the main family, the 'Birlings' are wealthy middle class landowners and proprietors of a large factory that was built up by the father of Mr. Birling. He has hopes of gaining a Knighthood, due to his service as a magistrate and as Lord Mayor, which he sees as his way to climb the social ladder to the lower rungs of the aristocracy. Mr. Birling trys to make himself feel more supreme to Gerald by using a rhetorical question,

“Oh-come, come- I’m treating Gerald like one of the family. And I’m sure he wont object.” The way that Arthur says this seems to put Gerald on the spot and Mr. Birling seems to have control. This is shown in the way in which he compares this to the mother of his daughter's fiancée, Lady Croft, who is already, part of the aristocracy. Therefore, it can be seen that by marrying Gerald Croft, Sheila is playing a part in the family’s social climbing. Birling shows this by saying,

“It’s a pity Sir George and…er…Lady Croft cant be with us, ...

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“It’s a pity Sir George and…er…Lady Croft cant be with us, but they’re abroad and so it cant be helped.” This shows that now the ‘Birlings’ share in the Crofts social wealth, it also seems that Birling is trying to prove that he has made more of an efforts than the Crofts.

Another main theme within this play was about women and their role within the society and the community. Women at that time were seen as being delicate, fragile and obedient to their husbands or fathers. The ideal was for those pinched at the waist - slim. Women were trying to get rights the same as men, beginning the Suffrage movement.
Under Roman law, which influenced later British law, husband and wife were regarded as one, with the woman the "possession" of the man. As such, a woman had no legal control over her person, her own land and money, or her children
Mrs. Birling was a middle class woman of considerable influence who was involved in good works, considered a suitable occupation for a lady in society. Women of higher classes did not work, but did only charitable work. This was seen as acceptable as it was a caring role that fitted with the idealised Victorian view, still held then, of women as mothers and carers.
Sheila seems follows this path by not working, the only occupation mentioned which she does is shopping.
Daisy/Eva in comparison was a working class girl, possibly an orphan, who has to work for a living and is seen to be completely at the mercy of men.

There is also the issue of sex throughout this play. Pre-marital sex was frowned upon in the middle and upper classes if you were female, but not if you were male. This was due to fear of pregnancy outside of marriage, as there was little contraception. The moral code of the time was that ladies were supposed to remain chaste and pure until they married.
According to a double standard of morality, respectable women had to be chaste but respectable men did not, but sex was supposed to be only with working class girls, mainly through use of prostitutes and mistresses, as doing so with their own class would have been breaking the moral codes. This shows that lower class women didn't hold the same status. The upper class men could not fall in love and marry the lower class women though, as this was considered unsuitable. You only married within your class, or preferably higher.
Working class girls were at the mercy of rich men and could find it hard to refuse sex to a man as it was these men who held social and economic power. Many of these women became pregnant and had no resources to care for themselves or their children. Unmarried mothers were frowned upon and in some cases treated as if they were mad and locked up.

Family was also another main feature during this script. The father was thought to be head of the family and his word was law within the family. Mothers had some influence in areas, but were less direct in doing so, but children, even when older and in adulthood were expected to completely obey parents.

For dramatic devices in the play, Priestly first sets the story in 1912, which is two years before the world war. The reason for this is to show the events which has already happened that the audience already have knowledge of, such as the sinking of the titanic, the outbreak of the war, both examples dramatic irony. The historical and social background to this play makes the play ironic and dramatic. An example of this is ‘Why a friend of mine went over on this new liner last week – the Titanic – she sails next week – forty six thousand tons – New York in five days – and every luxury – and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’ Said by Mr Birling.

Also Mr Birling talks about war. He says ‘The German’s don’t want war. Nobody wants war, except some half-civilized folks in the Balkans.’ but he does not know what the audience does in that in 1914, there is an out break of war with Germany. These kinds of devices make the play meaningful to the audience by realising how you take things for granted. All the characters use irony. Mrs Birling, ‘He should be made an example of. If the girls death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him.’ She blames the death of Eva Smith on the man who made her pregnant, as Eva came to Mrs Birlings when she sent the mother of her grandchild away, but she didn’t know it was Eric’s child. This part of An Inspector Calls is especially engrossing for the audience as the audience wants to see if Eric does get in any more trouble for being the father of the unborn child.

Throughout the whole play the characters sentences have begun to get shorter and shorter to increase the tension between everyone. Stage directions also play a very big role in creating tension as they help us understand how the character is feeling without them talking. We can also see the body language of the person speaking and see how they react with the other characters around them. This in some way gives the audience a sense of control as they can see everyone. The background stays the same (only in one room of the house, dining room) this lets us concentrate on the characters and not on the scenery, which can become a distraction and doesn’t give the same amount of tension. This is known as a classical Greek drama. There are three main unities within this play, which are: the unity of real time, the unity of one place (which is in the Birling’s dining room) and the unity of one plot (the death of Eva Smith.)

Within my script of the play I have tried to keep the Greek drama including the three unities within my play. I felt this was necessary, as it wouldn’t fit in with the rest of the script before. Throughout Priestley’s and my play, we have both used the same type of stage directions to keep it the same and to try and keep the tension at a high consistent level. I have tried to also keep a constant feel of conflict and anxiety throughout my script, I find that this makes it easier for the characters to communicate as they can more easily express their own opinions.

I have tried to make my writing dramatic by using detailed stage directions that the characters must follow. This provides the audience with a feel that they are involved with this family and can connect with them through their emotions. In my script I like to think that I have used my stage directions well by providing each character with their own individual commands. This helps the audience to judge what sort of personality that the character has. My stage directions also seem to give the effect that there are different tones of voices used to express how a member of the family may be feeling.

“SHELIA: (flaring up)………(distressed)………(angrily cutting in)”

“ARTHUR: (rather distressed)………(sternly and with his authority)”

“GERALD: (trying to compromise the situation)”

“SYBIL: (stressing)………(startled)…………(quietly)”

I have again tried to stick with short, sharp sentences to give the play a feel of tension amongst the family. As I have said earlier, I have kept the 3 unities the same. This allows the audience to have a more focused view on the characters and their reactions without any distractions.

In my writing I have tried to keep the theme of family, by showing how people run away from situations (such as Shelia, when she commits suicide.) And also how some people are selfish and only think for themselves (such as Birling, Sybil and Gerald when they all agree to lie about any involvement with this girl.) When someone mentions family, you automatically think happy thoughts, which is what should be thought, but that is not always the case as Shelia and Eric found out. I suppose that I have tried to capture the emotions that a real family would have within the same circumstances, and how different people would act and their attitude towards one another. I have tried to do this by having Shelia rebelling against her father, mother and fiancée.

“And what are you suggesting?!?” as she flares up towards Birling. “You are not even capable of realising the whole reality of the situation!” is what she says to Gerald.

I believe that my script was very successful, as I have tried to keep the play in the same style as Priestly. I think that the extra script looses the end cliffhanger, which is what we were left with, but it also adds more to the story line, which is what some people prefer. I have also tried to keep the theme of how important family is and how to keep a relationship strong, through a lover or relative, you always need to have trust, honesty and respect for one another as,

“We don’t live alone. We are member of one body. 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.”