'An Inspector calls' is set in 1912 and was written for a 1946 audience. What can it have to offer an audience in 2002? 'An Inspector calls'.

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‘An Inspector calls’ was written by J.B. Priestly in 1945, and was first shown to an audience in 1946. It was set in 1912, before the Second World War had started, and was to be shown, after the Second World War had ended. ‘An inspector calls’ is a dramatic, moralistic thriller. It is set around the death of a young woman: Eva Smith.  The play begins with the Birling family celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila, to the wealthy Gerald Croft. In this part of the play you learn a lot about the social system of that era, the way people acted, and the way they thought.

  The doorbell, and the arrival of an Inspector interrupt their ‘celebration’. From now on the mood changes, contrasting the light-hearted and happy mood; it now becomes tense and serious. The Inspector reveals each characters involvement in the death of Eva Smith, side by side with the flaws and evils in each characters’ personality. This slowly reveals to the audience that the Inspector is a lot more then he seems, and that the play is not only a ‘murder mystery’, but also resembles a moralistic play of the middle ages, but in it’s own socialistic manner. It also shows the flaws in the social system at the times, which are displayed in each character, and in the consequences of their acts. The audience are shown how some people ignore the reality of their actions, and even after seeing the consequence of their actions, refuse to change. Mr and Mrs Birling are portrayed as selfish and ignorant of their actions, while Sheila and Eric, as a contrast, have fully realised their mistakes and have changed the way they think. The inspector is successful in changing two of the characters, but is not successful in the rest. Priestly is in a way playing the Inspector, to his audience, showing them the consequences of their actions, and what will happen if they do not change. ‘An Inspector calls’ has many underlying messages, most of which are still relevant to us today.

The question as to whether ‘An inspector calls’ is out of date, is a long argued and debated question. Both sides of the argument have valid points, and in order to come to a fair decision, you must consider both these sides of the argument. I am going to consider three statements about ‘An Inspector calls’ and after studying each one, am gong to come up with a decision.

The first statement that I am going to study is; ‘the situations and the morals that they show are out of date and are not relevant anymore’.

In the play there are many examples, which both support and contradict this statement. A good example of this is the part in the play when it is revealed that Eric is the father of the child that Eva smith was bearing. Firstly it is more common now then ever, for a girl to end up in this situation. Many young women end up like Eva Smith: young, single, jobless and pregnant. This play portrays how a young woman became pregnant, and the unfortunate sequence of events that this led to. This storyline is still very relevant today, as situations such as teenage pregnancies can often ruin a young women’s life.

The scene, in which the Birlings find out that Eric is the father of the child, is a very tense scene. The image of a perfect well mannered family has been shattered by the what the inspector has revealed, and each character is agitated and on-edge enough to show there true feelings, rather then cover them up out of politeness, as had been happening earlier on. The Inspector has successfully brought about each character’s role in the death of Eva Smith, and is now acting more as a referee. As the family are at each other’s throats, in many occasions, the inspector is the one who keeps the peace, e.g.: “…And my trouble is I haven’t much time. You’ll be able to divide the responsibility between you when I’ve gone” And: “Just a minute Mr Birling. There’ll be plenty of time when I’ve gone, for you all to adjust to your family relationships’. When the inspector asks Eric his questions, they are very short, simple and straight to the point. He does not bother to ask complicated questions, as it has been established that Eric is guilty, and all the inspector needs now, are the details, ‘Where did you meet her?’ and ‘What did you do then?’  Eric’s answers are also quite short, compared the ones given to the earlier characters.  This questioning is very different to that of the other characters. With them they are found guilty at the end of their questioning, but Eric’s role had been revealed before his questioning. The questioning of Eric is not necessary from an Inspector’s point of view, as he as already accomplished what he set out to do: which was to show Eric the reality of his actions. The point of this is to reveal what happened to the audience, in short and simple questions and answers. Also, it portrays the Inspector as much more powerful, as Eric is not hesitating in answering. The strength and power of the Inspector is revealed once more, and Eric is now seen weak, lonely and confused character. This works well in getting sympathy from the audience, as earlier on Eric was portrayed as a moody drunken; not the usual type of character that an audience will sympathise with.

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At the beginning of act three, and the end of act two, there is a lot of suspense in the audience. They have already worked out that the father of the child is Eric, but are waiting to see his reaction. Priestly does this very well, as he does not state who it is, but has said enough for the audience to guess. E.g.

                                           

In order to create this suspense Priestly ...

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