An Inspector calls - short summary

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Inspector calls

An inspector calls is a detective play and has a detective plot. It is also a morality play, which means that it has a sort of moral at the end, a meaning, something to learn.

J.B. Priestly set his play in 1912 however it was first performed in 1946 to a middle class audience.

        When the curtain first rises the audience get their first view of the four Birlings and Gerald croft seated at the table, with Arthur Birling at one end, his wife at the other, Eric downstage and Sheila and Gerald seated upstage.  My first impression of the birlings would be that they were wealthy and liked being together as a family.

The lighting was pink and intimate to make the mood look calm and all the characters were in evening dress of the period; the men in tails and white ties, not dinner jackets. This also gives the impression that the Birlings and Gerald had something to celebrate, because of their clothing.

The two characters I have chose to look into more detail on are Mr. Birling and Eric.

My first impression Mr. Birling was that he was a man who loved to talk. He didn’t really pay attention to what

He was talking about he is the sort of man who just wants to hear his own voice. This technique is called dramatic irony and J.B. Priestly used this to discredit Mr. Birling.

My first impression of Eric was that he had had too much to drink. He was really squiffy which kind of made him look youngish because he couldn’t handle a couple of drinks. He did seem rather shy in the beginning and was a bit scared of his father.

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My characters have a father son relationship. And they were both involved in Eva smith’s life.

Mr. Birling was Eva smith’s employer, boss, and sacked her because she tried to cause a strike, for more wages.

Eric on the other hand was having a sexual relationship with Eva and only l had lust for her not love.

Near the end of the story Eric actually confesses that he stole money off his father to give to Eva because she had nothing to live on and resorted to prostitution.

Both birlings used Eva for their’ own benefit and Eric felt guilty ...

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