An Inspector Calls. What Is The Political Message In The J.B. Priestly Play 'An Inspector Calls' And How Is It Delivered?

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James Clark                English Coursework

An Inspector Calls. What Is The Political Message In The J.B. Priestly Play ‘An Inspector Calls’ And How Is It Delivered?

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by J.B. Priestly in 1945, it is set in 1912 just before the disaster of the titanic.  The play is all set in the dining room of the Birling family home.  Mr Birling owns his own factory and Mrs Birling is from an upper class background they are quite wealthy and Mr Birling is also a magistrate.  They have two children a daughter called Shelia who is in her mid twenties and a son called Eric who is in his early twenties.  They have all just finished their meal and they are all cheerful as Shelia and an other factory owner’s son, Gerald Croft has just got engaged.  After they are about to go two the drawing room an inspector calls at the door to interrogate each of them systematically, as he claims they are all involved in the death of a young girl called Eva Smith.  They all deny knowing the girl but after the inspector goes around each of them he reveals that all of them unknowingly play a part in the death of Eva Smith!

J.B. Priestly shares the views of a socialist and puts these views into the play through the inspector.  Priestly knows that just by writing his views down would not make much of an impact so he creates an opposition and puts across the views of a communist through the character of Mr Birling.  

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Firstly Priestly makes Birling put through the opinion of what communist would have thought in 1912 and uses them to make the audience discredit Mr Birlings views an example of this is in Birlings speeches to Gerald and Eric as he says;

“There’s a lot of wild talk about possible labour trouble in the near future.

Don’t worry.  We’ve passed the worst of it.  We employers at last are coming together to see that the interests of Capital – are properly protected.  And were in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity.”

This is Priestly using dramatic ...

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