Comparing and contrasting

Comparing and contrasting “Blue Remembered Hills” and “An Inspector Calls”

In “Blue Remembered Hills” by Dennis Potter and “An Inspector Calls” by J.B. Priestly there are many similarities and differences. “In Blue remembered Hills” there is a sub-plot, with the two girls and Donald this joins with the main plot whereas in “An Inspector Call” there is no sub-plot, so this does not distract the audience from the central theme, therefore the action is continuous.

Blue Remembered Hills begins by introducing you to two young boys Peter and Willie, Peter is a bit of a bully and not too bright, whereas Willie seems to be bright and fun-loving. Later on in the play another two boys appear, Raymond who has a stutter but almost always has a cheeky grin on his face and also John is an argumentative and sensitive boy. In the next scene Audrey, who is rather plain and Angela who is pretty, with ringlet hair and blue ribbons are playing house with “Donald Duck” who is an abused child.

In “An Inspector Calls” the characters are Mr Birling who is a prosperous factory owner, not the social equal of his wife. He is 'a self made man'. His Wife, Mrs Birling, a cold women and is Ms Birling’s social superior. Sheila, Mr Birling’s daughter, is a pretty young woman in her early twenties and is very pleased with her life, being newly engaged to Gerald Croft, who is a manly, well-bred young man-about-town. Eric, Mr birling’s son, in his twenties who is not quite at ease with himself, half shy and half assertive. The Inspector is a assertive ...

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Both plays are started with normal activities, ie: having dinner and playing in the woods, and both stories have a death in them, In “blue Remembered Hills,” Donald one of the boys in the play dies in a shed fire, which he started. Whereas in “An Inspector Calls,” a young girl Eva Smith dies, but she commits suicide. In “Blue Remembered Hills” the characters know how Donald dies, whereas in “An Inspector Calls” no one knows how Eva Smith died and the blame is passed around the family.

By Vicki Abbott 11Pole

Dennis Potter was born on May 17th 1935 at "Brick House" on Joyford Hill, in the village of Berry Hill, near in the , Gloucestershire, England. He was the eldest son of a coalminer, Walter Edward Potter and the daughter of Margaret Potter. The first ten years of Potter's life coincided with the run up to and the period of the Second World War. Potter's classic representation of childhood in war is evident in “Blue Remembered Hills”

John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on 13 September 1894, his mother died in the same year and his father re-married four years later. Priestley left school at 16, knowing that he wanted to write. Priestly wrote many plays and was very successful, then in 1945 he wrote “An Inspector Calls” but set in 1912 during the war. In both plays it is evident that it is set around the war.

In both plays they both show the position of women, in “Blue Remembered Hills” the boys will not play house with the girls because they are boys, and also it is evident when one of the girls tries to start a fight and the boys leave it as she is “only a girl”. In “an Inspector Calls” the position of women is bought up under the topic as them not being able to vote and the must serve their husbands. Also in “an Inspector Calls” social status is an issue to Mr Birling because he is a magistrate and former mayor who is looking forward to receiving a knighthood, and that is the most important thing to him, this is not a subject though in “Blue Remembered Hills.

In conclusion to this, the plays bring up the same issues but in different ways, in “Blue Remembered Hills” it is in a comical way whereas “An Inspector Calls” is more serious.