During Act One, Mr Birling gives a speech about how war is laughable and an impossibility. There is of course irony in what he is saying, as the 1945 audience and audiences today know that the First World War started a couple of years after the play’s setting and there was a Second World War after that. The speech Arthur Birling makes is ignorant about the future, as he says he talks from the view of a hard-headed business man, but in my opinion he gets swept away in the moment of celebration his family are having and seems to think that his success will never burst. He also mentions people who see a socialist Britain, as 'cranks' and ' you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive- community and all that nonsense.' It at this climax in Act One that Inspector Goole arrives and inspects the Birling family, and gives at the end of the play a totally opposing view to the ideas that Mr Birling has about the future of Britain.
The audience watching the play see themselves in the Birling family and therefore when the Inspector comes to inspect the Birling family he is also inspecting the audience and making them question the way they act.
In the National Theatre Production by Stephen Daldry of 'An Inspector Calls', the play is set with the Birling family settling down to dinner in their 1912 ‘dolls house’, with the bright lights from their house, shining out on to the street, where the bomb devastation of the Blitz is still evident and muck and confusion is all around. This setting represents the Birling's as the last remains of an Edwardian family and a comparison can be made from the bright lights of the Birling house to the bright lights coming from the Titanic, as the play is set on the same night as its sinking. The 21st century audience, get a sense of a 1945 audience looking in with a critical eye on the 1912 setting. The setting is crucial to the message of the play; are people going to change or not?
The Inspector in 'An Inspector Calls' is not a factually true character, he is there to symbolise those who fight for justice and give a message to the characters in the play and consequently the audience of the play. The play is set two years after the Conciliation Bill on women's vote, therefore it is set during a time of social change and one in which justice had to be fought for strongly.
The Inspector is a mysterious character and J.B Priestley manipulates the audience’s preconceptions of what an Inspector is meant to be like, when the Inspector crosses the boundaries normally imposed in a criminal inquiry. The Inspector tests the Birling's beliefs that they lead responsible and respectable lives as members of society and puts them in the place of somebody who is socially and materialistically less fortunate than themselves. Eric and Sheila are particularly affected by the Inspector's inspection of their family by their remarks, 'He was our police inspector all right' and 'he inspected us all right'. Priestley does not give the Inspector a specific identity and the audience, are constantly reinterpreting the role of the Inspector throughout the play. The Inspector is a symbolic character and J.D Priestley uses him to express his own opinions and beliefs about society.
The Inspector makes the audience think about what can happen, if society does not change it’s views and ways of life as the war is mentioned by the Inspector at the end of the play, almost as a warning of what will happen. The Inspector brings the message at the heart of the play to the characters, they need to be members of one body and create a Socialist Britain free from class and social distinction, otherwise there will be consequences.
“But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will come soon when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.” This is a powerful message the Inspector leaves with the characters and the audience, one that is optimistic and there is a feeling of need for change.
The Final scene in the National Theatre Production is a dramatic and representational version of the play. The Birling's appeal down to the audience as the Inspector inspects them and workers and shadows on the Blitz devastated street, listening in on the Birling family. The workers and shadows are there to represent the audience, who are also listening intently to the Birling family’s pleas. The Inspector gives his leaving speech after which the Birling's house explodes and is exposed as being false. The Birling family suddenly become victims of World War Two themselves and they too need help. They are put in a similar position to that of Eva Smith; in desperate need of help. The house is put back together and there is a two way split; those that are will to embrace change and the future and those that are not.
I also think Priestley used this play to voice his ideas that it is too late for the older generation to change their ways, but the younger generation will learn and therefore prevent another World War happening again. This is demonstrated through the characters; the older characters were stuck in their ways and views and were stubborn to change, unlike the younger characters that were open-minded and thought about what the Inspector had said.
ERIC: ‘Well, I don’t blame you. But don’t forget I’m ashamed of you as well – yes both of you.’
BIRLING: ‘(angrily) Drop that. There’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did – it turned out unfortunately, that’s all – ‘
SHEILA: ‘I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it. But now you’re beginning all over again to pretend that nothing much has happened –‘
The last few lines of the Inspector's speech contains dramatic irony that may also make the audience feel quite omniscient, just like the Inspector is portrayed. The audience would have known what was going to happen, which results in them feeling more powerful than the characters onstage and therefore more involved in the play. Dramatic irony is used here, in order to show the audience Priestley’s views so that they can reflect upon his ideas to try and prevent another World War happening. The characters in the play and maybe even the audience of this drama may judge themselves due to the moral force that the Inspector conveys.
I think J.B Priestley uses a moral at the end of the play to reinforce his views and opinions and to make the audience think about what happened throughout the play and how they are responsible for the actions that they take in everyday life. The audience therefore leaves the theatre feeling slightly guilt about the way in which they treat people but optimistic that there will not be another world war and that things will change if they all put together, like they did in the First World War.
The message that 'An Inspector Calls' presents, in my opinion is still relevant to a 21st Century audience. Although we are not on the brink of another world war and we live in a Socialist Britain, the message the Inspector gives is of taking Social Responsibility for the actions we take and makes us think about the way we live our lives; this message is presented through a thoroughly stimulating and exciting experience.
Name: Kathryn Paddock
Form: 11R
Date: 16th February 2004
Title: Prose Study- Post 1914
Teacher: Mrs E. Price
Pages: 3
Total word count: 1687
Topic: “An Inspector Calls”
