Inspector calls attiudes towards women

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      ATTITUDES OF WOMEN IN THE PLAY

(An Inspector calls)

An Inspector Calls is a play written by JB Priestley. The play discusses issues such as morality, respectability and the role of women. Within the play Priestley preaches his social views that “we are all part of one body” and reflects them as the role of the inspector .The play follows the Birling family and indeed Gerald Croft and discusses there role and reaction to the suicide of a lower class women Eva Smith. A key point that the play highlights is how willing they are to make changes, to adjust and repent .Dramatic and chronological irony is created as the play was written in 1945 and set in 1912 .It therefore allows the audience to form decisions about the characters retrospectively .In this essay I will be discussing how women are portrayed and the actions of women throughout the play.

At the beginning of the play Sheila acts in a materialistic and stereotypical manner. An example of this is when she receives the ring from Gerald she states “it’s perfect now I really feel engaged”. This implies that the physical gift is the most important aspect which is an immature attitude towards marriage. In addition Sheila becomes upset and overwhelmed quite often, it is a stereotypical view of women to be oversensitive .This can be seen when the comment is passed to Sheila “you’re behaving like a hysterical child tonight”. Finally her actions towards Eva Smith branch from her own child like insecurities. She also uses her class to her advantage and due to the social prejudice that middle class have over lower class women Eva is sacked. However creating a character with Sheila’s qualities creates a starting point, a motive and catalyst for change.

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 In addition ,we can see within this time women conformed to the attitudes and actions of men. One example of this is when Mrs Birling states “when you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that just as I had”. From this speech the role of a women in this time period is clear, to abide by the mans business and ethics .On the other hand Sheila replies “I don’t think I will”. A change of attitudes ...

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There is some quite good analysis in this essay. Good references and quotations are used to support points being made and some useful insight into the female characters is shown. Paragraph construction is quite well controlled but sentence structures are loose, with frequently poor punctuation. 3 stars