"We don't live alone. We are all members of one body. We are responsible for each other." What is Priestley's main aim in 'An Inspector Calls?' How successful was he?

John Daly

Foxhills School Technology College

Centre Number: 44355

GCSE Assignment 2

Post 1912 Drama

J.B.Priestley

An Inspector Calls

“We don’t live alone. We are all members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” What is Priestley’s main aim in ‘An Inspector Calls?’ How successful was he?

It year was 1945 when J.B Priestley created his masterpiece, An Inspector Calls. He set the play in 1912 like a typical Victorian family, the male of the family ruling the rest. He intended the play to be viewed by all but I don’t think he expected it to still be played today. The play has a very important message inside. I think the message is that we have to be careful in what we say to others because without us knowing, we could have a negative impact on whoever it is directed to.

The play is designed like a detective style. It has the Inspector interrogating the suspects to try and piece together the clues into the suicide of Eva Smith. As well as the play being educational, Priestley made it entertaining so more people would watch the play closely than if it was just educational. Also more people, I think, would go and read it. Every one of us has an individual role into the way we live. We could choose to ignore the wellbeing of each other and bully every one or we could choose to live in peace with every one and live in peace with them.

Society is an important thing. Without order, we could all live in fear as many people try to rule our life. When we are in PSD, our teachers are trying to educate us the important rule of respecting each other and their things. Their things could be anything from their cars to their bodies. We need to treat them as we would like to be treated back. We have all got responsibility to respect each other as we would like to be respected.

The Characters involved in the play are:

Mr Arthur Birling, Mrs Sybil Birling, Miss Sheila Birling, Master Eric Birling, Mr Gerald Croft, Inspector Goole and Miss Eva Smith

Mr Arthur Birling in the play is described as being an arrogant, stubborn man. His view of what had happened to Eva in the play is like he wasn’t interested that a fellow human had died from what he had done. He was more bothered about how he thought the people of Brumley would think of him if they saw the Inspector talk to him about a suicide. He ...

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The Characters involved in the play are:

Mr Arthur Birling, Mrs Sybil Birling, Miss Sheila Birling, Master Eric Birling, Mr Gerald Croft, Inspector Goole and Miss Eva Smith

Mr Arthur Birling in the play is described as being an arrogant, stubborn man. His view of what had happened to Eva in the play is like he wasn’t interested that a fellow human had died from what he had done. He was more bothered about how he thought the people of Brumley would think of him if they saw the Inspector talk to him about a suicide. He tried, several times in the play, to discourage the Inspector blaming him by saying that he was the Lord Mayor of Brumley or that he is the owner of the company Birling and Co. “Well I only did what any employer might have done.” I put this in because it shows that Mr Birling is only interested in his business and he’s not interested in any of the workers.

Mrs Birling is also like her husband in the play. She is very demanding to her children to get them out of the same room because she doesn’t want them to listen to what the Inspector says. Also she tries to make out that the inspector is lying about the suicide. She is intent on judging people before they had spoken. She turned Eva away because Eva unfortunately called herself Mrs Birling. The Real Mrs Birling thought she was copying her name and that Eva was doing that to annoy her. This was the last thing that Eva had done before she had killed herself. “I’m sorry she should have to come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all” I added that quote because I think it tells us that even when it is proven that Mrs Birling is one of the people responsible for Eva’s death, she still won’t acknowledge it .

Eric Birling is an impressionable youth. He shows a huge amount of concern and care when the Inspector questions him about his connections. Also he becomes sorry about taking £50 from his fathers company. Because of his role in the matter, Eric starts to take responsibility for his actions but feels angry at his mum for ‘helping’ Eva and her baby (which was also his) commit suicide. He is criticised by Mr Birling for being too gullible and impressionable. “Oh–my–God! – how stupid is it all.” I added this quote because it shows that Eric didn’t want to be involved in anything like that.

Sheila Birling also changes her attitude when the Inspector interrogates her. She almost instantly regrets getting Eva sacked when she thought that Eva was laughing at her. Mr and Mrs Birling also criticises Sheila as being impressionable. But both she and Eric keep questioning their parents when the Inspector goes. “I want to get out this, it frightens me the way you talk” This quote also shows that Sheila doesn’t want to be involved in anything like that

Inspector Goole is not an easy man to try and persuade. He continues to ask the Birling’s questions even when they ‘threatened’ him with statements like ‘I was Lord Mayor of Brumley (Mr Birling).’ He asks each member of the Birling family in turn about their dealings with Eva before she had killed herself. Also he shows some of the family members a photo and asks them if they recognise the ‘woman’ in the photo.

Many people who have seen or read the play have many different ideas of whom or what Inspector Goole was. Some believe that he was a ghost because he knew the death of Eva before it had even happened and also his name sounds like ghoul. Also there is a small fishing resort called Goole so some think that he was fishing for information. There are some people who think he is the ghost of Eva’s baby and he has come back to question them about his mum’s death.

There is a lot of contrast in the Birling household after the Inspector leaves, the older generation are criticised by the younger generations as being cruel and stubborn people because they didn’t change their views on Eva’s suicide. The older Birlings are undermined buy the younger ones and it seems to me that the younger can’t trust the older ones anymore. The older Birlings keep getting challenged and questioned by the younger Birlings because the younger Birlings don’t think their parents are fair. The true nature of the older Birlings comes out when they are being interrogated by Inspector Goole as being rich people who think they can do anything to anyone and think they can get away with it.

Also as well as the older Birlings being criticised by the younger Birlings, the younger Birlings were criticised by the older ones as being too impressionable. In the play it shows Eric and Sheila showing more maturity than their parents do in their roles in the suicide and shows that they are ready to take the punishment from it. When the Inspector talks to each one separately the younger generation admit their part in it, i.e. Eric embezzled £50 from his dad’s company or Sheila getting Eva sacked from the place where they both worked.

The Inspector is like a counterpart for Priestley as being his mouthpiece. The Inspector is speaking to the Birlings while Priestley message to everyone that they have to think before speaking to someone there is some Victorian style information in the play. I think this because in the play some of the more rich families in the Victorian era used to ignore or criticise the poorer ones. Priestley tried to tell people that we should all help each other.

The structure of the play uses Priestley’s 3 unities, 1 place, 1 time, 1 plot. Priestley structures the play to show the audience and characters that if everyone is in the same room at the same time then they can’t escape their guilt. Also it makes out that nobody can escape their own guilt at whatever time or place.

Priestley’s aims were to make the world a better place to live in, as he wanted there to be peace. He also wanted to warn people that if they continue to tease or turn away people then they could be killing them off without the person knowing. If we all listened to Priestley’s aim then there would be no bullying in the world. I don’t think he was successful in what he said because if everyone listened to him then there wouldn’t be anymore wars. He has had some success though because there are anti-war protestors that try and convince people that war is wrong. He has convinced me though. I am now going to be careful about what I say to people.