In the 1912 there was rapid change going on. It was set in the year that the titanic sank and in a speech that Mr Birling makes he says that “he Titanic is invincible and that it is unsinkable”, then one day the Titanic sinks making Mr Birling very stupid because it has sank. He also talks about nazi’s this introduces dramatic irony to the play making Mr Birling look daft. He also believes its every man for himself, to look after number one, and not to care for poor people to forget about community. He is very sexist as he tries to hide the truth form his family particularly from Sheila. He does this because he believes young girls like Sheila should be shielded from horrible things like death, because women are too weak to cope with harsh reality but he believes men can.
Women back in 1912 a bit like Eva are in trouble and are at risk of being homeless because they wouldn’t get any income support from there husbands because the men were the ones that brought back the money to support the family. People like Eva would be stuck on the streets with no money or food to eat. Many people are stuck in the situation as Eva smith many people like her relay on places like a women’s institute but she was sent away by Mrs Birling.
Many changes were taking place just before World War one such as the industrial revolution producing middle class people. This play is ironic because all the audience knows what followed.
It all started inside the dining room of the Birlings household. All the Birlings and Gerald Croft are inside the dining room having a normal family dinner party until there is a knock at the door and enters Inspector Goole. He enters with the news of the death by suicide of Eva Smith, as soon as the inspector enters he creates an impression of massiveness and purposefulness. As the involvement of each of the family members is revealed, the play becomes that of a ‘who dunnit’ and the Inspector slowly but surely unravelling the history of Eva Smith.
J.B Priestly keeps the audience in suspense by having a well-structured and controlled plot and so the audience is left on ‘tender hooks’ at the end of each of the acts, this puts tension into the play.
Sheila: Why you fool-he knows of course he knows and I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. You’ll see, you’ll see.
Inspector Goole: Well?
At the end of this act you can see that you don’t know what is going to be said next and you are just waiting to hear what is going to be said.
At this time the audience is experiencing events at the same time as the characters are. The inspector is a very important character in this play he has a great impact on each of the characters you get to know a bit more about the different character as he systematically interrogates the different characters. Just as the inspector gets sat down he goes straight to the point and tells everyone that a young woman has died in the infirmary. Towards the end in page 56 he speaks like a preacher he starts to bring in men and women saying “we are all members of one body” it is a direct quotation from the bible like a priest saving souls from doing wrong. Preaching good and not evil.
The language starts of heavy with irony at the start for example Mr Birlings’ speech that he makes about the Titanic not being able to sink but yet it does so making him look foolish and incompetent. It then moves on from the polite, comfortable dinner-table banter to more in depth thoughtful discussions and arguments.
Mr Birling is brash and outgoing he is full of himself and only thinks of no one but himself and his own details. He is a very wealthy man he exploits the poor. Mr Birling and the Crofts are big business people he wants to merge businesses with the Crofts.
Mrs Birling is cold hearted, unemotional and she refers to “duty” she is confident and critical she is in her 50’s. she is a stubborn arrogant woman who only thinks of herself just like her husband and she doesn’t feel guilty to what has happened to Eva Smith.
Eric Birling is in his early 20’s had an affair with Eva when she was stuck and had no money Eric stole money from his father to help her, he felt guilty what had happened to Eva and admitted responsibility for Eva’s hardship. He is a confused and uneasy man who drinks a lot of alcohol and he regrets the actions that he took.
Gerald Croft is a well-bred young man he is the son of a very successful business family. He is also engaged to Shelia Birling he is polite and he as well as Eric and Shelia regrets his actions.
The whodunit genre keeps the audience guessing all the way through the play, and as clues are solved and the culprit becomes clearer, but as soon as one thinks he or she knows who it is Priestley cleverly seems to switch to the inspecting of another character. This makes the audience engrossed in the action that is happening on-stage.
Throughout the play I have learnt a lot about the Birlings, their good qualities and their weaknesses. I think Priestley´s message of the play was to explain to us that if we are like the Birling´s then we need to change, and be more considerate and caring towards others,
“We are members of one body, we are responsible for each other”
This is the sentence taken from the inspector´s last speech and I think that it sums up exactly what Priestley was trying to get across. Priestley may have experienced difficulties during wartime; this may have led him to believe that in order to live in a peaceful world man must consider his responsibility to fellow men.
I think that this play would have made an impact on its audience, the message was very poignant considering the country had just suffered a Second World War.
The moral of `An Inspector Calls’ is that no matter what class we are we are all equal and that we must work together. Priestly wanted to get this moral across, I think he did, but unfortunately there will always be people like the Birling’s.
