Also it is ironic when Mr Birling says ‘There isn’t a chance of war’. In fact just two years later the First World War broke out. Priestley set this play in 1912 because he wanted to show people that it is because of capitalist that wars break out.
Mr Birling then continues by talking about how every man should be responsible for them selves. Here Mr Birling clearly highlights his capitalist ideas. Mr Birling’s speech is in contrast to the speech made by the Inspector at the end of the play. Priestley starts of the play with the idea that ‘every man should be responsible for himself’ and ends the play with the idea that ‘every one is responsible for each other’.
Just as Mr Birling finishes his speech the Inspector ‘eerily’ turns up. I think that Priestley brought the Inspector in at this point in time to challenge what Mr Birling is saying. Priestley wants to use the Inspector to tell Mr Birling that every one is truly responsible for each other and that he will eventually find out that this is in fact true.
The way the Inspector questions Mr Birling is interesting. The Inspector does not question Mr Birling as an upper-class man with high status, but questions him as a man whose idea about social responsibility is all wrong.
‘I don’t like your tone nor the way you’re handling the inquiry’ (Mr Birling- page 33)
Mr Birling is surprised with the way the Inspector is questioning him.
‘But if you’re easy with me, I’m easy with you’ (Inspector-page 22)
The way the Inspectors questions every character is different.
The inspector does not harshly question Sheila because she accepts that she is partly to blame for Eva Smiths suicide. Sheila accepts social responsibility. For this reason the Inspector does not need say much.
Even after the Birling family came to a conclusion that it was all a hoax Sheila still felt sad for what she had done.
‘But you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done’
However in the case of Mrs Birling the Inspector lead Mrs Birling to ‘dig her own grave’ because she constantly refused to accept that she was partly responsible for Eva Smith’s suicide.
‘No hushing up. Eh? Make an example of the young make eh? Public confession of responsibility-um? (Inspector-page 48) Mrs Birling said that the young man who made Eva Smith pregnant was to be blamed; not knowing that it was her own son Eric.
‘I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have…he should b made an example of. If the girl’s death is due to anyone, then it’s due to him’
This was what caused the dramatic tension at the end of Act 2.
In 1912 there was no welfare state in Britain. This meant that poor people often depended on charity. But wealthy people, such as Mrs Birling, in the play, usually controlled the charity. From class discussions I found out that Mrs Birling just joined the charitable agency just to enhance her status in society and make herself look good in public.
The Inspectors ‘views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech’. Inspector Goole now explains the reason of his visit. Notice that what the Inspector says here does not sound like an ordinary conversation but a message to the entire audience. The reason, I think, why Priestley purposely used this technique is because he does not want only the characters in the play to pay attention, but to the whole society.
What Priestley is trying to say, through the Inspector, is that what ever status you have in society, what ever class you are in, we are all responsible for each other. Priestley is trying to say that in our society there is no difference between the rich and the poor ‘we are all members of one body’. When we say one community it doesn’t matter whether the rich and poor are mixed together it still makes one community. This is what Mr and Mrs Birling did not understand. They believed that the lower class people we beneath them and they were not part of ‘their society’. This is what Priestly was trying to portray in his play. The hidden title of the play was not ‘An Inspector Calls’ but ‘Social responsibility Calls’. What I mean by social responsible calls, is that it is about time that people understand what it means to be a capitalist and then be empathetic to those who do not have any friends or family who feel responsible for them.
Priestley wanted us all to know that what ever we do and say will, by chance, affect the lives of others.
The Inspector’s last address uses the features of a political speech.
In a political speech things are sometimes listed in threes. For example the famous Gettysburg speech
‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’
In the Inspector’s last speech he uses this same technique.
The Inspector lists things in threes so that they will be emphasised.
‘One Eva Smith has gone but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John smiths still left with us’
‘If men will no learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish’
When a good speech is performed it is said with the use of contrastive pairs. For example, ‘That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind’.
The Inspector also uses this device in his speech. He says
‘One Eva has gone but there are millions and 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’
The Inspector applies the word ‘we’ and ‘us’ in his last address, which makes the audience identity with the problem that it is happening now.
Also the use of ‘I’ in his speech makes it more sincere. It is sincere in a sense that it makes what he is saying genuine and not disingenuous.
Good speeches apply the use of powerful or memorable words and phases to make sure that what is said is not easily forgotten. Inspector Goole again utilizes this in his speech. The Inspector says ‘‘And I tell you that time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish’’.
These threes words the Inspector was referring to was war. The Inspector was trying to say that if we do not accept that the fact that we are all responsible for each other then the result will be that people will be suffer and eventually be killed at war. This would have had an effect on the audience because it was in the year 1945 when the Second World War had just ended.
The speech has a greater effect with the use of long and short sentences. This keeps the listener focused and emphasises on the key points. For example ‘We do not live alone’, ‘We are members of one body’ and ‘We are responsible for each other’.
If I was to read out this speech I will take into consideration the effect it will have on the audience if I was to continuously change the volume in which the speech is said at to keep the audience focused. I will vary my tone of voice so that the audience will be able know the difference between a very serious point and a witty point. Using physical gestures and facial expressions will also add impact to the homily.
After Inspector Goole made his final speech and walked out he left every one wondering about what they have done, every one except Mr and Mrs Birling. After all the Inspector had said they still did not accept social responsibility for the death of Eva Smith.
Priestley shows that there is hope in the future. He does this by making Sheila and Eric feel responsible for Eva’s suicide. Eric and Sheila represent the socialists in the play. Both Eric and Sheila believe that they are responsible for each other because if one man stands alone in this world they will fall just like in the case of Eva Smith.
In An Inspector Calls Priestley managed to release different messages from his play, there are listed as following:
Priestley wants us to realise that a situation could arise that will make us think about our social responsibility. In the case of the play the situation was the Inspector coming.
He also wants us to know that one little thing could have a huge effect on someone’s life. In the case of the play it was a chain of events which lead to a suicide.
Priestley is saying in his play that in life we may not have an opportunity to gain a second chance to right some things which we have wrong so when we get the chance we should use it. In the play the Birling family and Gerald Croft is given a second chance to change their capitalist views and take responsibility for others including those who are not in the same class as them.
The last lesson I have learnt from An Inspector Calls is that we ‘reap what we sow’. What ever we do now will affect us in the future. If we realise that what ever we do might affect someone else’s live then one day when we need help someone will also take responsibility for us.
I believe that Priestley might have thought of creating an unrealistic play for the reason that it will help to keep the messages of the play in our minds for longer.
I think that this play has a great deal of relevance to our society today. For the reason that there is confusion for where the boarder is where we should ‘mind our own businesses or ‘get involved’.
An example of this is the attempted murder of a young lady at a tube station. A man tried to kill a lady with a knife, but because one man who was passing by managed to jump on the attacker the lady was saved.
An example of when people chose to ‘mind their own businesses’ is when children get kidnapped. If some one would have intervened maybe Holly and Jessica would be still alive today. If we were all capitalists the question would be left ‘If only’. Examples are, ‘If only I would have called the police when I constantly heard loud cries at night next door’, ‘if only I would found help when I saw that young lady bleeding to death’.
If we all felt socially responsible for each other then the guilt would not be left on us.
In the case of Sheila it is, if only I had known, I would not have gotten Eva Smith fired.
This is what I believe J. B Priestley was trying to portray in An Inspector calls. We all know what happened on that tragic, September 11th 2001. It happened all the way in New York; however it has affected us here in London, for the reason that we might suffer in war.
‘If men will no learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish’
Michael Agyei
