An Inspector Calls Essay
Discuss how Priestly uses character and structure in this play 'An Inspector Calls' to reveal the historical and social disparity between the classes in 1912 Britain .
J.B.Priestley's play, first performed in 1946, but set in the spring of 1012 in the household of an upper-middle class family in the north of England . The plot of this dramatic play is based around the Blirling family's involvement in a young girl's suicide . The Birling consists of the two parents, Arthur and Sybil Birling and their two children Eric and Sheila . Gerald Croft is soon to become a member of the family as he has recently announced his engagement to Sheila .
"An Inspector Calls" is a well-made play that attacks the social mores of his time; it contains all the ingredients of a well-made play, this is because it is captivating, and it holds the attention of the audience. It achieves this by the use of climaxes, the slow unravelling of the plot and the use of the detective-whodunit style.
Despite this Priestly is concerned with the darker side of Capitalism. "An Inspector Calls" is Priestley's call for reformation. Priestley sees the nation as a society with communal, rather than individual responsibilities. The members of the Birling family are only concerned with individual gain and profit over person. They are responsible for the young women's death by treating her as property, and it is this lust for material wealth that Priestley speaks out against.
" An Inspector Calls" is a well-structured and well-made play because it contains many factors that captivate and sustain the attention of the audience.
One of the factors that makes the play captivating is the use of climax, the way it holds the audience all the way through, building up slowly, gathering the plot as it goes on and then finally ends in a stunning climax, for example the way the Inspector extracts small threads of information from the members of the family and slowly puts the picture together and narrows it down to the main culprit ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
" An Inspector Calls" is a well-structured and well-made play because it contains many factors that captivate and sustain the attention of the audience.
One of the factors that makes the play captivating is the use of climax, the way it holds the audience all the way through, building up slowly, gathering the plot as it goes on and then finally ends in a stunning climax, for example the way the Inspector extracts small threads of information from the members of the family and slowly puts the picture together and narrows it down to the main culprit as the climax.
The whodunit genre keeps the audience guessing all the way through the play, and as clues are solved and stories are unfurled 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.
The mystical appearance of the Inspector when the Birlings are having a celebration party, and Mr Birling is giving a speech on how the modern man should live, "...a man has to make his own way - has to look after himself" this shows that Mr. Birling is self-centred . Other examples of this self importance can be found a lot in the play . For example, Mr. Birling mutters on about things like 'the unsinkable Titanic', 'very little chance of a world war' and of Russia being technically socially behind' .Then eerily the Inspector steps in as almost as he was instantaneously opposing the views of Mr Birling, this seems to bring up questions of the inspectors background and who he is, as even the local constabulary have never heard of him.
But "An Inspector Calls" is more than just a well-made play, it is a play that attack the social mores of the time. In the time of Priestley people only seemed to look after themselves, their time and attention was not spent on the community, but on themselves. There was hardly any communal spirit or common wealth "But the way that some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else as if we're all together like bees in a hive, community and all that nonsense", 'socialist' values must be a fool .
Although Mr. Birling shows relatively little guilt for Eva's death, I do not feel that he is entirely responsible as at the end of the play he does in fact feel very guilty when the inspector gives his last speech . He says "Look inspector I'd give though sands-yes though sands..." indicating that he did begin to accept some of the blame .
Sheila Birling is questioned next by the inspector . Sheila is described as, "a pretty girl in her early twenties...pleased about life... excited". The audience see her as a sweet lively young girl who appreciates life in the house and lifestyle that surrounds her .
Sheila first met Eve Smith when Eva received a job at Milards, a well known department store . Sheila and her mother went to this store frequently . Eva worked as a sales assistant at this store and Sheila gets Eva fired when she lost her temper at her for smiling at her in a way which she found offensive, "...I was furious with her . I'd been in a bad temper anyhow" . Sheila could be compared to her father as she too helped to cause Eva's death by getting her sacked from her jab but here the similarities end . After hearing about Eva's death, Sheila immediately feels responsible and wishes to take on all the blame . As she feels so guilty when she did relatively little . I believe Sheila is not solely to blame . She also continues to feel guilty after learning that there was not an Eva Smith . She still feels that her acts were immoral and that they should not have done everything which they had done as it may have affected someone else .
The Inspector in the play is a mysterious man who comes and goes without a trace and seems to have no background. The Inspector is a channel for Priestley's views and criticisms on the social mores of the time. The Inspector is a contrast to the Birlings as he seems to favour community responsibilities rather than individual ones. The Birlings represent the richer people in society that do not care for their fellow people in the nineteen tens, for example Mr Birling sacked the girl Eva Smith for striking for a higher salary, but the demand was minuscule. They are set so far away from the community that they did not even realise that Eva Smith had died, let alone how the helped to kill her, they find this out only when the Inspector brings it to their attention.
In the inspectors final speech, he tries to show how both the First World War, and the Second, which had just ended when Priestley wrote the play, were the result of attitudes and behaviour such as those of powerful and wealthy families like the Birlings.
Priestley's choice of surname for Eva has obvious connotations: Smith is the most common name in England and Wales, and so is ideal to represent the typical working class British citizen. What Priestley was saying was that even the rich and upper class have a duty to the average lower class Briton.
The fact remains that Inspector Goole is a compelling and interesting character from start to finish, and even beyond, leaving the audience guessing about the Inspector's real identity and purpose. His main accomplishment, however, is warning the Birlings and the audience that envy and greed would, and possibly will, ultimately lead to a breakdown of society.
