An Inspector Calls - J B Priestley.

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Ian Russo        10SP/GA        29/10/2002

An Inspector Calls – J B Priestley

What do you think the message of the play is and how does Priestley give it expression, through the action and the characters?

Include in your answer examples of how, as a director, you would best convey the message to the audience.

The message of the play is to look out for others not just yourself.

        An Inspector Calls was written in 1940 and is set in 1912 Brumley in the Midlands. The family are the Birlings who are an upper middle class family. The head of the family is a Mr. Birling who’s a factory owner. All the characters are strong and have high profiles in local society and live in a suburban house. Family life was very proper and everyone respected one another.

        In the beginning of the play the Birling family are celebrating the engagement of their daughter, Sheila, to Sir Gerald Croft the son of a business tycoon. As they are celebrating there is a knock at the door, it’s someone who calls himself Inspector Goole. He tells the family about the suicide of a lower class young girl. The family believe they’ve nothing to do with it. The Inspector proves the Birling family wrong!

        Each of the Birling family members all have their own individual reasons that link them to the young girls suicide. The message of the play is to look after others, not just yourself, in other words not to act selfishly to one another. As one character says…

“… what’s the use of talking about behaving sensibly? Your beginning to pretend now that nothing’s really happened at all. And I can’t see it like that. That girl’s still dead, isn’t she? Nobody’s brought her back to life, have they?”

Thus implying that some of the Birlings have already forgotten about the girls’ suicide, and started to worry about themselves.

        The Inspector starts to question the Birling family and Gerald. The Inspector knows that all the Birling family contributed to the suicide of Eva Smith, a young girl. The Inspector just needs them to confess.

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        Mr. Birling is a factory owner with many employees. He is strong and always wants to be the focal point. Eva Smith used to work at Birlings factory. She and other workers protested to be allowed more pay. Because of this protesting, he then sacked her and the others. When the Inspector tells him about Eva Smith, he denies all responsibility for her death. He says in Act 1…

“… well don’t tell me that’s because I discharged her from my employment nearly two years ago”

This is why Mr. Birling disapproves the Inspectors opinion. As a director, ...

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