"We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other." What is Priestley's main aim in An Inspector Calls? How successfully does he achieve it?
"We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other." What is Priestley's main aim in An Inspector Calls? How successfully does he achieve it?
An Inspector Calls: a play or a parable? In fact, the play could be interpreted as both, as Priestley voices many of his concerns and worries through this play in order to deliver a strong and hard-hitting message to the audience. I aim to examine what this message is by researching and studying many of the social aspects of 1946 British society (when the play was first staged), and 1912 (when the play is set). By doing this, I expect to secure a general impression of some of Priestley's objectives in the play, as I will pinpoint the characteristics of society that may have influenced the writing of the play. By examining the themes of the play, I also hope to gain an idea of the purpose of the play, and the effect it would have had on the 1946 audience. To evaluate how effectively Priestley conveys his main messages to the audience, I will analyse the ways that Priestley makes the audience feel involved, and how he manages to sustain the audience's attention. I will also study the dramatic devices and the way the play is structured with a similar intention of being able to evaluate how effectively he puts his message across.
By analysing the historical and social context of the play, Priestley's objectives and aims in An Inspector Calls can be seen more clearly. Before World War One, the inequality and social divisions in British society resulted in many lower-class people (like Eva Smith) being neglected and mistreated by the socially superior. But during World War Two, many people became convinced that after the uphill struggle against Fascism, we had to create a fairer and just society. Gradually, class divisions and inequality began to diminish, and these were aided by Priestley's war-time broadcasts (although these were cancelled by the BBC as they were proving to be too controversial), and the Labour Party, which campaigned for social justice and won the 1945 elections by a landslide victory. Priestley wanted to take full advantage of these changes. Through this play, he encourages people to seize the opportunity the end of the war had given them to develop a more caring and united society. Priestley deliberately set his play in 1912 because the date represented a time period when a lot was very different from when the play was set. Priestley also had the advantage of a retrospective viewpoint of 1912, and the use of effective chronological devices can be seen throughout the play.
Priestley effectively uses stage directions from the onset of the play in order to convey some of his main messages more effectively. He directs the furniture to be "substantially and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike" and for the lighting to change from "pink and intimate, to harder and brighter", upon the Inspector's arrival. These dramatic yet subtle stage directions make the audience subconsciously distrust the Birling family as they indicate that beneath this materially well-off household may lurk unpleasantness, and that such unpleasantness may be exposed by the Inspector, as you cannot "hide in bright light". From the beginning, the audience is already subconsciously making assumptions and links which makes it feel more involved.
Priestley effectively involves and engages his audience in several other ways, in order to express his main message more successfully. The use of dramatic irony helps to absorb the audience's attention by making them feel as if they know more than the characters themselves. For instance, the audience knows how wrong Mr. Birling is when he makes confident predictions about there not being a war ("I say there isn't a chance") and is excited about the sailing of the "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" Titanic: the ship that famously sank on her maiden journey. These overly optimistic and short-sighted views ...
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Priestley effectively involves and engages his audience in several other ways, in order to express his main message more successfully. The use of dramatic irony helps to absorb the audience's attention by making them feel as if they know more than the characters themselves. For instance, the audience knows how wrong Mr. Birling is when he makes confident predictions about there not being a war ("I say there isn't a chance") and is excited about the sailing of the "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" Titanic: the ship that famously sank on her maiden journey. These overly optimistic and short-sighted views of Birling show how effectively Priestley takes advantage of the use of hindsight. Not only does this technique engage the audience's attention, it is also intended to deliver a message to the 1946 audience. After two wars full of "fire, blood and anguish", Priestley knew that he had to shake the 1946 audience (who were generally very skeptical regarding the possibility of a Third World War) from their post-war complacency. This is one of Priestley's main messages during the play.
The theme of responsibility is one that dominates the play and is one of the bases of Priestley's main message. Through the Inspector, he points out that "we are responsible for each other", not only for individual actions but also for the way actions affect others. Priestley is determined to emphasise how evading responsibilities (like Mr. Birling: "I can't accept any responsibility") results in an evil disregard for the "Eva Smiths and John Smiths" of society. Both Arthur and Sheila Birling damaged Eva financially due to Birling's greed ("for wanting 25 shillings instead of twenty two and six") and Sheila's jealousy ("she was very pretty"). Therefore, Priestley attempts to make the audience empathise with Eva's plight by trying "to put ourselves in the place of these young women counting their pennies in their dingy back rooms". Also, by drawing attention to Eva and Sheila's physical similarities (they are both described as "pretty"), their different lifestyles and fates are more noticeable; therefore making the audience feel sympathetic towards Eva by suggesting the happier life she might have led had she been born into a family with a higher social standing. Through this empathy, the audience is subconsciously accepting Priestley's views.
The frequent use of irony throughout the play tells us a lot about Priestley's attitude towards the majority of upper-class citizens in the early part of the 20th Century. The theme of hypocrisy and lies is evident throughout the play and is displayed predominantly by Mr. Birling. Mr. Birling states that he "can't accept any responsibility" for Eva's death, but also accepts that it might have been part of "a chain of events". This hypocrisy shows how determined Birling is to evade his moral responsibility for the welfare of others. This issue of moral responsibility is recurrent throughout the play, and is its central theme. He also tells Eric that "It's time you faced a few responsibilities"; a remark that is tellingly ironic and hypocritical, given that through the progression of the play, he is evidently increasingly desperate to avoid "a few responsibilities". The consistent use of irony displays the hypocrisy of Birling, and therefore persuades the audience to dislike his attitude, and therefore accept Priestley's message on responsibility for others, individual and collective.
Playwrights are often very politically-minded, and use their plays to voice what they perceive to be the wrongs of society. An Inspector Calls is no exception. Priestley uses the Inspector to express his concerns; often very directly to the audience. Comments such as "Sometimes there isn't as much difference as you think" (between being "respected citizens, not criminals" (Gerald)) are clearly addressed to the audience, and this would have been made very obvious in some plays, with the Inspector coming to the front of the stage to deliver his lines. In this instance, the Inspector implies that the line between guilt and innocence is finer than generally assumed, and the real nature of responsibility, or lack of it, lies in the way people react to their guilt. By the end of the play, there is a clear difference of the respect given by the audience between the Birling parents and Gerald, who show no remorse and shame for their actions, and the Birling children. Both Sheila and Eric learn to accept that we are responsible for others, and reiterate the Inspector's message after he leaves, acting as the mouthpiece during the Inspector's absence. For example, Eric is unmoved by the series of explanations that Gerald and Birling are busy developing desperately ("That doesn't matter to me"), as is Sheila ("That's just what I feel, Eric"). Not only does this help to provide a sense of continuation of Priestley's message so that the audience doesn't forget it, perhaps they represent the younger generation that Priestley hopes is still fair and open-minded enough to learn to accept the responsibility for others.
The way the play is structured is also effective as the drama unfolds in one place (the Birlings' dining room), with the events actually taking up about the same amount of time as that which passes in the theatre. Also, the plot has been meticulously organised without any complicating subplots. This makes the play realistic, convincing, focusing the attention of the audience and therefore making Priestley's messages unambiguous and easily comprehensible.
The way Priestley arouses the audience's curiosity at the beginning of the play is extremely effective, as it involves the audience from the outset; therefore causing them to pay closer attention to his main message. In this case, Priestley uses Eric in order to do this. Comments such as "Yes, I remember-" (before breaking off and looking "confused") and his evident alarm at the Inspector's arrival (the actor was instructed by Priestley to appear "uneasy") alerts the audience to the possibility that Eric has something to hide.
Priestley's dramatic skill throughout the play is evident through the numerous dramatic devices he uses. The Inspector effectively uses the device of guilt by implication ("Are you sure you don't know?") in order to increase the tension, and involve the audience by leading them to anticipate events further on in the play. Also, both of the first two acts end on cliffhangers. In the first act, his simply says: "Well?", leaving the audience in tense anticipation as the curtain falls. Similarly, he simply holds up his hand upon the end of Act 2 to focus all the tension on the silence, before the curtain falls. Both of these cliffhangers mirror the dramatic techniques of a suspense writer, and grip the audience's attention. He uses another technique used by many suspense writers upon the conclusion of Act Two. Mrs. Birling is triumphant and delighted when she thinks that she has cleared herself and outwitted the Inspector by blaming "some young drunken idler" for the death of Eva Smith. The Inspector encourages her to "built a wall against the Inspector" by allowing Mrs. Birling to develop a false sense of security ("and now no doubt you'd like to say goodnight"), before he "smashes the wall into pieces" (the actress is then instructed to appear "agitated" and "distressed").
Some more subtle dramatic devices are used in the play. For instance, some kind of understanding between the Inspector and Sheila is evident whilst "he regards her calmly while she stares at him wonderingly and dubiously". The way the characters interact on stage creates drama, as they encourage the audience to identify more with some characters' feelings and thoughts, and also take sides in arguments. In consequence, the audience feels more emotionally involved with the themes that the play explores and Priestley's main messages.
The characters of most of the upper-class people that are introduced in the play are thoroughly discredited during the entirety of the play. Characters such as Arthur Birling (conveyed as greedy, selfish and arrogant), Mrs. Birling (stubborn, snobbish and corrupt), Gerald (cynical, self-serving and complacent) and even the minor character of Alderman Meggarty (a "notorious womaniser") are brought into disrepute. All of the upper-class characters, whether typifying the younger generation (Gerald) or older generation (the Birling parents); whether inheriting "old" money (Mrs. Birling) or making "new" money (Mr. Birling) have shown themselves to have behaved despicably. Priestley is implying to the audience that the basic values of a society in which such people rise to positions of importance are inadequate and not as generally perceived. Priestley is trying to highlight the need for this to change. No matter how much the upper-class people try to hide this, it remains a serious problem, with nothing being done about it in 1912. Even Mrs. Birling herself pretends to be blind to this when hearing Alderman Meggarty being described as a "notorious womaniser" ("Well, really! I must say, we are learning something tonight"). This feigned innocence hides the fact that it is all based on her desire to avoid hearing anything which is contradictory to her own 'superior' awareness.
The Inspector's final speech in Act 3 is an effective summary of all the issues and concerns that Priestley has tried to express during the course of the play. The theme of collective responsibility is once again expressed. Comments such as "We are responsible for each other" and "we are members of one body" are related to Priestley's view that personal responsibility is necessary in every member of society; responsibility not only for individual actions, but also for the way actions affect others. The biblical tone of the Inspector's warning of "fire and blood and anguish" in the speech is another dramatic message to the audience as it has an apocalyptic tone that directly refers to recent events (recent in 1946) that shook all members of British society in all social classes. The comment is a direct reference to the First and Second World War, and is intended to shake the post-war audience from their growing complacency, and remind them that they have to unite as "one body" in order to avoid the "fire and blood and anguish" that is normally associated with war. The abrupt and immediate departure of the Inspector is also very dramatic, as "He walks straight out" without giving the characters a chance to recover from his words ("leaving them staring, subdued and wondering").
An Inspector Calls is perhaps one of the most influential plays written in the 20th Century. The play explores themes of status, responsibility and deceit in order to express a forceful message of how class divisions must be eradicated and how people must be responsible for others, in order to stop the "Eva Smiths and John Smiths" suffering unjustly. I have meticulously researched the historical and social aspects of the play with the aim of understanding some of these aspects that influenced the writing of the play. By doing this I have gained a better idea of Priestley's main aim in An Inspector Calls. I have also studied the themes of the play in order to discover Priestley's ideas and concerns (which mainly focused around responsibility, status and deceitful behaviour). I have extracted these ideas and concerns not only from what the characters say, but how they say it and what they do. I have examined how the structure of the play has helped to maintain a sense of realism throughout. I have also studied how the stage directions have contributed towards the overall dramatic effect in the play. I have analysed the dramatic devices in the play (e.g. dramatic irony, guilt by implication) in order to investigate how successfully Priestley has engaged the audience's attention. I have also studied how Priestley has persuaded the audience to empathise with certain characters, and dislike others, as by doing this, the audience is inclined to accept Priestley's ideas and beliefs. I have also explored the purposes and effects of certain devices Priestley uses in the play with the intention of questioning how effectively Priestley conveys his message to the audience. Personally, I feel that he has maintained a simple structure to the play, despite having used a complex range of devices, making his messages hard-hitting and easy to understand, yet also thought-provoking and meaningful. I therefore believe he has very successfully achieved his main aim in An Inspector Calls.
Websites used:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/dramainspectorcalls/index.shtml
http://www.harveygs.kent.sch.uk/InspectorCallsCharNotes.htm
Book used:
Letts Explore: An Inspector Calls
