What is Priestley's main aim in 'An Inspector Calls'? How successfully does he achieve it?

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We don’t live alone. We are all 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?

In the play an ‘Inspector Calls’ important messages are presented which can be used for any society. I am going to explore the way Priestley communicates these messages.

‘An Inspector Calls’ was written in 1945, however is set in an earlier time period of before World War 1. The first impression we get from the play is that it is a typical detective story. This is due to the fact that a dinner consisting of the Birling family and their guest Gerald Croft, is interrupted by the arrival of an inspector who presents the news that there has been a suicidal death of a young woman. This ruins the Birling’s evening and some important moral values are also learned through the enigmatic figure of the inspector. Priestley believed that everything you do has an effect on other people. This is one of the aims presented in the play.

Another message is that upper and middle class people have societal responsibilities. I believe Priestley’s main aim was to show his support of socialism as opposed to capitalism. Priestley felt that people needed to practice a compassionate form of socialism. The text of the play is controlled by Priestley in order for his opinion to be expressed. Priestley was a socialist and he preferred this to capitalism as a political belief. Socialism is the median between capitalism and communism. Socialism entails the possibility of free speech and an equal society in where people are restricted in their attempts to use their power to earn more money.

Priestley uses a diverse range of characters. Arthur Birling and Eva Smith are such different characters. Priestley deliberately juxtaposes these characters in the society of that time period so that the social division between different social classes is made obvious. Priestley wanted to show how working class people were treated unfairly. This is shown in the text using the example of Arthur Birling as the rich businessman exploiting these poor workers. Most men of Mr.Birlings age wanted to be a rich, happily married man who was profiting form a business. Eva Smith was earning barely enough money to survive on and had no family support, as both her parents were dead. The extreme differences between the two characters emphasises social unfairness and influences the audience of the play to feel that socialism is the ideal which everyone must believe in.

The impression we get of Mr.Birling is that he is arrogant; the purpose of this is to entertain. Birling’s arrogance is humorous and is used to make him look foolish. He mentions that the Titanic is “unsinkable, absolutely”. This opinion carried by Priestley is a deliberate action of Priestley. Its point is to show that Birling thinks only his opinion is correct whilst in actual fact he is wrong. The play was first written in 1945 and yet it is set, a week before the Titanic sank in 1912. Priestley purposely does this so the audience know that Birling is absolutely wrong in his prediction and because of this incorrect prediction Birling is made to look foolish. Birling also has an optimistic vision of the possibility of war. Birling eradicates any possibilities of war from his mind and tries to do the same with his children and Gerald. We know this because when Birling mentions the fact that he feels war is impossible because of the rate at which the world is developing, he tells Gerald, Sheila and Eric that “you youngsters just remember what I said”. Through history the audience know birling is proven wrong as two that world wars had occurred. The purpose of this is to convey Priestley’s view that World War One and Two were catastrophic mistakes and were consequences of ignorance and greed.

Mrs. Birling appears to be another ignorant figure in the play, she gives the impression that she is oblivious to the truth and feels her actions are always justified. We know this because she feels no remorse for the part she plays in the suicidal death of Eva Smith. The purpose of this is to entertain the audience as we can see her character as ridiculous and ‘blinded to the truth’. This re-emphasised by Mrs.Birling’s ignorance being made fun of in the play when her selfish justifications result in the condemnation of her son to a public scandal.

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When Birling discusses the war, that he believes is not going to occur he says “The Germans don’t want war”, the audience are ware and find the fact that Birling lacks common sense comical. The purpose of this is to again keep the audience entertained so when important messages are put across in the play, the audience are still interested and the message comes across more powerfully.

Most of the messages about society are conveyed through characters, especially the mysterious inspector. The character of the inspector is one of shadowy, mystical and quite suspicious manner; this done by ...

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