J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

An inspector calls is a morality play that challenges the ideas of an upper class Edwardian audience,preistley achieves this both through the attitudes of the play but also through his implementation of personal morals. Sheila is initially presented as the stereotypical Edwardian daughter but soon freely presents her emotions, without the need for approval from her parents.

‘It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did that matters’. In this essay, I am going to discuss how various characters influenced how and why Eric changed over the course of J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’. He loses all respect for his parents, and they stop respecting him. This contrasts to Shelia and Eric, who end up mutually respecting each other by the end of the play. Eric is also the character who learns the most from Inspector Goole’s investigation, as evidenced by his regret towards Eva’s suicide.

In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses different characters to portray women. At the start of the play, Sheila is seen as fragile, materialistic and inferior to the men in her life, which is typically the view of higher-class women. This is followed by the perspective of lower class women having excellent morals yet being disposable, which is seen through Eva Smith’s character. This contradicts to Mrs Birling’s control on others and her strong social class views.

“An Inspector Calls” is originally a play by J B Priestley in 1945, and has been represented in a variety of diverse ways, as a book, a play and many films.

Throughout the study of JB Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, it is easy to identify that there are many points in which this text both conforms and subverts to the conventions of the mystery genre. The author explores the archetypal mystery genre through firstly, the dead body and murder of Eva Smith, as well as the clues and motives that are revealed throughout the investigation. This is further followed by the series of intertwining characters, and the inquiry of their involvement in the death. However, this typical mystery text can be contradicted by the fact that this death was not a murder, but a suicide case, changing the expectations to instead of who killed her, but what were the lead up in events to result in Eva killing herself.

At the beginning of the play `An Inspector Calls’, Sheila Birling is presented as an Edwardian woman with not much power but being the daughter of a prosperous and hard headed businessman gives her a little power in the society.

the end of the Second World War. The play is set in 1912, just before

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ was written in 1945, by J.B. Priestley, yet set in 1912. At this time, society was mainly capitalist with industry and agriculture owned privately. Wealth is not evenly shared and there is a distinct divide between upper and lower class people. The play is set around a wealthy, upper-middle class family, headed by Arthur Birling a factory owner. In the beginning of the play, we see the family celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald, the son of Lord and Lady Croft. This is well supported by Mr Birling who sees this marriage as a business deal, a time where his company and the Crofts would be able to merge, benefiting the Birling’s greatly. However, we see a drastic mood change when Inspector Goole arrives, bringing news of the suicide of Eva Smith.

If I was a consultant for The Gap for sourcing decisions for sportswear. I would do my due diligence and check the cost associated with manufacturing, inventory, and shipping costs. To make sure that they get the best deal and have a company that they can trust with their products.

An inspector calls is a play which is used as a warning illustrates the clear division between higher and lower class but also between the two different generations. When we are first introduced to Mr Birling and Eric it is apparent that neither of them enjoy each others company and that they do not sustain a healthy father son relationship. Both character have different priorities as Mr Birling chooses business and welfare over his son, whilst Eric chooses drinking over socialising with his family. Mr Birling, a very conceited man, illustrates the greed of wealth and reputation in the higher class society, so much so that he pushed his son away to allow his future son-in-law Gerald to take main priority.

An Inspector Calls was written in 1945 the year the second world war ended but set shortly before the first world war in 1912 because he wanted to show the class divide before the war and the arrogance that the upper class or upper middle in Mr Birling’s case had and to try to stop us from going down that path again like the Inspector did with Eric and Sheila. Priestley uses the play to show others his socialist views and how he wants everyone to work together and look out for one another. Priestley opens the play in the Birling’s dining room “dessert plates and champagne glasses, ect.., and then replacing them with decanter of port, cigar box and cigarettes” many of the things on the table such as the champagne glasses and the port shows that the Birling’s must have been wealthy as they wouldn’t have been able to afford it all without being rich.

Sheila is the most influential and pivotal character of the play “An Inspector Calls”. Sheila shows how and to what degree a person or people in society can change and how it can affect people around each other and the world.

Aboriginal men and women who lived through residential schools brought the concern of residential schools onto the public agenda.[2] Their work resulted in the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, which stipulated a residential school Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada be conducted.[2] The commission concluded that the Canadian residential school system was established for the purpose of separating children from their families.[2] According to the commission, this was done with the intention to minimize the family's ability to pass along their cultural heritage to their children.[2][3] The commission spent six years traveling to different parts of Canada to hear the testimony of approximately six thousand Aboriginal people who were taken away from their families and placed in residential schools as children.

How does JB Priestley present the older and younger generations differently throughout the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ (45 mins)

In the play 'An Inspector Calls', many contrasts and paradox's are present and at the centre of them all is the character known as Inspector Goole. However, the inspector is not any ordinary inspector. I believe that the inspector is used as a device by Priestley to explore the wider themes of the play and to depict other characters true personalities. This essay will explore some of the techniques Priestley presents the inspector in An Inspector Calls.