Theme Of Conflict In An Inspector Calls

Social responsibility is one of the main themes in ‘An Inspector Calls’ play. J.B. Priestly wrote the play in 1945, but set it in 1912, at the time when there was a strong class division within the society which affected attitudes towards social responsibility. Priestly portrayed this in his play through different characters and differences between lower and upper classes as well as the younger and the older generation in the play. Priestley and the character from the play, Inspector, were in favour of socialism while in contrast, Mr Birling represents capitalism which affects his sense of responsibility.

Tension is frequently current between the Inspector and Mr Birling due to their contrasting ideas. They are both extremely powerful figures clashing for dominance and status in the household. A major point hidden by Priestley is their political views, Birling represents a capitalists view point whereas the Inspector is a shadow figure of Priestley's ideas and represents a socialist. They are symbols of the global struggle between Capitalism and Socialism in the 40s. The Inspector is prominent to show his power when Birling attemps to interrogate him by warning him that the 'Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts' is 'an old friend of mine' and that they 'play golf together sometimes up at the West Brumley'. In response to this, the Inspector 'dryly'

However, Mr Birling's 'foil', the Inspector - who adopts the socialist ideology - firmly sets Mr Birling in place when Mr Birling tries to intimidate him with his status because 'public men ... have responsibilities as well as privileges'. Here, Priestley accuses Mr Birling of not only acting wrongfully but also failing to see his public position entails a duty of responsibility to the rest of society. Using the stage direction 'massively' to describe the Inspector interrupting

In An Inspector Calls, one of the main themes is responsibility. Priestley is interested in our personal responsibility for our own actions and our collective responsibility to society. The play explores the effect of class, age and sex on people's attitudes to responsibility, and shows how prejudice can prevent people from acting responsibly. In this essay I am going to explain how Priestley presents the theme of responsibility and how he uses structural and language devices to do so.

The moral of the play is that everyone is part of a community, and everyone is responsible for each other, it does not matter whether they are lower class or upper class (‘[W]e don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.’). Priestley believed in socialism, he uses the Inspector to express his thoughts about this. This is the main message that he wanted the audience to take away.

An Inspector Calls is a three-act drama, which takes place on a single night in 1912, and focuses on the Birling family, who live in a wealthy but not particulary homely house in Brumley. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. The idea of the play, and particularly the role of the inspector, is to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. In Act Three, the Inspector tells the Birling family: “The girl killed herself and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.” But who was really the

rest of the family had known about it, or heard about it in some way

In Act 1 the Inspector enters and the stage directions command that lighting is to change from “pink and intimate” to “brighter and harder”. The use of the comparatives “brighter and harder” creates an image of an interrogation with a “brighter” light exposing the whole family’s misconducts. This is evident when Inspector Goole enters and forces the family to accept responsibility for Eva’s death. Eva drank disinfectant that “burnt her inside out”. The gruesome imagery that comes from the emotive verb “burnt” shocks the Birling family. This contrast from the nonchalant idiom “inside out”. The juxtaposition between these two ideas were purposefully used by Priestley to emphasise the grave nature of this incident, evoking a sense of pathos from the audience towards Eva because they are aware that these events happened as a result of the Birling’s actions. Cleverly, here Priestley draws the audience back to social responsibility and the lack of it within this household. Alternatively, Priestley might have been showing that the Birling family will never learn and it will only be “harder” to redeem from their myopic view. Priestley continues to convey this theme throughout the play through Goole’s impactful messages. As the Inspector was about to leave, he teaches the Birlings that “we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other”. The anaphora of the repetition of the pronoun “we” emphasises the much-needed care for one another and also preaches the socialist ideal of the community over the individual. It also has connotations of a human body, because if one part of the body, such as the heart, were to stop working the whole of the body would shut down. This links to the Birling’s because if one of them stops caring about the lower class others will follow. The pronoun “we” suggests that the Inspector is

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.

But then the inspector comes in and gradually shows them how wrong Birling is and how we should feel and show responsibility for one another. In the play the Inspector conveys Priestly message that everyone should take responsibility instead of pushing it aside. He expresses this clearly when he interrogates each of them. ‘A nice little promising life there, I thought, and a nasty mess somebody’s made of it’.

Towards the end of act 3 the inspector says “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” He also talks about collective responsibility as he wanted each member of the family to share the responsibility of Eva’s death. He does this by showing that everyone in society is linked in the same way that the characters are linked to Eva Smith. Zooming in on the phrase “one body” it is clear that the Inspector sees society as more important than their individual interests; this shows the inspector to be a mouthpiece for Priestley’s socialist views.

not only asks them to tell him what they did but also guilt trips them

visit of Inspector Goole. But who is Inspector Goole? And who is the girl whose

While the Smolinsky family is not literally “hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages”, this displays to the reader how desperation affected them. The metaphor acts as a bridge between the reader and the event, therefore allowing them to feel the same worry that Sara harbors through the shared experience of “hanging” without support. It is important for the audience to relate to the characters, yet this cannot happen if the author’s portrayal gives little humanity to their characters. Hence, when Yezierska writes that financial help according to Sara and her family is a “stab into our burning shame”, it shows that despite any prior notions of poverty being an “ornament”, they still have human wants and needs. Moreover, it shows that her characters are not emotionless apathetic beings that live only on their faith; they too endure deviations from what is expected of them. At any rate, repeated similes have an analogous consequence on the reader's thoughts. Multiple comparisons within a small section of text compound the anxiety, bombarding the same heavy emotions that Sara feels onto the reader in a way that they can sympathize with her, and in turn, Yezierska herself. Altogether, these literary moves go further than simply entertaining the audience, but informing them about what the world was truly

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.