J.B. Priestleys An Inspector Calls :: Priestley Inspector Calls Essays

J.B. Priestleys An Inspector CallsThe play is set at the turn of the century and is centred on a wealthyfamily who ar successful and prosperous at a time of poverty formany. They are oblivious to this, and given the fact that the play waswritten many years later on the play contains much irony about thefuture, but not only does it make it question our history but also ourfuture.The inspector is portrayed as being the champion of socialism, he isthere to symbolise Priestleys views. Essentially Priestley usesbiased representations of capitalism, and socialism, reflected withBirling, and inspector Goole, to prepare the reader for his conclusivemessage. Priestley conveys this message of responsibility towardsothers in many ways throughout the play. He also criticises his viewson the society at the time by using each of the other characters as salient devices to, symbolically, convey his message.Priestley was writing in 1945, while the play was set in 1912 evenbefore the war. Priestley introduces the play right after the worldwar and then reminding the readers and viewers of the situations beforethe war. He compares these social situations of 1912 with 1945. Hismessage contrasts these two periods of time with the help of inspectorGoole. During 1912 there were a lot of differentiation between theamphetamine and lower class, and very few belonged in between. He uses theinspector indirectly to point out the serious flaws in society whichallowed disadvantaged Eva Smith to outlast alongside the privilegedBirlings. Due to the war the class society had been nearly wiped out.During 1912 almost every lower class family lived in houses rentedfrom private landlords, very few had their own houses. Arthur Birlingis shown in 1912 predicting that there will be no war, I say therewill be no war, and this soothsaying was obviously wrong. Thistechnique was used so that Priestley can again give comparisonsbetween the two time periods. In 1945 Priestley tries to make theunaware pe rcentage of peck aware of the cruel society that existedin 1912. He shows that the war mixed people up, it broke down theclass and occupational barriers that existed before and that a measurewas given to all men and women, therefore, in that sense there wasequality.In the play the inspector is portrayed as an enigmatic figure, neverrevealing his sure identity. His dramatic power lies in this, whererevealing his identity would consequently affect the tension andsuspense that is built up as the story progresses. To do thiseffectively, Priestley leaves some(prenominal) interpretations on the identityof the inspector.