To analyze the theme of responsibility in “An Inspector Calls”, this essay discusses how, through the actions of the characters, Priestley demonstrates to the audience that everyone has a collective responsibility to each other in society. He engages the idea by contrasting the older generation...
In J.B Priestley’s timeless, symbolic sermon about social conscience, he explores the change in Eric Birling: from an intractable and pompous juvenile to a mature and increasingly confident socialist. His transformation is perhaps the easiest for the audience to relate to: he blames the world...
How is Eric presented in An Inspector Calls? This essay analyzes Eric Birling as an influential and significant character in the play. Priestly uses Eric’s character to show the change in the younger generation and his own socialist views of 1912. He is initially introduced...
In the play ‘An Inspector Calls’, the character of the Inspector is used as a dramatic device in a number of different ways which all help the play to become more interesting and gripping. In this essay, I shall aim to analyse and explore these...
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
Character, Communist state, Drama, Inspector Clouseau, Irony, Literary technique, Paradox, Responsibility, Social Duty, Socialism
Sheila’s character changes massively throughout J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, often in a manner that registers increasing maturity. At first, Sheila is presented through stage directions as a ‘pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited’; she is pictured as...
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, Gender, Girl, Inspector Clouseau, J. B. Priestley, Man, Responsibility, Sheila Gordon, Social equality, Sociology
How is Gerald presented in An Inspector Calls? To start the essay, the character of Gerald Croft is extremely significant, as he is the only perpetrator not to be a part of the Birling household. He is also the character who knew Eva Smith most intimately...
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, Bourgeoisie, Class Politics, Idea, J. B. Priestley, Marxism, Middle class, Proletariat, Responsibility, Royal National Theatre
Introduction There are drastic differences that are seen in people who are born in different generations. One may argue that the younger generations are more impressionable and naive while the older generations are very hardheaded and assertive. By creating characters like Sheila and Eric with...
An Inspector Calls
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, J. B. Priestley, Responsibility, Time and the Conways, Youth and Age
Some individuals possess greater authority than others. The possession of authority is beneficial and makes life more pleasant but although it brings so much ease to life, it can easily be abused to bring harm to others. In the play, An Inspector Call by JB...
An Inspector Calls
Topics:
Abuse, And Influence; Responsibility, Bullying, Charitable organization, Charity, Child abuse, J. B. Priestley, Love, Physical abuse, Power
In the play “An Inspector Calls” by J B Priestley, the characters of Sheila and Eric are used to represent the younger generation in Edwardian England, a time when traditional Victorian values were beginning to become obsolete. Priestley uses these characters to criticize and contrast...
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
Accept, An Inspector Calls, Class Politics, Edwardian era, Inspector Clouseau, Irony, J. B. Priestley, Moral superiority, The Play, Time and the Conways
An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J.B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. The Inspectors name is Goole which...
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, Audience, Inspector Clouseau, J. B. Priestley, John William Dunne, Responsibility, Social Duty, The Final, The Play, Time and the Conways
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‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play broadcasting the theme of responsibility throughout. The play is known as a morality play. This is when characters in the play personify a moral quality. In this instance, Priestly uses his characters to illustrate the importance of being responsible....
Introduction In An Inspector Calls, Mr.Birling and the Inspector are complete opposites of each other and are used to support different ideas of the themes in the play. Their importance in terms of awareness of society, consideration for the community, and philosophies about political ideas...
Character
An Inspector Calls
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, Audience, Audience theory, Capitalism, Communism, Economic system, Ideologies, Inspector Clouseau, J. B. Priestley, Joseph Schumpeter
In the play An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley presents Mr. Arthur Birling as a wealthy businessman with strong capitalist beliefs. He is portrayed as a self-made man who has enjoyed success in local politics, including his position as Lord Mayor of Brumley. However, as the...
J. B. Priestley represented a huge conflicts between representer of democracy and self-regulated in capitalism, when another one follows communistic ideas. One of his best known plays, ‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by British playwright John Priestley, in 1945, after the Second World War. Nevertheless,...
‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by J.B Priestly in 1946, just after the second world war. It focuses on the visit to the Birling family by a mysterious inspector. Priestley uses the character of Inspector Goole to represent a ‘god like’ figure who can also...
Inspector Goole
An Inspector Calls
Character
Topics:
Class Politics, Morality, Responsibility, Social Duty
In An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley expresses the importance of the interconnected nature of society through his exploration of how his characters react to their responsibility; this theme is also addressed through ideas of society present both at the time of writing and when the...
An Inspector Calls
Topics:
An Experiment with Time, An Inspector Calls, Audience, Audience theory, Conscience, Demonstration, Guilt, Inspector Clouseau, J. B. Priestley, Performance
Throughout the opening scenes of Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, Eric is portrayed as little more than a drunken child (‘only a boy’, as his Mother would have put it). If the work is considered to be a morality play, then Eric is perhaps guilty of...
An Inspector Calls
Topics:
An Inspector Calls, Audience, Audience theory, Boy, Family, Guilt, Morality, Performance, Sympathy, The Play
Mr. Arthur Birling, a prominent character in J.B. Priestley’s play “An Inspector Calls,” is a complex individual whose perspectives and actions offer insight into the prevailing attitudes of his time. This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of Mr. Birling, examining his personality traits, beliefs,...
Guilt, a complex and deeply human emotion, serves as a prominent thematic element in the play “An Inspector Calls” by J.B. Priestley. The exploration of guilt is a central aspect of the characters’ experiences and the overall narrative. This essay delves into the intricate ways...
J.B. Priestley’s play “An Inspector Calls” delves into the complexities of societal attitudes and generational differences. The interplay between the older and younger characters serves as a lens through which themes of class, responsibility, and societal change are explored. This essay analyzes the generational conflict...
Introduction In the play ‘An Inspector calls’, Priestley conveys the theme of social responsibility through the words and actions of his character’s. Which was set in 1912 but written in 1944, just after world war 2 in 1946. Therefore, many writers at the time were...
Introduction How is responsibility shown in ‘An Inspector Calls’? This essay discusses how, during J.B. Priestley’s play ‘An Inspector Calls’, the responsibility of members of society is extensively questioned and explored, as the clashes of contemporary political views are presented for the audience to debate....
In J.B Priestley’s allegorical well-made whodunnit play, about moral principles and social humanitarian conscience, the character of Eric Birling is developed from a sexist misinformed character who blindly advocates to the corresponding selfish materialistic perspectives and capitalist ideologies as his nouveau riche hubris father; to...
In An Inspector Calls, Priestley portrays inspector google as a peculiar mysterious man. His name Goole having the same pronunciation as “ghoul”, in another word a ghost/spirit. This suggests perhaps someone who has an interest in death and maybe is sent as Eva’s afterlife to...
An Inspector Calls, And Influence, Audience, Audience theory, Class Politics, Corporate social responsibility, Google, Inspector Clouseau, J. B. Priestley, Power
Eric Birling, son of Mr. Birling and brother to Sheila, is one of the more complex characters in J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. Throughout the play, Eric struggles with his own identity, often feeling like an outsider within his family. He is described as “half...
An Inspector Calls
Eric Birling
Topics:
Class Politics, Responsibility, Social Duty
Date, Author
6 July 1945, J. B. Priestley
Genre
Drama play
Plot
The play is a three-act drama which takes place on a single night in April 1912, focusing on the prosperous upper middle-class Birling family,[ who live in a comfortable home in the fictional town of Brumley, "an industrial city in the north Midlands". The family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman in her mid-twenties.
Theme
The major theme of “An Inspector Calls” is social responsibility of a man living in the society in which he is expected to follow the basic principles of social living. Other major themes include guilt, gender, class conflict, cause and effect, poverty and exploitation.
Style
The methods that Priestley uses to interest and involve the audience is by using various dramatic techniques such as dramatic irony, cliff hangers, lighting and setting. He uses all his techniques to show his message and make sure the audience understand it. They also create tension. The dialogue is believable and fast moving and the play is structured so that each act grabs the audience's attention.
Characters
Inspector Goole, Edna, Arthur Birling, Sybil Birling, Sheila Birling, Eric Birling, Gerald Croft
Popularity
An Inspector Calls is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is considered to be one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre. The play's success and reputation were boosted by a successful revival by English director Stephen Daldry for the National Theatre in 1992 and a tour of the UK in 2011–2012. The play is studied in many British schools as one of the prescribed texts for the English Literature GCSE.
Quotes
“It’s better to ask for the earth than to take it”
“We have to share something. If there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt”
“Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”
References
1. Samantrai, R. (2017). Sermon and Spectacle: JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. Modern Drama, 60(2), 212-230. (https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/MD.0842?journalCode=md)
2. Gale, M. B. (2014). An Inspector Calls and Calls Again: Nation, Community and the Individual in JB Priestley’s Play. In Theatre and National Identity (pp. 96-112). Routledge. 9https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203366219-8/inspector-calls-calls-maggie-gale)
3. Williams, R. (2017). An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley: An introduction. Teaching Drama, 2016(72), 1-1. (https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/DT.2017.72.GCSE?journalCode=tedr)
4. Barnett, D. (2022). “The Point Is, You Don’t Seem to Have Learnt Anything”: Reimagining JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls as a Brechtian Lehrstück for the Middle Classes. Modern Drama, 65(3), 381-405. (https://moderndrama.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/md-65-3-1217)
5. Brown, C. (2012). An inspector calls. The School Librarian, 60(2), 112. (https://www.proquest.com/docview/1024830734?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true)
6. Doak, J. (2009). An inspector calls: Looking at retail development through a sustainability lens. Journal of Retail & Leisure Property, 8, 299-309. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/rlp.2009.17)
7. Konkle, L. (2008). JB Priestley. Modern Drama, 51(4), 620-622. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/259357/summary)
8. Lesser, W. (1994). Inspection. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4384357)
