An Inspector calls

• What are the 5 contexts of AIC?

  Priestly was socialist

  woman’s rights

  class devision

  “undeserving poor”

  World war 1
• Mr Birling quote: “the titanic………. unsinkable“ - audience knows what Actually happened to the titanic and therefore mr b looks foolish
• Shelia quote: ‘‘I started it“ - represents social responsibility themes
• Gerald quote: “the most important person in her life“ - context of woman’s rights and class
• What are the 4 themes in AIC?

  -CAGS-

  Class

  age

  Gender

  social responsibility
• Important inspector quotes: “millions and million of Eva smiths and John smiths“ - referring to all lower class people who need help
• Eric birling quote that shows his use of power to get things: “I didn’t….. remember, that’s the hellish thing“ - referring to him raping her as she was a prostitute trying to make money at that time.
• mrs birling cares more about her class than her gender this is shows when she says: “girls of that class” - as if she looks down on them and calls them girls even though they are fully grown women
• How does Edna represent the working class compared to the Upper classes?

  often edna is not asked but demanded to due her tasks, for example in act 1, mr birling uses words such as “Give” when ordering Edna as if his requirements are met withought hesitation
• what is the key plot point of Act 1?

  the inspector arrives and begins interrogation
• Key plot point of act 2 in AIC is that Gerald is shows to have had an affair then following this aims blame at mrs birling this leads straight into what Eric did
• act 3 is when we are told what Eric has done, the inspector then gives his speech and leaves
• After the inspector leaves the family begin to defend them selves and end up wondering if the inspector tricked them or wasn’t an inspector at all
• why are the family (specifically mr and mrs Birling) happy even though what they have done has been exposed?

  Gerald found out that the inspector isn’t ‘real’ and that nobody has killed themselves
• after the family are relaxed that it was all a ‘hoax‘, at the last minute there is a call at the phone. the phone says that somebody has just killed themselves and an inspector is on there way to question them.
• why is the ending of AIC very peculiar?

  The audience are left to wonder if the inspector throughout the play was even real or if Eva was still alive while the convocation was happening
• the ending of the play gives them inspector a ghostly feeling as if he was never there or even if he was a time traveller
• AIC was written in 1945 and set in 1912