basic info quotes to learn

• Dramatic pauses and cliff-hangers

  • Priestley uses many dramatic pauses to create tension and cliff-hangers throughout the play
  • The cliff-hangers are used not only to build drama, but to give the audience space to contemplate and question their own actions, and opinions on the actions of the characters
• Dramatic pause


  • At the end of Act One when the Inspector says to Sheila and Gerald 'Well?'
• Dramatic irony


  Characters are unaware of something that the audience is aware of
• Dramatic irony


  • The audience knows Mr Birling is wrong about the future, which Priestley does to undermine Mr Birling as a character and show the audience his faults
  • "The Germans don't want war. nobody wants war"
• Repetition


  • Priestley uses this technique to add a sense of realism and character to his dialogue
  • It could also be used to indicate frustration, emphasis on the point, or uncertainty
• Repetition


  • Eric says 'He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out.'
• Stage directions


  • Priestley uses them to convey social standing or a power dynamic
  • They are also used to portray each character's emotion whilst delivering their lines
• Stage directions


  • Arthur is seated at the head of the table, reflecting his sense of self importance
  • Eric is seated downstage, apart from the rest of the family, hinting that he is perhaps hiding something from his parents
  • "(rather impatiently) Yes, yes. Horrid business."
• Fluency and length


  • Priestley varies the length of the lines the characters deliver
  • Short, snappy dialogue speeds up the action
  • Longer speeches can deliver key themes and ideas
• Fluency and length


  • Mr Birling speaks with enormous fluency, delivering long, self-assured speeches
  • Eric initially delivers lines with pauses and breaks
  • Sheila's speeches become longer and more contemplative by the end, showing remorse
• Sound effects


  • The phone and the doorbell often interrupt Mr Birling's speeches, undermining the credibility of what he says
• Well-made play


  A popular dramatic genre from the 19th-century, with an intricate and complex plot that builds to a climax
• Morality play


  Popular during the 15th and 16th-centuries, seeking to teach the audience lessons about the seven deadly sins
• Crime thriller


  A genre that tells a gripping tale based around a crime, with the audience receiving clues and trying to guess what happened
• Priestley set the play in 1912, just before WWI and the sinking of the Titanic, a moment of rising international tensions and industrial expansion
• Priestley wrote the play in 1945, when people were recovering from six years of warfare and there was a desire for social change
• Priestley


  A committed socialist, very critical of social inequality in Britain in the last half of the 20th century
• Socialism


  Supported by Priestley, based on the empowerment of a society's lower classes and the idea that the community as a whole owns and regulates the means of production, distribution and exchange
• Capitalism


  Mr Birling is a stereotypical capitalist, and Priestley uses him to make a critique of capitalism's corrupting nature
• Gender roles


  Women had very set gender roles in Edwardian England, but these were shifting after WWII as women had done work usually done by men
• Suffragette movement fought for women's right to vote and created social change
• J. B. Priestley was middle class and went to Cambridge University
• J. B. Priestley was a Socialist, critical of the middle class and upper class
• J. B. Priestley wrote the play in 1945 (even if it was set in 1912)
• Women didn't have voting rights until 1918
• Women were seen as unequal - rich and middle class women were expected to be housewives; working class women factories and were badly paid
• Edwardian Society (Edwardian era)


  King Edward VII - ruled from 1901 - 1910 (just 9 years), the play is set in 1912 - in Edwardian England, which is quite similar to Victorian England
• First World War: 1914 - 1918
• Second World War: 1939 - 1945
• Main characters


  • INSPECTOR GOOLE
  • SHEILA
  • ERIC
  • GERALD
  • MR BIRLING
  • MRS BIRLING
• Themes


  • AGE
  • GENDER
  • CLASS
  • SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
• GCSE Exams: Assessment Objectives

  • AO1: 22.5% marks (answer the question and use relevant quotes)
  • AO2: 27.5% marks (terminology)
  • AO3: 7.5% marks (context / theme)
  • AO4: 2.5% marks (SPAG and ambitious vocabulary)
• PEEL Paragraph Structure


  • POINT: answer the question
  • EVIDENCE: quote from the text
  • EXPLANATION: technique, context or theme
  • LINK: link back to the question
• Key words for ANY Inspector Calls essay: Patriarchal society (society run by men), Play is a political diatribe against Capitalism (forceful and bitter attack against a system by Priestley), (optional) Feminist message
• Eva


  • Used as a sympathetic figure - highlighting how challenging life was like for working class women
  • Died in "great agony"
  • Victim of "cheap labour"
• Context: women had no right to vote before 1918

  Relevant to Eva's character
• Sheila


  • Demonstrates the powerlessness of women who had to rely on marriage for stability
  • Gerald's treatment of her illustrates how difficult life was like for women
• Sheila: '"you never came near me"

  "you and I aren't the same people"'
• Gender theme


  The powerlessness of women who relied on marriage for security - Priestley was extremely critical of how women had few rights
• Mrs Birling


  • Working class women's lives were made harder by upper middle class and upper class women like Mrs Birling who were more loyal to their class than their gender (even if they knew the struggles women faced)