An Inspector Calls

• Introduction

  • AIC is about society and class divides - people with more money and higher class had more power - Priestley used unequal society of 1912 to get people to think about inequality in 1945
  • AIC. was written near the end of WW2 - it asks the audience to unite to improve society
  • Priestley wrote AIC to challenge audience to think how many more disasters (e.g. war) lay ahead for them if they didn’t learn from their past mistakes
• Context

  • Social class - upper classes only cared about themselves, their reputations and how life affected them - they don’t think lower classes are worthy of their time or thought - they lived superficially happy lives
  • Capitalism - wealthy upper classes invest in and own production and distribution - lower classes work for them and earn little money
• Context

  • 20th century rebellion - at the start of the 20th century, people started to rebel against capitalist society - people wanted a fairer/more equal society - from 1910 onwards, strikes took place - in 1920s/1930s, great depression hit which caused huge economic problems, causing WW1
• Context

  • Responsibility - upper class people refused to acknowledge how their actions affected the lower classes but Priestley suggests the younger generation give some hope for society
• Summary

  Act one: celebrating engagement

  • Gerald gives Sheila her engagement ring
  • Birling gives speeches about war and titanic
  • Birling tells Gerald about knighthood
  • An Inspector calls
  • Birling admits to firing Eva Smith due to asking for a pay rise
  • Sheila admits to having Eva Smith fired due to jealousy of her beauty
  • Sheila accuses Gerald of having an affair with Daisy Renton
• Context

  • Socialism - Priestley was a socialist - he believed people in society should take care of one another - he believed wealthy people have the duty to look after poorer people and the wealthy should be taxed more to fund a welfare state - he believed we should end the class system and suggests selfish people cause wars
  • Expectations of women - they shouldn’t hear serious conversations- even upper class women had few options in life and were expected to behave in certain ways - well educated - their role was to make their fathers/husbands look good
• Summary

  Act two:

  • Gerald admits to affair - Sheila hands back her engagement ring
  • Mrs Birling admits to turning Eva Smith away from her charity after referring to herself as ‘Mrs Birling’
  • Mrs Birling blames father of child for not helping financially
  • Mrs Birling realised the father of the child is her son (Eric)
• Summary

  Act three:

  • Eric admits he’s the father of the child - he got her pregnant by taking advantage of her while drunk
  • Eric admits to stealing money from Mr Birling to help Eva Smith financially but she declines the offer
  • The Inspector leaves
  • Mr Birling fears public scandal
  • Gerald informs the family, the Inspector was fake
  • Gerald rings the hospital to find out no suicide has occurred recently
  • Mr Birling discovers Inspector is on his way and a girl has committed suicide
• Characters

  • Inspector - driving force of play (keeps play rolling with pushy questions) - assertive (forceful) and powerful - authoritative - causes each character to develop/waits to see if they will use this to change their ways - encourages social equality by treating Birling family same as everyone else - acts as Priestley‘s voice
  • Mr Birling - head of household/family (patriarch) - displays stereotypical upper class pre-war attitude - priorities are to make money and cement high social status - he believes everyone should look after themselves
• Characters

  • Mrs Birling- used as a villain to encourage audience to understand consequences of a capitalist society
  • Sheila, Gerald and Eric - accept responsibility- represent younger generation - learn from their actions - encourage others to change - Sheila represents rising importance of women - hope for the future
• Key quotes

  • “A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” - Mr Birling - capitalism - order of factors in quote show selfishness
  • “But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people“ - Sheila - capitalism v socialism - how Mr Birling views Sheila (her marriage is seen as a business deal)
• Key quotes

  • “If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody wed had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?“ - Mr Birling - responsibility - everything becomes awkward after confessions
  • “First, the girl herself…secondly, I blame the young man who was the father of the child…he should be made an example of” - Mrs Birling - dramatic irony - morality (judging good and bad) - it’s not bad if her son is the father
• Key quotes

  • “I wasn’t in love with her or anything - but I liked her - she was pretty and a good sport” - Gerald - patriarchy - views on women - like a game to them - power - gender - injustice
  • “We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” - Inspector - metaphor - anaphora - socialism - Priestley’s mouthpiece - responsibility
  • “You don’t seem to have learnt anything” - Sheila - direct address - responsibility - power of socialism - gender
• Key quotes

  • “If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire blood and anguish“ - Inspector - WW1 - learning - consequences of actions - warning to society - responsibility
  • “When you’re married, you’ll realise that men with important work to do, sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on their business” - Mrs Birling - gender - priorities - raises daughter to live up to expectations of women
  • “Clothes mean something quite different to women“ - Mr Birling - gender - women were expected to look good to show their husbands wealth and their respect/reputation