aic

• priestly promotes his socialist agenda through the inspectors speech and appearance, and portrays this ideology as favourable to the status quo of capitalism
• priestly presents eva as a universal symbol of oppression through her ambiguity and unrevealed identity. It depicts the collective suffering of the lowerclasses as well as the women in 1912 britain
• priestly presents eric within the edwardian microcosm with a dual role: both as a proxy for the openminded younger generation and also the hedonistic, reprehensible behaviour of middle class men
• an inspector calls, written in 1945, is a didactic play that is antiwar, anticapitalist and pro-socialism.
• priestly utilises mrs birling to explore how the suffering in the working class is perpetuated by the class system as well as the hypocrisy and reluctance to change
• in that state when a chap easily turns nasty

  • euphemistic phrase - substitutes eric's admittance of being drunk
  • colloquial noun 'chap' instead of 'I' normalises Eric's unjust treatment - he disassociates himself from his actions and justifies it with the lack of restraint men might experience from intoxication rather that his lack of morality
  • his behaviour is excused as merely a part of the patriarchal society as men had superiority over women so used them as they pleased
  • audience considers whether eric's behaviour is reflective of his true character or if society has conditioned him
• why shouldnt they try for higher wages?

  • establishes eric's personal views as inherently socialist in contrast to his fathers views
  • doesnt believe in treating labour poorly or the practice of exploiting them
  • hypocrisy of his father 'lower cost and higher prices' is acknowledged - shows he is not naive and aware of the corruption in society
  • clear to audience eric empathises with the proletariat and recognises the need for a better work place
  • morals and compassion allow audience to sympathise with him and forgive his atrocious act of raping eva
• burnt her insides out

  • uses visceral description to be confrontational in addressing their abandonment of morals as he frequently refers to evas death
  • talking to birlings = greatly respected as they are associated with upper class, although the inspector is the antithesis of this as ignores the upper class façade of respectability and tells them theyre abandoning their collective responsibility
• • affirmative when propagating responsibility - speaks (with authority), (cuts in with authority), used ironically to show upperclass are required to 'come down sharply on these people' whos ignorance and oblivion is shattered when inspector forces them to face bleakness of reality
• taught in fire blood and anguish

  • diatribe promises hell for those that will not change
  • fire connotes religious imagery foreshadowing the wars to come in 1914 and 1939
  • implies inspector is speaking on god's behalf - increases acceptance of socialism
  • used as a vehicle to catalyse change in perceptions of responsibility and carry his political message of morality to the audience
• a girl of that sort would not ever refuse money

  • mrs birling assumes that due to her lower class, eva is inherently greedy
  • referring to her simply with the noun 'girl' is condescending and shows mrs birling perceives her as lesser and inferior due to her class
  • determiner 'that' enables her to distance herself from the proletariat which she views as 'other'
  • it is clear mrs birling is prejudice against the lower classes
• 'eva' connotative of eve in the biblical story of garden of eden, eve is believed to be the first ever female suggesting eva smith is intended to be representitive of womankind as a whole

  'smith' most common surname in britain, illustrates eva as a microcosm for everyday people of britain and shows eva's story of poverty and suffering as a story of the common people
• inspector judges eric's behaviour, accusing him of dehumanising eva by using her 'as if she was an animal'. his stark judgement signified through the simile is directed at all younger hedonistic men and the way they exploit vulnerable women. encourages postwar audience to consider their own treatment to the vulnerable
• these girls arent cheap labour - theyre people

  • instantaneous recognition of the inspectors message when responding to her fathers dehumanising and capitalistic approach in business
  • use of the hyphen, Priestley forces reader to pause as Shelia realises the value of human lives
  • the term 'cheap labour' refers to the fact that lower class women (such as Eva) were often labelled as cheap labour carrying out menial jobs such as cleaning and working in service, the term may also allude to the fact that women were seen as inferior to men as they had fewer rights
  • sheila stands up to her parents
• an impression of massiveness, solidity, and purposefulness

  • gives him an air of authority and intimidating power
  •  looks closely at the connotations of each adjective
  • massiveness" conn. presence, size, girth - he is of intimidating scale
  • "solidity" conn. density, sturdiness, hardness, giving him a wall-like resilience
  • "purposefulness" gives the inspector drive, purpose, focus - he is not to be swayed
  • despite the fact he "need not be a big man" - a tall size is an easy way to gain authority and power - Inspector does not have to resort to this seems to intensify his natural, in-built power
• Daisy Renton, another name for Eva Smith, brings to mind the fact that she was a prostitute, due to the word Renton, which suggests rent-out or lend out for money – her body. One could also say that the fact that she didn’t want to be a prostitute was reflected by her forename, Daisy, which connotes a common flower, and has also typically connoted purity.
• “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.

  sheilas rejection of gerald reveals the corruption and exploitation of society
• priestley explores the detrimental effects of the class system through the distinctive parallels of eva and sheila and the differing experiences between their upperclass and proletariat backgrounds
• calling it "A chain of events" proved every action has a consequence, ones which people may regret
• the birlings chose to dismiss the inspector as a "socialist or some sort of crank"
• (unhappily) id give thousands - yes thousands

  • the bribery assumes money can cover for a dead girl, and is almost comical due to that, and with his reaffirming ‘yes, thousands’, we see how much he values the money, as he is also saying it unhappily – he really doesn’t want to part with his money. He parallels Mrs Birling in the way that he has undergone no character change