An Inspector Calls

• KEY THEMES:

  • Responsibility
  • Capitalism versus Socialism
  • Generational divide
  • Guilt
  • Class
  • Gender
• Responsibility

  Responsibility is one of the most prevalent themes within the play and the role of the Inspector is to highlight that all actions have consequences. He demands that the other characters be accountable for their actions and that they take responsibility for others. This message is also intended for the wider audience and for society in general.
•  “... a man has to make his own way—has to look after himself—and his family, too, of course, when he has one—and so long as he does that he won’t come to much harm” – Mr Birling

  Context

  • At the beginning of Act I, Arthur delivers lengthy monologues just before the Inspector arrives

  Analysis

  • Reveals Arthur Birling’s self-centredness and narrow-minded view of society
  • Sense of individualism as he believes that everyone should be responsible for themselves and their family
  • Devoid of any sympathy for those less fortunate than himself
  • Patriarchal  men should have more power than women

   
• Capitalism versus Socialism

  An Inspector Calls is a play that deals with ideas of fairness and inequality. Priestley used the play to argue that the economic system of Capitalism prevented equality and social justice and that another system, Socialism, which aims to share out wealth, would be fairer for all.
• Generational divide

  Priestley explores the idea of generational change in An Inspector Calls: younger characters are more open to social and economic change, and as a result are in conflict with their parent’s generation, who are stuck in their ways.
• Who was J.B. Priestley?

  • English novelist, playwright, screenwriter and broadcaster.
  • An Inspector Calls is Priestley’s best-known and most-performed play and was written in 1945. 
  • Priestley's plays were associated with 'drawing room' theatre where it occur in a single room.
  • Social responsibility in An Inspector Calls is a recurrent theme throughout , with the role of the Inspector used to highlight that all actions have consequences.