An Inspector Calls Summary Act 1 The Birling family was having celebratory dinner on Sheila(the daughter of Arthur Birling) and Gerald(an aristocrat) while discussing the progress of Arthur Birling’s business and the events that has happened in 1912. Then an Inspector enters the scene and starts questioning the Birling family over the suicide of a pretty girl named “Eva”. During the course of the questioning it is revealed that Sheila and Mr Birling had contributed to the death of Eva Smith(“pretty
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In Act 1 of “An Inspector Calls” how does J.B Priestley use dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to members of the audience as well as interest them and involve them in the play. “An Inspector Calls” was written in 1945 but the play was set in 1912‚ a few years before the First World War. The place it was set was an imaginary industrial West Midland town called Brumley. The play talks about the class structure in 1912. “An Inspector Calls” shows how big a gap there was between the
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How Does Priestley Present the Inspector as an Unusual Policeman in Act One? The inspector is presented as unusual by his personality‚ conduct and expressed views. Throughout the act‚ Priestley makes the Inspector say and do things that an audience would not expect of a conventional policeman. A conventional policeman would be polite and professional. We would expect an Inspector to be discrete in his work as to avoid causing problems or drawing undue attention at the case and wrongdoings of the
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when Birling says to Gerald: ‘It’s exactly the same port your father gets from him’‚ suggesting Mr Birling bought it in order to imitate a more prominent societal figure as well as to gain a rapport with Croft. Similarly‚ Birling tries this technique with the Inspector‚ however this time to gain leverage over him by asking if he sees much of ‘Chief Constable‚ Colonel Roberts’‚ following up his threat with a disclosure of his superiority; “He’s an old friend of mine…I see him fairly. We play golf together…”
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The finale of An Inspector Calls brought cheers but most of all it brought about confusion. It was obvious this play wasn’t going to lay out a neat plot for the audience; it was going to be a play that stays in your mind for the next few days. The intriguing part of this play was‚ for once‚ everyone didn’t just wake up‚ bleary-eyed to give the cast a meaningless clap. When I looked around‚ I saw people I would have pegged for being gone before the lights had dimmed‚ actually paying attention‚ and
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How does Priestley present the change in Sheila during the course of the play An Inspector Calls? How do you think this change reflects some of Priestley’s ideas? Initially Sheila is thought of to be quite childish and immature at the start of the play as she teases and has a playful argument with her brother and with her mother telling her off saying ‘’Now stop it‚ you two’’. This resembles an ordinary family and so we can see that Sheila is treated as a child and behaves like one through the use
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the first war. This was a very difficult time for England. It was a period when there were many strikes‚ food shortages and great political tension. By 1945 Europe was in ruins and two cities of Japan were destroyed by atomic bombs. During the war‚ the blitz and the evacuation of city children into the country meant that a lot of people were thrown or forced together. As a result‚ they learned about each other and felt responsible for each other as individuals and as a country. This play has a moral
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John Boynton Priestley was born into a socialist family in 1894‚ and so lived through the end of the Victorian era and into the 20th century. In 1910 he worked in a textile factory as a clerk‚ and so was a bystander to the discriminations of the time rich and poor‚ men and women and‚ as a socialist‚ was affected by them. Living in Bradford also gave him a good foundation with which to build up the kind of setting a family like the Birlings would have lived in. Unfortunately for him‚ when war broke
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J.B. Priestly presents Arthur Birling as a self obsessed‚ work oriented “hard-headed business man” in Act 1. The stage directions describe him as a “heavy-looking‚ rather portentous man” giving an impression that he looks rather threatening. He is very traditional and speaks formally‚ even around his family. He has worked hard to raise himself up the social ladder and is proud to think that he’s going to be knighted. Even at his daughter’s engagement party‚ Birling’s head is still wrapped around
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What is the role and function of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls? An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J. B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking. It was written in a time when Britain was ruled by a Labour government and socialist policies were seen to be a good way to go. It was a common way of thinking at that time so Priestley’s aim for the play was to
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