you know the play ''An Inspector Calls'' by J.B Preistley, what message does it give us?

Question

whats the strong message in the play, i need some ideas so i can finish an essay on it. PLEASE HELP. thanks

Answer 1

J.B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls" in 1945 and set it in 1912. These dates are both relevant because he wrote his play in a world emerging from the Second World War, in a time when people were getting nostalgic about pre-world war one. Priestley uses his play to try and show people that community in 1912 was non-existent and that the world needs to change rather than return to the egotistical society that existed in pre war England.
In his play Priestley's message that he was trying to get across to the audience, was that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He uses the Birling family as an example of the Capitalistic family that was common amongst the higher classes in1912 who had no cares for other people and he shows that with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector, the uneasy façade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they consider to be lower class cannot stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what has happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.
J.B. Priestley's main line of argument is the political opinion of people in this world needs to change. In his opinion Socialism is the best solution to the current status of the world, although he doesn't imply that socialism is the only way, just that we need a sense of community and we need to loose the derogatory classes used to excuse poor shows of behaviour, such as the ones of the Birling family.
Priestley is also trying to show that all our actions have consequences and that as a result of the unsuitable social system, people think it is acceptable to not worry about what they have done because even if it didn't turn out badly, it doesn't matter; there is still a chance it might have.

J.B. Priestley uses a wide range of dramatic devices to help voice his political message about Socialism. The first device he uses is his massively detailed stage directions at the opening of his play. The playwright describes exactly how he wishes for the stage to be set up, and he deliberately separates the Birling family by making them wear formal clothes and having them spread out around a large dining table which has all the trimmings of a rich family. The room is also meant to have "the general effect of heavily comfortable but not cosy" which is trying to make the point that money cannot buy you happiness and although the Birlings are rich enough to enough to afford comfortable furniture, they have no sense of belonging to a family to make it cosy, like they have no sense of community.
At the start of the play the stage lighting is meant to be pink and intimate to show the family is having to pretend that it is close and when the Inspector comes, the light becomes harsh and white as if Socialism breaks apart the lies and pretences of the Capitalist world the Birling family have built for themselves to reveal the truth about what they have really done and that they should stop just thinking about themselves for a moment and think that what they do may start a series of events that could eventually end up killing some one.
Priestley uses dramatic irony in his dialogue to ridicule Mr Birling with his speeches about the titanic as "unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.", and how "there isn't a chance of war" although the audience know with retrospect that the titanic had sunk on its maiden voyage, and that there had been two world wars and now they were emerging into the cold war. These show that the opinions of Mr Birling, a symbol of Capitalism, are based on nothing more than fantasies of how life could be, although this never happens because people are ready to accept that everyone in this world is the same, no matter where they come from and that until we work this out, the world will never develop far enough to stop the wars as Mr Birling was predicting.
Priestley has constructed an almost complete contrast between Mr Birling and the Inspector, one representing Priestley's own opinions, the other representing pre WW1 social opinions. Mr Birling however is ridiculed in the play with his speeches about the future. Mr Birling also is very volatile in his speech, which shows the uneasy nature of Capitalism and how it can be upset by the slightest thing. The Inspector, however, is given authority by his speeches as he predicts the wars to come and his speeches shows how he is in control and always manages to keep his calm, no matter what the Birling family try to attack him with, he always manages to turn it in his favour; "we have more reason for taking offence Inspector: Let's leave offence out of it,"
Priestley also uses the name Eva Smith for the person who has committed suicide because he is trying to make the point that while we are all individuals we are also all the same, Smith is a very common surname, while Eva is very unusual. He also tries to show this by having the Inspector say that "we are all part of a community" while Mr Birling says "as if we are all mixed up like bees in a hive" as if community is vulgar while the inspector is showing just how wrong he is.
Towards the end of the play Priestley shows us that the younger generations are more susceptible to take on the new and slightly radical ideas of Socialism, whilst the older generations are set in their ways and, although they may start to see the benefits, they soon seek holes in the system so that they can excuse their return to their former ways and ignore the changes.
One of the most important devices is the Inspector himself, for he is the pathway to truth and is almost like Jesus in the way that he gives people a chance to change, but it is up to them to accept and make the necessary changes. The Inspector is also like the wars because the first one came, when they did not respond, another was sent to make them pay "in fire, blood and anguish." This very effectively sums up what the wars are about, and how people should have seen the error of their ways and changed while it was possible but the Second World War tried to get the message across again like the second inspector at the very end of the play.
Timings are rather critical as well in this play; the initial entrance of the Inspector is at a time when Mr Birling is making a very pompous and self inflated speech about how people should look after themselves and ignore everyone else, except their family (this was added as an after thought), which gives the Inspector a quality of omniscience, as if he already knows what is going on in the family, and he disrupts the celebrations to show just how many lies the whole family is based on, as if Capitalists are never able to share their thoughts and doings freely without a feeling of shame. When Gerald confess to Sheila what had happened between him and Eva Smith, the Inspector comes right in after they had finished arguing and he already knew what Gerald was going to confess to, just he was waiting for Gerald to give him a chance. At the end of the play the Birlings (excluding the younger Generation) had just decided that there was nothing wrong because the Inspector was not real; and then immediately the telephone rang to let the Birlings know that another Inspector was on his way to teach the Birlings their lesson again.
Climaxes are used at he end of every act to help build tension and give the audience time to reflect on what has just happened, so that they have time to make connections between what has been said in the play and to make sense of Priestley's message. The climaxes are also used to help put more blame on the Birling family by leaving to have no time to explain what the reasons for there association with Eva Smith were. "and I hate to think how much more he knows that we don't know yet. You'll see. You'll see. Inspector: Well then" as if the Inspector is just after a confession even though he already knows what has been said.

In conclusion there are many dramatic devices used to contribute to raising political awareness in this play, and to help emphasis J. B. Priestley's particular view which is that the pre war capitalism needs to give way to the more community conscious views held by socialism.
Possibly the most useful device used is the juxtaposition of the Inspector and Mr Birling for this directly shows his personal views on the difference between Capitalism and Socialism, whilst the fact that the Inspector has come and predicted the future makes us wander about him and like the Birlings thought, whether it was the same person and as Sheila had said they had "just been lucky" because their actions hadn't definitely led to the death of the girl in the end, nut the chance of these events had been left open by the ending.