an inspector calls Essay

Submitted By yash1903
Words: 287
Pages: 2

An Inspector Calls
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley is set in the period 1912, the year when the titanic had sunk and the World war one was to begin in two years in 1914. Priestley decided to set his play in 1912 because the date represented an era which was completely opposite the era he was writing the play in. Furthermore, he also wanted to inform the people about the discrimination that was in society in that era and how the time has changed everything. J.B. Priestley was influenced mainly by the world war one to write An Inspector Calls in 1945 because firstly, Birling’s optimistic view that there would not be a war is completely wrong, which indicates that Priestley believes that this war shouldn’t have happened and is trying to express his view through this. Secondly, Priestley wanted to inform the audience about the discrimination in society in 1912 between the upper and lower classes and that is the reason why Priestley based the story on both, upper and lower class.
Throughout the play Priestley raises his opinion through the voice of the inspector. The inspector indicates us that Priestley himself is a socialist as he always says that everyone should take their own responsibility. Opposite to inspector is Mr Birling, who is presented as a capitalist. In the play Priestley tries to prove the capitalist wrong at every point using the character of Sheila, Inspector and Eric. This shows that J.B. Priestley wrote this play to prove capitalism is always wrong