How Does Priestley Create Tension In The 1912 Inspector Calls

Improved Essays
J.B Priestley had set his play ‘An Inspector Calls’ in 1912 although it was written in 1945. But why did he do that? 1912 was an era that was very different from the time that he had written the play in. 1912 was the Edwardian era. This is significant as there were a lot of changes happening during that time period as this was the time of the Russian revolution, the “unsinkable” Titanic sinking after colliding with an iceberg, two horrific world wars, and the Holocaust. Priestley tries to make Mr.Birling look injudicious by making him say ironic references on how the Titanic will never sink, which it did, or how it is impossible for another war to happen, which did end up happening in 1914. This creates a lot of dramatic irony and the audience automatically know that Mr.Birling is an arrogant character, the epitome of the upper middle class patriarchal men of 1912. …show more content…
Priestley reveals the tense relationship between the three classes, (Aristocracy, Gerald Croft, the Middle class, Mr.Birling, Sheila and Sybil., and the Working Class Eva Smith, and Edna.), and the fatal consequences that resulted from one group’s interaction with another, where each of the classes would’ve never interacted or marry into another, by 1912 it had become impossible for one class to exclude and ignore another.
“The era had significant shifts in politics, as sections of society which had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such as common labourers and women, became increasingly politicised.
Socially, the Edwardian era was a period during which the British class system was still very rigid, although the changing economic system was creating an environment in which there was more social mobility.” -Amanda

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    As time has passed by, class inequality has lost its utmost importance in contemporary Britain (Scase, 1992). It may not seem vital, but it is still prominent in today’s society and in everyone’s lives. The term Class if taken as a form of identity which is stuck onto every individual as a signpost, there is no way of getting rid of it nor escaping it. It has no ‘correct’ definition but it’s known as an inequality which reproduces and separates people into different categories (Crompton, 2008). Class is losing significance due to more opportunities being available, which allow social mobility to take place and this is one of the key reasons to why class is seen to be diminishing.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Characters Protagonists: - Eva Smith Eva Smith is an unseen but central character in the play. She was described as being “pretty – very pretty ” with ”soft brown hair and big dark eyes”. It was revealed that she had no parents, and no family. One after the other, the Birlings made her life even more miserable by dismissing her from her only job, exploiting her and getting her pregnant, and even giving her the cold-shoulders when she was in a desperate need for help. This eventually caused her to commit suicide by drinking a strong disinfectant, killing herself and her unborn baby.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To a lot of people, economic class runs almost everything in your life. It decides what you can buy and what you can’t buy, which in turn, decides how you live and how much you enjoy that time living. Well, to me, economic class in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird affects the story substantially. Just like in the real world, economic class in the story decides how characters live and the conditions they live. To begin, one family greatly affected by their economic class are the Cunningham family.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    At the beginning of the play Arthur Birling is described as a “heavy looking rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech” . This shows that he is confident, and tries to seem of high class and that he is the man of the house. We can see that he tries to seem “portentous” when he says “You ought to like this port Gerald, ... Finchley told me it's exactly the same port your father gets from him”. When he say its the same port that Geralds father get the audience feels and knows that he is trying to impress Gerald and the fact that Mr Birling is trying to almost be like Geralds father Mr Croft, shows that he knows who his superiors are and all he wants is the marriage of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft so he could move forward financially and profit from the marriage.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “You’re beginning to pretend now that nothing’s really happened at all. And I can’t see it like that.” , a statement by young Birling, Eric, that clearly demonstrates the ethical difference between the two generations in ‘An Inspector Calls’. Faced with a death case of a girl they all supposedly knew, various reactions came from the members of the Birling family. Different generations are raised and surrounded by different things.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In 'An Inspector Calls', Priestley uses the theme of class to show that the upper class (Birlings) are unaware of the impact their actions have on the lower class (Eva Smith). Mr Birling sees the lower class as meaningless to him, and cannot see that he did anything wrong by firing Eva Smith from his company. When told by Sheila that it might have ruined everything for her, Mr Birling proclaims “Rubbish!”. This gives the audience an impression that he has not thought about her since firing her, showning his ignorance of the lower class.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 18th century, the women’s role in society was restricted to the house and to her family, therefore limiting their job options to domestic related chores, as teachers and in department store. However, women attained certain rights such as the right to own property, right to wages and a right to an education. This wasn’t enough for many educated and middle class women, who wanted to tackle issues of social equality, equal wages and the most of all, more active involvement in their government. The first moment began when the National Society for Women’s suffrage was formed in 1868. Women lobbied parliament to grant the society’s importance.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An Inspector Calls summer work J.B Priestley creates mood and atmosphere between the characters in the presented extract by giving the characters unique reactions and responses towards Inspector Goole. In Mrs. Birlings response towards the inspector, she seems to be more stern and forward, above everyone else. “You have no power to change my mind” makes the audience think that Mrs. Birling has power over the inspector, and that she has the choice on whether or not to further respond to the inspector's questions. This builds tension as she is retaliating to the inspector's questions in a rather hysteric way.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1) Creating my book trailer was like a roller coaster ride, it started out exciting and nervously and leaving you feeling of absence, in a way at the end. I would definitely say the best parts in this project were exploring the new technique of editing, stop motion and spend times with friends. In addition, since we did not have enough time to finish the book trailer in class, we have to work after school and sometimes in the weekends. By doing so, we have more time to finish the project and as well as fooling around and get to know more about each other. On the other hand, I think the worst parts were the editing and the restricted time that we have.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    How Did Ww1 Shape Society

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages

    As more citizens became part of the working class less and less middle and higher classes had servants due to the opportunities opened by the war. The political power shift can be seen in “Mrs. Dalloway” when Richard Dalloway visited the Burton’s home, Richard Dalloway strolled off as usual to have a look at the General’s portrait, because he meant, whenever he had a moment of leisure, to write a history of Lady Bruton’s family. And Millicent Bruton was very proud of her family. But they could wait, they could wait, she said, looking at the picture; meaning that her family, of military men, administrators, admirals, had been men of action, who had…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The essay “On Seeing England for the First Time,” written by Jamaica Kincaid depicts several examples that reflect how conflicts between societal classes are made. For example, the author uses a sarcastic tone throughout most of essay to express her hostility towards England. The main concept of this essay helps the reader indicate the idea of conforming of societal classes. To expand on this idea, Kincaid describes the societal roles of people and their will of trying to better support themselves through a class system. This ‘system’ is made for Kincaid’s culture to feel trapped within the conforming society of England.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Priestley presents Gerald as a love rat as he is reluctant to admit the truth. He only tells the Inspector about his involvement with Eva once it has been forced out of him, he says “if you must have it”. Gerald believes that they should “leave it to” him and Eva. Gerald tries to justify himself and make what he has done sound better. He only “happened to look in” the palace bar after a “long dull day”.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why is responsibility such a significant theme in An Inspector Calls? In An Inspector Calls, the central theme is responsibility. Priestley uses the Inspector as a representative to voice his opinions on the main theme and the idea of socialism. Throughout the play, he presents each character with a role of responsibility and tries to make them aware, through the Inspector, that they are all guilty of Eva's death.…

    • 1712 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Atonement” by Joe Wrights is an exploration of the sociological class structure of pre-World War II England. By this I mean that through different scenes in the movie we are able to see not only the class structure of that time period, but also how upper and lower classes interacted with each other and social expectations in the different social classes. Certain scenes that the audience could interpret in this way include Garden scene, Danny bags scene and apartment scene. Joe Wrights seems to have a strong opinion against the class structure of the time judging by the way in which its faults are pointed out in the movie. Scene 1…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I intend to discuss H. G. Wells’s book, The Time Machine, and how it examines the differences in social classes. I will present the argument that this book is the definition of divided social classes and how it can affect our world. First, I will explore the future world as witnessed by the Time Traveler. I will inspect how the two classes are portrayed; the Morlocks living in the decrepit underground while the Eloi live a beautiful life above ground. Here, I plan to use an article written by John S. Partington, where he discusses the differences between the Morlocks and the Eloi and how they relate to Victorian society.…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays