How Did Jb Priestley Use Drama and Didacticism in an Inspector Calls?
An Inspector Calls is a play based in 1912, although it was written in 1946 by JB Priestley. Priestley was a deeply political writer with a strong favour for Communism. Communism is the political belief that there is no rich or poor and that everybody is equal, indeed Communists also believe that there should be a planned economy and no wages would be paid to the workers as this money would be used to fuel the infrastructure and the economy.
When Priestley wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’, It was 1946 but the play was set in 1912 between these dates 2 world wars had happened, a attempted pan-European genocide of the Jewish race, a massive economic crash, War had been brought to a new level with wars now affecting civilians with the use of bombing on town and cities, and the introduction of nuclear weapons used to kill to thousands of innocent civilians. During this time Priestley had also witnessed multiple extreme governments emerge. When the play was set thing seemed to be improving, electricity was a new luxury for the rich and Britain was still riding the wave of power from the British Empire. Being rich then was no bad thing.
JB Priestley uses ‘An Inspector Calls’ to mock the rich and capitalists by making them seem naive and foolish: by doing this he is being didactic which means he is persuasively preaching to the audience. Priestley believed that capitalism was a bad political system. His play shows how the rich don’t care for the poor and how capitalism is flawed. This highly didactic purpose however is combined with strong dramatic elements that make the ménage palatable.
From the start, JB Priestley uses the setting at the beginning to create a rose tinted view of the life that the Birling household experiences, which all the characters find very normal. This idea is shown by the lighting instructions in the stage directions at the beginning of the play. ‘The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives then it should be brighter and
When Priestley wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’, It was 1946 but the play was set in 1912 between these dates 2 world wars had happened, a attempted pan-European genocide of the Jewish race, a massive economic crash, War had been brought to a new level with wars now affecting civilians with the use of bombing on town and cities, and the introduction of nuclear weapons used to kill to thousands of innocent civilians. During this time Priestley had also witnessed multiple extreme governments emerge. When the play was set thing seemed to be improving, electricity was a new luxury for the rich and Britain was still riding the wave of power from the British Empire. Being rich then was no bad thing.
JB Priestley uses ‘An Inspector Calls’ to mock the rich and capitalists by making them seem naive and foolish: by doing this he is being didactic which means he is persuasively preaching to the audience. Priestley believed that capitalism was a bad political system. His play shows how the rich don’t care for the poor and how capitalism is flawed. This highly didactic purpose however is combined with strong dramatic elements that make the ménage palatable.
From the start, JB Priestley uses the setting at the beginning to create a rose tinted view of the life that the Birling household experiences, which all the characters find very normal. This idea is shown by the lighting instructions in the stage directions at the beginning of the play. ‘The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives then it should be brighter and