An Inspector Calls: Revision notes These notes are to help kick-start your revision of the play for the GCSE exam. Good Luck! Miss Stonehouse Introduction There are a number of references to external events within the play and these could provide the areas which could be developed further. Among these are: The Titanic The emergence of Russia as a world power The outbreak of World War One The importance of the Women’s Rights movement The rise of Socialism
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An Inspector Calls John Priestly was born in Bradford in 1894. Priestly had grown up into his father’s circle of socialist friends; he saw women and men‚ rich and poor‚ all working together. After the First World War women returned to being housewives‚ the typical life that the perfect woman was expected to lead. This greatly influenced Priestly’s writing because he didn’t agree with that way
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An Inspector Calls Though responsibility itself is a central theme of the play‚ the last act of the play provides a fascinating portrait of the way that people can let themselves off the hook. If one message of the play is that we must all care more thoroughly about the general welfare‚ it is clear that the message is not shared by all. By contrasting the older Birlings and Gerald with Sheila and Eric‚ Priestley explicitly draws out the difference between those who have accepted their responsibility
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Shelia Birling – An Inspector Calls Sheila Birling is the character who changes most in the play. She begins as a naïve‚ self-centered and privileged young woman but soon develops into a perceptive and increasingly mature and wise character‚ who displays the attitudes of responsibility that form J. B. Priestley’s message in the play. Set in 1910‚ the author attempts to show how Capitalism led to the world wars‚ revolutions and economic disasters. Our first impressions of Sheila Birling are
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arrival of Inspector Goole undermines the natural pathways of authority within the household. As his name suggests‚ ‘Inspector Goole‚’ seems to have supernatural power and racks up the tension through his intimidating questioning of the characters. The pace and tension are controlled by his character and the audience is carried by the dramatic which suggests he is almost god. CONCLUSION: We see the power shift in Act I as the action progress through the super knowing power of the Inspector. His
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An Inspector Calls Essay How does Priestley build the drama and tension in this extract? The extract is from page 47 starting ’MRS B: I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for this at all’ In this extract‚ JB Priestley builds drama and tension through the use of dramatic irony. Mrs Birling does not realise until the very end of the scene that her own son is responsible for Eva Smith’s pregnancy. However‚ Sheila and the audience begin to realise this
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NOTES Priestley’s Life: John Boynton Priestley was born into a working class family in 1894. He knew early on that he wanted to become a writer‚ but decided against going to university as he thought he would get a better feel for the world around him by working. Instead‚ he became a junior clerk with a local wool firm at the age of 16. When the First World War broke out‚ Priestley joined the infantry and only just escaped death on a number of occasions. After the war‚ he gained a degree from
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Orla Brennan How are women presented in "An Inspector Calls" and why are they presented in this way? In the play‚ all the women are portrayed as delicate characters- particularly Sheila who the men feel needs protecting from all manner of things like the information that a girl has committed suicide. Set in 1912‚ the woman in the play would have been seen as possessions to their husband and did not work or have careers due to the patriarchal society. However‚ it would have been acceptable for
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In play ’Inspector Calls’ written by J B Priestley‚ Mr Arthur Birling is a prosperous manufacturer as well as father of Eric and Sheila. He is married to Mrs Birling and lives a stable social life. But does this explain everything? We do not know his character‚ his appearance or any deeper information about his habits. And yet at the end of the play everything is clear. So the question is how did the author let us know about Mr Birling’s inside? At the beginning of the play Mr Birling seems to be
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English homework An inspector calls 1) Find 3 quotations that show how characters change from Victorian to modern mortality “What an expression Shelia! Really the things you girls pick up these days!” “I think Shelia and I had better go into the drawing-room and leave you men” “Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?” 2) How would a modern day audience have responded to the characters/ the play? A modern day audience would be very shocked by the characters behaviour
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