Essays

JB Priestly - An Inspector Calls

How does JB Priestly present Mr Birling in Act 1?

The play, An Inspector Calls, was set in 1912. In 1912 and many years after there was a great difference between the rich and the poor. They never were seen talking to each other in any other circumstances then when the poor are working in large industrial factories. The poor were and lived very poor and the rich were and lived very rich. Everyone believed that they fend for themselves which meant the poor were gradually getting poorer and the rich were becoming richer. Priestley’s aims for making this play were to teach us what he believes in. He is a very strongly opinionated socialist and writes the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ to show everyone that he believes that everyone should be equal, have equal rights and equal money no matter who they are. Priestly wrote this play as he had just came back from the war and nothing had changed, groups of people were still separated from others due to the amount of money they had even though there had just been a war. The time the play was set many world events were happening. Such as : obviously there was the world war that lasted 4 years, the titanic (the worlds largest steamship boat was due to set sail, which was meant to be unsinkable) and the class division of people. In this essay i am going to be writing about stage directions, Birling’s interaction, Birling’s philosophy, and dramatic irony to answer the question, how odes JB Priestly present Mr Birling in Act 1?

Throughout the stage directions, Priestly determines the way the audience characterizes Birling by subtly describing his physical appearance and speech. In the stage directions, Birling is described as “heavy-looking” he is showing that he is very wealthy man and is able to afford to be over weight. There wasn’t nutritionists running around telling you to eat your 5 a day, it was just simply if you had the money then you and our family were able to afford daily meals....