An Inspector Calls Everything

An Inspector Calls Revision

Background and Priestley’s life

Written in 1945 at the end of the 2^nd World War.
Set in 1912, before the 1^st World War.
Sets out Priestley’s beliefs in socialism and social responsibility.
In 1912, society wasn’t equal – people with more money and from a higher class had more power.
Priestley used the unequal society of 1912 as a setting to get more people to think about inequality in 1945.
Priestley wrote An Inspector Calls to challenge his audience to think about how many more disasters lay ahead of them if they did not learn from their past mistakes.
Set in Brumley – an industrial city in the North of the Midlands. In 1912, cities like this would have had factories and thousands of terraced houses for all the factory workers.

J.B. Priestley

Born September 13^th 1894 in West Riding of Yorkshire.
Mother died when he was very young.
Spent his hard earned money and books.
In his spare time he would try different styles/kinds of writing.
In September 1914, he volunteered for the army and served five years in England and France.
He graduated in two years, however stayed for the required third year.
He became a freelance writer in London with mainly literary work, writing essays, reviews, biographies, as well as reading for John Lane, the publisher.
He moved from non-fiction to fiction and achieved remarkable success.
He branched into theatre.
English Journey was an exceptional success for a work of non-fiction, republished in a fine illustrated edition in 2009.
It established his reputation as a social commentator, a role he continued to enjoy throughout the rest of his writing life.
During the 2^nd World War he became a broadcaster.
He stood as an independent in the 1945 General Election, but failed to be elected.
Though he was never a member of the Labour Party, he supported many of their policies and was encouraged by their landslide victory.
Died on the 14^th August 1984.

Setting the Scene: Stage Directions

The lighting changes because when the Inspector arrives the atmosphere changes to more intense.
‘Fairly large suburban house.’ àShows that they are a wealthy family.
‘Decanter of port, cigar box and cigarettes.’àShows they are upper class.
‘The palourmaid.’ àShows they can afford someone to do everything for them.
‘But not cosy and homelike.’à Aren’t like a family. Just people who live together. Everything is for show. Don’t have a home, they just have a house.

Arthur Birling

‘Is heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech.’à He has enough food and tries to act important. ‘Easy manners’ and ‘provincial in his speech’ suggests he has the manners of an upper class gentleman but his speech is slurred. Married into upper class.

Sybil Birling

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