An Inspector Calls Essay Research Paper — страница 2

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artfully crafted deception, all go towards the final plot twist – the inspector is returning to teach the Birlings their lesson again. This ties in with the idea that if you don’t learn the lesson the first time, you will be taught it again, through "fire and blood and anguish".The message of the play was particularly effective to the audiences of 1946. Priestley knew that the message of his play would reach the war-weary audiences of the era more effectively than it would reach the audiences of a different time. The "fire and blood and anguish" reference to the First and Second World Wars would be very influential to the audience. The setting of the play in 1912 allowed for predictions to be made by both Birling and Inspector Goole. The intended effect of

the predictions was to make the audience see a glimpse of the kind of person the predictive character is. In the case of Birling, the audience would see him as a character whose opinion is not to be trusted, whereas the predictions made by the Inspector chill the audience and make them see that the lesson he speaks of has been re-taught through fire and blood and anguish twice already. The audiences had experienced the horrors of war and were not eager to experience them again, so they may think that if they followed JB Priestley’s message, they would prevent yet another world war. The play was set in 1912, and being set at this time, there was not only the opportunity for predictions, but also for a more drastic look at the relationship between the rich and the poor. The class

gap of 1912 was much larger than that of 1946, and so was more noticeable to the audiences. With the upper class, we have mentalities like that of Sybil Birling, who would seem to think that all members of the lower classes are beneath her and her family. She say to Birling "Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things," when he compliments the cook (the cook being a member of the lower classes). This shows that she believes that the lower classes are there to serve, not to be thanked or complimented. This is a strange viewpoint for a "prominent member of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation". With the lower classes however, we have Eva Smith, a young woman who is shown as the innocent victim of the thoughtless actions of the Birlings. This contrast

is one of many in the play, set up to show one side to be better than the other. The Inspector against Birling, Eva Smith against Sybil Birling, Sheila and Eric at the end of the play against Arthur and Sybil, they all show examples of what Priestley viewed as the Right way against the Wrong way. The way the latter parties in each contrast I have mentioned act in a way such as to cause the audience to see them as in the wrong, making the other party correct. The other parties have views similar to Priestley, so Priestley was trying to get his message of community and socialism across to the audience through the actions of the characters.Another of Priestley’s messages seems to be that there is hope for the future. On seeing how they have affected Eva Smith, both Sheila and Eric

act remorsefully. The character of Sheila is fairly caring at the beginning of the play, but as events unravel, and Sheila realises her guilt, her character develops from a fairly naÏve young girlish character to a more mature, understanding character. This change is so dramatic that to compare the Sheila who at the end of the play has taken to heart the Inspectors lessons ("I remember what he said, how he looked, and what he made me feel. Fire and blood and anguish."), with the Sheila who had a young girl fired from her job because of her own personal paranoia and who acted so differently earlier, you would think they were different people. This is similar to a comparison made between the drunken , playful Eric of Act 1 with the sober serious Eric at the end of Act 3

who has learned that his own mother played a major role in driving the woman bearing his child to suicide. The results of the Inspectors visit as regards the younger generation are total metamorphoses of character. The older generation however don’t see that they have done anything wrong. Mr and Mrs Birling are all too happy to dismiss the evenings events as false once the chance appears that the Inspector may not have been a police Inspector. Their characters stay the same virtually from beginning to end, with only the short amount of time between Eric’s part in the saga becoming known and the Inspector showing any waver in their determination that they were right. The senior Birlings are the examples of the people who will be taught through "Fire and blood and