how is class presented in an inspector calls essay

An Inspector Calls: A* / L9 Example Intro + Paragraph

Here are some samples of an essay on An Inspector Calls, on the theme of responsibility. I wrote these myself as a teacher to show students an example of the standard required to get a high level at GCSE. I’ve also broken down the structure below so you can see what to put into each paragraph and how to organise all of your ideas – this is the most important thing for getting a high level in an essay !

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Question: 

How does Priestley explore the theme of responsibility in the play?  

EXAMPLE INTRO: 

Responsibility is a very important theme in An Inspector Calls, as the Inspector reveals one by one that all the Birling family are partly responsible for Eva’s death. Eva represents the lower classes, and Priestley uses the tragic ending of her character to spread his message about social responsibility, a message which is delivered by the Inspector himself, who acts as a mouthpiece for Priestley’s own views on socialism and equality. Overall, the audience realizes that their actions affect other people’s lives, so they are responsible for looking after and caring for everyone in society. 

An Inspector Calls: Character Revision

EXAMPLE MIDDLE PARAGRAPH: 

• Point (one sentence that answers part of the question, your idea)
• Evidence (quotes/references that prove your point) 
• The technique (language features/dramatic features/structure features)
• Explanation (analysis – how/why the evidence proves the point)
• Development (context/alternative interpretations)
• Link (linking back to the argument/thesis in the Intro)

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JB Priestley embedded strong political messages in his play, and you need to understand those well to be able to write a high level essay or exam answer on the text. This course will enable you o revise the major characters and social messages in the play, and go deeper into the themes and context so you can get the most out of each essay

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Social Class & Equality

Lower-class characters: eva and edna.

In An Inspector Calls , J.B. Priestley focuses on the different social classes and how they experience life differently. The play focuses on upper-class characters: the only lower-class characters are Eva Smith and Edna (the maid).

• We hear all about Eva's life and how she has suffered because of members of the upper-middle and upper classes.
• These people did not care about the consequences their actions may have had for lower-class people.
• All the characters treat Eva Smith as someone disposable (they can get rid of) and unimportant purely because she is lower-class. They don’t think she is worthy of their time or thought.

• We only see Edna a few times, each for a brief moment.

Upper-Middle-Class Characters - Birlings

Priestley shows how the upper classes generally only cared about themselves, their reputations, and how life affected them. The play centres on upper-middle-class characters, like Sheila, Eric and Mr Birling:

• E.g. fashion and clothing.
• She spends her father’s money to make herself look the part – her role is to look good so she makes her father and her future husband look good. She is an ornament (object of decoration).
• She is presented as a spoilt child at first, who uses her social status to get what she wants.

• He spends his time gambling and drinking too much.
• Because of his social status, he does not have to work for a living. He lives off his father’s money.
• He is presented as an immature, irresponsible little boy for most of the play.

• He is pleased about his daughter marrying into the upper class because it strengthens his ties with Lord and Lady Croft. It also improves his social status.
• He is keen to be knighted (given a rank of honour by a British king or queen because of his special achievements) and accepted into the upper class.
• He is worried about possible scandals (morally wrong events) that will stop this happening.

Upper-Class Characters - Gerald and Mrs Birling

In An Inspector Calls , J.B. Priestley shows that many upper-class people lived superficially (appearing to be true) happy lives. He tries to show that they did not know about the hard lives led by the lower classes or how much upper-class lives depended on lower-class workers. The play centres on upper-class characters, like Gerald and Mrs Birling:

Mrs Birling

• She has a higher social status than her husband.
• She gently tells him off for his improper (not in line with social standards) comments at the dinner table. She sees these as unsuitable dinner conversation.
• She has a position in a charity because it makes her look good.
• She doesn’t like Eva from the start because she pretends her name is Mrs Birling. Mrs Birling thinks this is incredibly offensive (possibly because of Eva’s lower-class position ruining her name) and refuses to help her.

• He highlights the selfish attitudes of the upper class at the time.
• After Sheila finds out, Gerald still feels that they should get married. This shows his selfish nature.
• By the end of the play, the audience hopes that Gerald will change his attitude, like Sheila and Eric did.
• But he shows the selfish egotism (self-absorbed attitude) of the upper class when he does not change.
• Instead, he tries hard to do everything he can to prove that Inspector Goole was fake and that he and the Birlings were completely innocent.

1 Plot Summary

1.1.1 Act 1 Summary

1.1.2 Act 1 Key Quotes

1.2.1 Act 2 Summary

1.2.2 Act 2 Key Quotes

1.3.1 Act 3 Summary

1.3.2 Act 3 Key Quotes

1.3.3 Act 3 More Key Quotes

1.3.4 End of Topic Test - Acts 1, 2 & 3

2 Context & Key Themes

2.1 Context & Key Themes

2.1.1 Social Class & Equality

2.1.2 Class Tension

2.1.3 Abuse of Power & Corruption

2.1.4 Socialism vs Capitalism

2.1.5 Blame & Responsibility

2.1.6 Attitudes to Women

2.1.7 Characterisation of Women

2.1.8 Dramatic Function of Characters

2.1.9 End of Topic Test - Context & Key Themes

2.1.10 End of Topic Test - Context & Key Themes 2

2.1.11 Grade 9 - Key Themes

3 Key Characters

3.1 Mr Birling

3.1.1 Mr Birling Analysis

3.1.2 Mr Birling Quotes

3.2 Mrs Birling

3.2.1 Mrs Birling Analysis

3.2.2 Mrs Birling Quotes

3.2.3 Exam-Style Questions - Mrs Birling

3.3.1 Sheila Analysis

3.3.2 Sheila Quotes

3.3.3 End of Topic Test - The Birlings & Sheila

3.4.1 Eric Analysis

3.4.2 Eric Quotes

3.5.1 Gerald Analysis

3.5.2 Gerald Quotes

3.6 Inspector Goole

3.6.1 Inspector Goole Analysis

3.6.2 Inspector Goole Quotes

3.6.3 End of Topic Test - Eric, Gerald & Inspector Goole

3.7 Grade 9 - Key Characters

3.7.1 Grade 9 - Key Characters

4 Authorial Method

4.1 Arrangement & Structure of the Play

4.1.1 Setting, Lighting & Dramatic Irony

4.1.2 Structure & Chronology

4.1.3 Structure & Chronology 2

4.1.4 End of Topic Test - Authorial Method

Jump to other topics

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End of Topic Test - Acts 1, 2 & 3

Class Tension

Mr Salles Teaches English

An Inspector Calls 100% Essay

I received 40/40 on my inspector calls gcse question thanks to you- securing myself 9, 9 in english lit and language. Would you like my script to use?

But honestly I can’t thank you enough. I’ve encouraged friends in year 11 to watch your videos so they can improve too🙏🙏

Thanks Noah - here is the essay!

Let’s call this an average of 7 words per line. Noah writes about 27 lines per page for the last 5 pages, and 13 lines on page 1.

That gives a total of (7x27x5) + (7x13) = 1036 words.

This is typical of full mark essays, and grade 9 essays. Points make prizes, simple as that.

If you aren’t practising writing fast, you aren’t practising getting grade 9.

Thank you for reading Mr Salles Teaches English. This post is public so feel free to share it. You probably know someone else who wants top grades.

This was written for the Edexcel paper.

Mark scheme:.

There is an assured personal response,

showing a high level of engagement with the text and

discerning choice of references to the text.

A critical style is developed with maturity,

perceptive understanding and interpretation with

The understanding of relevant contexts is excellent.

Understanding of the relationship between text and context is integrated convincingly into the response.

High performance-in the context of the Level of Demand of the question,

Learners spell and punctuate with consistent accuracy, and

consistently use vocabulary and sentence structures to achieve effective control of meaning.

The items in bold italic are different to AQA - but overall, both exam boards want the same thing from a grade 9 essay: it needs to be well argued and perceptive.

Mr Salles Teaches English is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts which help you get top grades, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What Scores the Marks?

Your Thesis Statement should make it easy to work out what the topic of the question is.

Noah has gone into the exam knowing in advance that he wants to write a thesis statement which explains two aspects of context - one, that this is a socialist play, and two, that the tragedy is Aristotelian.

This means that he is not really integrating his context into his argument - it kind of stands on its own here. It is only at the end of the thesis statement that he uses the key words of the question ‘the younger generation’.

This means his thesis statement ignores the second bullet point of AO3.

So, my advice is, do plan your thesis statement in advance. But, in the exam, make it relevant to the question as quickly as possible by introducing the key words from the question in your first line.

Priestley portrays the younger generation of 1912 to promote his socialist message to their children in 1945. His play follows the Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to illustrate the terrible consequences of not following socialist principles in society between 1912 and 1945.

This is a very weak quote to back up the idea that Eric is a socialist. His words about the Birlings seeking higher profits justifying the workers’ need for higher wages would have been much better here.

" Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices ."

But, the examiner has a kind of checklist of Priestley’s ideas:

Eric is sympathetic to the working classes

He challenges his father’s capitalist ideas

Edwardian society was patriarchal, so Eric also attacks the sexist control of women

Noah writes about all of these, so it’s tick, tick, tick from the examiner.

Paid subscribers get a fully marked grade 9 answer every week. And they get access to the 50+ already published.

Substack lets you access all these for free in a 7 day trial!

Noah has introduced an alternative interpretation of Eric’s behaviour here, which is always going to give you higher grades.

He leaps to this a little too quickly, as we don’t see exactly what social responsibility Eric is denying - his alcoholism, his stealing from his father, his probable rape of Eva - but Noah is beginning to make the case that perhaps Eric has not learned the Inspector’s lesson or, if he has, that it will not have enough power for Eric to make use of it.

This is a sophisticated argument. Although the younger generation might hold socialist beliefs, they will never be able to live up to them because of the privileged lifestyle they’ve led, and the wealth they continue to enjoy.

There are no extra marks for using the words ‘proletariat’, ‘bourgeois’ (adjective) and ‘bourgeoisie’ (noun). Noah actually confuses the last two. So, I tend not to use these words - working class and upper class are good enough for me.

Notice how Noah writes about society and Priestley’s views - this is what earns the marks.

You should know by now that writing about the characters as ‘constructs’ is the way to show the examiners you understand the writer’s ideas.

Noah uses this as a springboard to analyse Priestley’s ideas about social responsibility.

Writing about one character as the ‘foil’ of another also emphasises how the play is constructed in order to promote Priestley’s message (in simplistic terms younger generation good vs their foil, older generation bad).

The quote ‘ we are members of one body ’ would have helped Noah here. It is one I would slip into every essay.

This paragraph has gone a bit rogue. Noah doesn’t tell us what was ‘vile’. He doesn’t link Mrs Birling’s actions, in denying charity to Eva, to the consequence: Eva’s suicide and murder of her unborn child.

So, he loses a lot of Priestley’s message and anger.

However, he is able to link to Priestley’s ideas, so it scores marks.

You’ll notice that Noah keeps bringing context into his explanations of Priestley’s ideas. This is excellent.

(You never have to introduce context by saying ‘contextually’, in the same way that you wouldn’t introduce your analysis by saying ‘analytically’).

This is a weaker analysis of Mrs Birling’s language, but the examiner is happy because Noah is linking it to Priestley’s socialist ideas.

Noah makes this relevant to the question by always referring to the perspectives of the older and younger generations.

This is a bit confusion.

Noah makes the strong case that Mrs Birling is being wilfully blind to Eric’s actions and responsibility.

He suggests that Priestley uses this to criticise upper class society, as this is what Mrs Birling represents.

But he also asserts that this is a criticism of the patriarchal society and that Mrs Birling is a victim of it. This needs a lot more explanation to make sense.

Points 1 and 2 score well, but point 3 is left hanging.

As soon as you say that the Inspector is a proxy for Priestley’s views, you are treating the Inspector as a construct.

So, you get higher marks.

Linking Priestley’s portrayal of the younger generation to his desire for social responsibility is a strong link to the conclusion.

The socialist and Christian context of 1945 is also cleverly linked to the theme of social responsibility.

Discussion about this post

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Essay Titles

For your revision you should plan an essay based around each of the following questions., remember that you can use quotes - or even entire paragraphs - in multiple questions, so be wise when you prepare. for this exam you will not have an extract, but there will be two questions for you to choose between - and you should only answer one of them, for each essay, try to plan in the following way:, write your opening paragraph, know what each of your 2 or 3 paragraphs will be about, revise the quotes you’ll use in them, also, remember that there is a page on this website dedicated to each of these questions so all you really need to do is visit that page and take some notes... ain't so hard really, ten key questions:, 1. how does priestley explore the theme of social responsibility, 2. how does priestley explore issues of social class in an inspector calls, 3. how and why does sheila change in an inspector calls, 4. how does priestley present the character of arthur birling, 5. what is the role of mrs birling in this play, 6. how do the characters of gerald and eric respond differently to the news about eva smith’s death, 7. what is the role of the inspector in an inspector calls, 8. what role does eva smith play in an inspector calls, 9. what criticisms of society does priestley make in an inspector calls, 10. to what extent can an inspector calls be considered a “realistic” play, how does priestley explore issues of social class in an inspector calls, opening paragraph: during the play, priestly uses the middle-class inspector to contrast upper-class edwardians with their working - class counterparts. he shows that although the upper classes assume the privilege that comes with great wealth they do not accept responsibility for those less wealthy than them - though the younger generation do change . the inspector argues that unless society learns to reconcile this issue, then it will, inevitably, face disaster ., p 2 : upper class and wealth not taking responsibility : girls of that class ... i accept no blame for it at all ... i can't accept any responsibility … public school and varsity life ... dreams of knighthood ... gerald's treatment of eva ... mrs birling not liking that eva used her name, p 3 : younger generation : they’re not cheap labour, they’re people … why shouldn’t they try for higher wages we try for the highest possible prices … i’ll never, never, do it to anybody again … also ment ion how gerald changed and then changed back; and how women were treated worse than men, and working class women were treated worst of all, p4: inevitable disaster : h ow the inspector is middle clas s and represents eva ... their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives ... the time wi ll come when men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish ... end with how the play is becoming important all over again, you should be able to tell from looking at this structure that there are loads of different ways that i could have written this essay, and i could have used any one of dozens of different quotes. also, remember that the key is going to be about using both ao1 (plot) and ao2 (quotes) for each paragraph, so you should note down a mixture of key quotes and key moments., use the time before the exam to plan essays that feel like they're your own - have an opinion - and then select the quotes, themes and contextual factors that appeal to you the most. this will help you remember them on the day, and it will help reduce the number of different quotes and themes that you'll need to remember., also, since you can't take any of this planning into the exam hall, your challenge is to understand the argument. this is easier than it sounds, and if you do the planning and - ideally - make a poster of the plan, or revision cards for it, you'll be in a really strong position on the day of the exam..

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An Inspector Calls Essay Plan (Sentence Starters)

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Other

Last updated

21 September 2024

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Full framework for any essay on Priestley’s An Inspector Calls . It is based on having to answer either a thematic or character question [no extract] where a variety of quotations need to be referenced.

Essay structure includes:

• Introduction
• 3 chunky analytical paragraphs

There are also some keywords listed underneath the introduction, to be used in it or throughout the essay. Context specific keywords already embedded in the sentence starters so students don’t forget to include.

Easy to edit should you need, but these are lifesavers for my students. Great for revision , or for when first teaching students model essay structure , so they can use as reference materials in their books. For students who prefer a ‘formula’ to follow, I encourage them to memorise sentence starters to use as a ‘checklist’ when writing their paragraphs, so they know if they’re ‘writing enough’.

I have these available for other texts and questions, so please take a look. =)

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AQA Literature Paper 2 Essay Plans (Sentence Starters) Pack

Essay Plans/Sentence Starters Pack for ALL Sections of the AQA Literature Paper 2 Based on the following texts: * Modern play - *An Inspector Calls* * Poetry Anthology [can be used for any cluster] * Unseen Poetry {24 + 8 marker questions] Can purchase separately or altogether for discounted price.

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Exemplar Essay: Eva Smith

How does Priestley use the character of Eva Smith to present ideas about responsibility?

‘An Inspector Calls’ is about how people should be more responsible. Priestley explores the theme of class through the treatment of working class Eva Smith by the wealthy Birlings and Gerald Croft when she is in different situations throughout the play.

During the inspector’s questioning, Priestley presents Arthur Birling as an irresponsible and selfish man. When the inspector questions Arthur Birling about Eva Smith’s request for a payrise, Priestley has Arthur Birling state ‘I refused, of course’. In other words, Arthur Birling is proud to admit that he denied Eva Smith a small pay rise. Priestley’s use of the words ‘of course’ not only indicate that Birling feels he was right to refuse a pay rise, but also that he doesn’t expect to be questioned about his actions. Later in the play, Priestley demonstrates that Arthur Birling is very selfish with his money by having him say ‘I’d give thousands ’. In other words, Birling is happy to pay thousands of pounds to the inspector in order to keep him quiet about the scandal with Eva Smith . The contrast between the thousands of pounds that Birling is willing to pay and the small pay rise that Eva Smith asked for demonstrates how selfish and irresponsible Birling is because he clearly had the money to give the pay rise but only wants to use the money for himself. Priestley hoped his 1945 audience would feel angry towards selfish Capitalist businessmen like Arthur Birling.

During the inspector’s questioning, Priestley present s Sybil Birling as a selfish and prejudiced woman. When the inspector questions Sybil about how she knew Eva Smith, Priestley presents Sybil as prejudiced by having her refer to the working classes as ‘girls of that class’. Priestley’s use of the words ‘that class ’ suggest that Sybil is snobbish and superior, looking down on the working classes. It is clear that she allows her prejudice to influence her decisions about who to help. Priestley uses Sybil Birling’s attitude to criticise private charities in 1912. He hoped his 1945 audience would feel angry t hat man wealthy people ran charities to make themselves look good, while denying help to people who needed it most. Priestley also hoped his 1945 audience would realise that they needed help from the welfare state, like the NHS, which would mean that the poorest people in society could access help when they most needed it.

During the inspector’s questioning, Priestley presents Eric and Sheila as guilty and ashamed. When Sheila is questioned by the inspector about the way she treated Eva Smith, Priestley makes clear she feels responsible by having her state ‘I started it’. In other words, Sheila admits that her actions triggered a chain of events that led to Eva Smith’s death. Similarly, Priestley has Eric refer to his actions as ‘hellish’ , which suggests he feels extremely guilty about the way he forced himself upon Eva Smith while he was drunk. Whereas Sheila and Eric feel guilty and admit their part in Eva Smith’s death, Arthur and Sybil do not. During their dialogue with the inspector, Priestley has Arthur state ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ and Sybil say repeatedly that she was ‘perfectly justified’. Priestley hoped his 1945 audience would feel surprised by the difference in attitudes between the older and younger characters and realise that they needed to behave more like Sheila and Eric in order to build a fairer, more equal society.

‘An Inspector Calls’ is about how people should be more responsible. Priestley explores the theme of responsibility through the treatment of Eva Smith, a working class girl, to demonstrate the need for change in society. Through the character of Eva Smith, Priestley demonstrates the destructive nature of capitalism and encourages his audience to become more socialist.

Priestley explores the hierarchy between Arthur Birling, a wealthy businessman, and Eva Smith, a working class girl, to demonstrate the inequality of the class system in 1912 England. During the inspector’s interrogation of Arthur Birling, the audience learns that Eva Smith was fired from Arthur Birling because she asked for higher wages. By choosing to have the workers strike, something that was becoming increasingly popular in England, Priestley suggests that wealthy businessmen were not responsibly supporting their workers. During the questioning, Priestley has Birling reveal that he ‘refused of course’ to give his workers more money which implies Birling intends to pay his workers as little as possible so he has more profit. Priestley’s use of the words ‘of course’ in Birling’s speech convey that Birling believes he was justified and it was an obvious decision to make. They could also show that Birling had no intention of providing his workers with a pay rise and was determined to maintain power over them by refusing to give into their demands for more money. By having Birling appear so confident in his running of the business, Priestley might be implying many businessmen were irresponsible, favouring their own profit over fulfilling their duty to support their workers. As a capitalist, Arthur Birling, along with many other businessmen, believed that the key to success was hard work and looking out for yourself. Through his unfair treatment of Eva Smith and the rest of his working class workers, Priestley uses Birling’s character to demonstrate the consequences of this capitalist viewpoint and to convince his audience that socialism is the way forward.

Priestley’s portrayal of Sybil Birling as a snobbish and superior woman highlights the damaging effects of prejudice in an unequally divided society. During the questioning of Sybil Birling, Priestley suggests the preconceptions wealthy people had of the poor were irresponsible and led to the downfall of many working class people. While being questioned, Priestley has Sybil describe the working class as ‘girls of that class’ which immediately conveys the judgemental attitude Sybil Birling had towards the women of the working class, including Eva Smith. Priestley’s use of the noun ‘girls’ is derogatory and could imply that Sybil Birling views them as so inferior that they do not even deserve to be classed as women. This snobbish view is also expressed through the words ‘that class’ which implies Sybil views all of the working class as the same. Priestley suggests that Sybil is prejudiced against Eva Smith and all of the working class because she believes them to be immoral, a view that was common amongst wealthy people in England in 1912. Additionally, Sybil uses her superiority to determine which working class women are deserving of her help. Sybil uses her influence to refuse Eva help at the charity and believes she was ‘perfectly justified’ in this decision. Ignoring her responsibility to help all women who come to the charity, Sybil chooses to refuse Eva help based on her prejudiced view that Eva is lying and immoral. Priestley makes clear through the adjective ‘perfectly’ that Sybil is stubborn in the view that she was right to turn Eva away and, therefore, has no sympathy for Eva. By presenting Sybil in this way, Priestley could be encouraging his audience to consider whether it was right that wealthy people, who had no sympathy for the working class because they had no understanding of the difficulties they faced, were allowed to run the only charities available for the poor in 1912. Perhaps Priestley wanted to use Sybil’s character to criticise the wealthy people who ran charities to improve their status rather than helping the poor. He could also be emphasising the need to move forward towards organisations like the NHS.

Priestley uses Gerald and Eric, a representation of young wealthy men, to criticise the way working class women were taken advantage of. Both men met Eva Smith at the Palace Theatre Bar, a place where prostitutes go to find work from middle and upper class men. They meet her at a time when she is desperate and hungry as a result of being thrown out of her job with Mr Birling and at Milwards. Although Priestley implies Gerald had good intentions at first towards Eva, it is clear that Gerald used Eva’s vulnerability to his own advantages. While being questioned by the inspector, Gerald reveals that he felt ‘sorry’ for Eva Smith. Priestley has Gerald imply that he only gave Eva Smith money and a place to stay because he wanted to help her. However, it becomes clear that Gerald used his money and power in order to take advantage of Eva. By allowing his interactions with Eva to develop into an affair, Gerald becomes irresponsible because he knows the relationship cannot proceed any further. Priestley insinuates that Gerald knew by helping Eva, it would develop into something more which suggests that he intended to take advantage of Eva’s vulnerability. Unlike Gerald, Eric does offer to marry Eva but only when he realises that Eva is pregnant with his child which suggests he only offered in order to protect his reputation. Although Eric eventually takes responsibility for his actions, to begin with Priestly suggests Eric used his superior status to force himself on Eva. Priestley could be using Eric and Gerald to indicate that many wealthy gentlemen used their money and power to take advantage of working class women and then irresponsibly hide their actions. Perhaps Priestley wanted his audience to realise that wealthy gentlemen needed to take more responsibility for their actions and to recognise the devastating effects of taking advantage of working class women.

Priestley uses Sheila Birling’s character to criticise the sheltered lives wealthy young women were forced to lead. By having Sheila refer to her parents as ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ at the beginning of the play, Priestley conveys that Sheila is heavily influenced by her parents. Priestley insinuates that Sheila is only exposed to the capitalist and selfish viewpoints of her parents resulting in her also sharing these ideas. The nouns ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ could also show that Sheila looks up to her parents and respects their views. Priestley chooses to present Sheila as heavily influenced by her parents at the beginning of the play to demonstrate that Sheila, like many other wealthy young women at this time, has led a sheltered life and does not have an understanding of the difficulties faced by the working class. It is as a result of this sheltered life, that Sheila uses her power and wealth to have Eva Smith fired without realising the consequences of her actions. Pritely could be suggesting that bringing the younger generation up as capitalists influenced by their parents, society is only going to repeat its problems rather than getting better. Although Sheila mistreats Eva, she begins to realise the consequences of her actions and is willing to change. By the end of the play, Sheila states that she ‘started it’ conveying that she takes full responsibility for the way she treated Eva. The contrast from Sheila’s selfish nature at the beginning to the responsible woman she has become by the end of the play indicates that she has been influenced by the inspector’s socialist views. Priestley might have wanted to have Sheila’s character develop in this way to demonstrate that by allowing the younger generation to be influenced by others, they are more likely to inspire the need for change in society.

Through the questioning of these characters, Priestley encourages his audience to take responsibility themselves. Priestley chooses to have the Birlings and Gerald give their accounts of what happened with Eva to demonstrate they have the power in society because they are wealthy but use it irresponsibly. In contrast, he makes Eva Smith voiceless and powerless to convey the lack of power the working class had. Priestley makes clear that society is unequal and uses the terrible and unfair treatment of Eva Smith to encourage his audience to move towards a more responsible and socialist society where everyone is equal.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — An Inspector Calls — Analysis of How Eric Birling is Presented Throughout the Play an Inspector Calls

Analysis of How Eric is Presented in an Inspector Calls

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Published: Oct 2, 2020

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J.B. Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" delves into the complexities of societal attitudes and generational differences. The interplay between the older and younger characters serves as a lens through which themes of class, [...]

Some individuals possess greater authority than others. The possession of authority is beneficial and makes life more pleasant but although it brings so much ease to life, it can easily be abused to bring harm to others. In the [...]

How is Gerald presented in An Inspector Calls? To start the essay, the character of Gerald Croft is extremely significant, as he is the only perpetrator not to be a part of the Birling household. He is also the character who [...]

In An Inspector Calls, Mr.Birling and the Inspector are complete opposites of each other and are used to support different ideas of the themes in the play. Their importance in terms of awareness of society, consideration for the [...]

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