Transcript Revision for ‘An Inspector Calls

Learning Objective
To revise and consolidate our
knowledge of ‘An Inspector Calls’.
How can we use this knowledge to
write an effective essay question for
the exam?
Revision for ‘An Inspector Calls
What will you need to know about the following
in the play?:
1) Dramatic Devices
2) The Inspector
3) The way language is used
Write these down in your books trying to add as
much detail as possible to each point from
memory.
Assessment Objectives
• A01
• Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and
evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support
interpretations
• A02
• Explain how language, structure and form contribute to
writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.
• A04
• Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts:
explain how texts have been influential and significant to self
and other readers in different contexts and at different times.
• Section A= An Inspector Calls
• This tests:
• A01= 10%
• A02= 10%
•
•
•
•
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Section B= Purple Hibiscus
This Tests:
A01=5%
A02=5%
A04=10%
Structure
All the action takes place on one night in
real time
However, Priestley uses the time release
mechanism which allows the characters to
relive the events. Why?
What is the Inspector’s role in the structure
of the play?
How is An Inspector Calls different from a
typical detective thriller?
Entrances and Exits
•Who is present when Mrs Birling is interrogated? And
more importantly – who is not? Why?
•How does the lighting change when the Inspector
arrives? Why?
•Why are Gerald and Sheila left alone at the end of Act
1?
•Why does Gerald leave then come back – dramatically?
•How is the Inspector’s exit made effective?
Language and style
• The realism of the play, its realistic sets and incidents is
reinforced by realistic language – of 1912
• Language reinforces the Inspector’s authority – How?
• Look at his style and sentence lengths…
• Correct manner – Mrs Birling
• Provincial, bullying – Mr Birling
• Gerald – correct, euphemisms
• Sheila and Eric - slang, less restrained
• How does language link Sheila and the Inspector?
Big Questions
• Which of the characters is most affected by the
events of the evening?
• Examine the evidence to decide whether Eva Smith
and Daisy Renton are the same person
• How does the play show up the contrast between
the philosophies of Mr Birling and Inspector Goole?
• What aspects of British society does the play
criticise?
How does Priestley show that tension
is at the heart of the family?
(30 marks)
• This is the question that some of you would of
answered in your mock exams last month.
• We are going to work in pairs to come up with an
answer to this question. Look at your assessment
objectives and what you need to include!
• Remember you only have 45mins to answer this
question so your plan should be quick.
Plenary
• You are now going to look at a version that has
already been written. Comment on...
• How many of your points does it
include?
• What did you miss out from your
plan?
• How is it written and what sort of
vocabulary does it use?
Who is the Inspector and why has he come to the
Birlings’ house?
• It could be argued that Priestley deliberately constructs the
Inspector as an omniscient character who is already aware of
the Birlings’ social wrongdoings in the community and is
there to interrogate and inspect them until they reveal the
truth and change their higher class, socially superior Capitalist
ways. As such, he is presented as a Socialist moral crusader,
possibly the mouthpiece of the playwright, designed to show
the erroneous actions occurring on a daily basis in the
Edwardian Britain of 1912 – when the play is set – but also in
the 1945 of post-World War Two Britain, where the issues of
the play were still relevant to the audience of the time.
• Furthermore, the Inspector’s name of Goole could indicate
that…
Exam questions
•
Examine the role of the Inspector – former coursework question
•
How does Priestley present Eric in An Inspector Calls?
•
Write about the differences between Sheila and Sybil Birling in the play An Inspector
Calls
•
How is Eva Smith presented in An Inspector Calls?
•
How does Priestley present ideas about how we should treat other people in An
Inspector Calls?
•
‘Inspector Goole merely functions as a mouthpiece for Priestley’s ideas.’ What do you
think is the Inspector’s function in the play and how does Priestley present him?
•
How does Priestley show the differences in attitudes between the generations in An
Inspector Calls?