Transcript what you should know an inspector calls

An Inspector Calls
What you will need to
know
Context
• When the play is set and when it was
written
• Historical/social factors that are relevant to
the time it is set and the time it was written
• How the context affects the plot,
characters and themes
• Could you answer the question How are
the Birlings affected by the context of the
play?
Context 1912 -1945
• An Inspector Calls is as much about 1945
as it is about 1912
• Despite Birling’s smugness, the history of
Britain from 1912 onwards was far from
trouble free
• Make sure you know what happened
• Make a list of the ironic statements that
Birling makes
Setting
Celebration of
engagement
Dining room
‘Fairly large
suburban house’
Materially well off
Port, cigars
and
champagne
April 1912
Titanic
sailed late
April
‘Substantial and
heavily
comfortable’
Plot
• Know the play inside out ie. READ and REREAD
• Write detailed summaries of each of the three
acts so you know the order in which the
characters are questioned and exactly who did
what and when
• Consider what we learn about each character
and their role in Eva’s death
• Be clear about what happens at the end of the
play and formulate your own view on the twist
Characters
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Physical description
Personality and behaviour
What events/themes they are involved in
What role they play/their importance
Relationships with other characters
What they say/what others say about them
Use of language
Could you answer the question It is possible to
blame all the characters in the novel for Eva’s
death. Which of the characters do you feel is
most responsible?
Inspector Goole
Mrs Birling
Mr Birling
Edna
Eva / Daisy
Sheila
Eric
Gerald Croft
Who…
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Is hoping for a knighthood?
Kept a diary?
Tried on a dress?
Drinks too much?
Steals money?
Phones the infirmary?
Who is the Inspector and
what is his role?
• You need to be aware of the two different
questions here
• You must be aware of the possibilities as
well as having your own views on this
• Why Goole?
• Is he a catalyst?
• Link to Priestley’s purpose
• Why NOT a conventional police officer?
Themes
• Themes are the main ideas which run
through the novel
• They help us to identify Priestley’s
intentions when writing the play ie. the
issues he wanted to highlight
• Link them to characters and events
• Could you answer the question Discuss
the importance of time in the play.
Power and
Responsibility
Parent / child
relationships
Class
Respectability
system
and Hypocrisy
Status of
Women
Individual v
Community
Guilt and
Conscience
Political View
Social
Message
1912 and 1945
Love
Morality
Time
Key Quotations
• Learn some short quotations so that you
can use them in your longer essay
response
• Organise these under the headings:
characters, themes, plot, structure,
language
• Keep the quotations short
• If you can’t remember them exactly, you
can paraphrase
Who says?
• ‘there’s a lot of wild talk about possible labour trouble in
the future’ Mr Birling
• ‘I think it was a mean thing to do. Perhaps it spoilt
everything for her.’ Sheila
• ‘I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me.’ Gerald
• Sheila, I simply don’t understand your attitude.’ Mrs Birling
• ‘She wasn’t the usual sort.’ Eric
• You’ll be able to divide the responsibility between you
Inspector Goole
when I’ve gone.’
• Well, he inspected us alright. And don’t let’s start
dodging and pretending now.’ Sheila
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?
Dramatic Irony
• How are Mr Birling’s views on the future
ironic?
• What does Sheila realise before Mrs
Birling?
• Who is the Inspector talking to?
• How would we fare under his
interrogation?
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?