Inspector Calls - Juicy examples to use in exam!

JUICY AND MEATY EXAMPLES          

An Inspector Calls

Opening – sets the stage>> dramatic irony abounds

Staging suggests that all is well and harmonious ‘celebrating’ ‘are pleased with themselves’ but there are lots of clues that actually all is not well with this family

Mrs Birling ‘her husband’s social superior’>> arrogant

Mr Birling ‘heavy-looking… provincial in his speech’ Mr Birling has an accent, which reveals that he has made his own money rather than being an aristocrat>>> insecure, no compassion, arrogant

‘nonsense’, ‘a man has to make his own way’

‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ (Titanic) dramatic irony – the audience of 1945 know that The Titanic sank>>> Mr Birling was wrong! (in fact, Priestly wants us to realise that he is DANGEROUSLY DELUDED… and that if we as the audience share any of Birling’s political views, we are dangerous deluded too.)

Everything that looks settled and harmonious will be systemically shaken apart by the Inspector. This family will break up…… there are clues that this may happen,

Shelia… to her fiancé ‘Last summer when you never came near me’ (He was cheating)

LIGHTING ‘Pink and intimate’ lighting when the curtain rises changes to ‘brighter, harder’ when the Inspector comes in

Shelia – model response to political message/younger generation

It frightens me the way you talk

We did her in all right –

They’re not cheap labour, they’re people

Eva’s death – apparently the hinge for the whole plot, but revealed to be made up…. (in the double twist at the end)

‘She lies with a burnt-out inside on a slab’ (Inspector) >> cold, heartless society….

Eva’s name >> represents all women (Eve from the Bible – the first woman)

The Inspector – eerie, larger than life, omniscient

‘an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. He speaks carefully, weightily and has disconcerting habit of looking hard at a person he addresses before actually speaking.’

‘one person one line of enquiry at a time’  systematic, ruthless, scary - slightly unhuman

‘he’s giving us the rope so that we’ll hang ourselves’ (Shelia)

‘We are members of one body. We are responsible for one another’ >>> the political mantra of the play, articulated by the Inspector

‘Fire and blood and anguish’ the judgement that will come if society does not change >> biblical imagery of hell >> makes the Inspector seem fearsome like God >>>> high dramatic impact>>>>>dramatic irony (WW1 and WW2 did come, and perhaps the audience will start to question whether it really is that simple)

‘Each of you helped to kill her.’ (The Inspector becomes a Judge/Divine figure – it’s not about what happened, it’s about making the characters own up to their guilt and repent/change …. He becomes a political activist with all the religious zeal of a priest….

The Double Twist at the End

‘That was the police. A girl has just died on her way to the infirmary. And a police inspector is on his way here – to ask some -questions’

>>> Double coup de theatre/twist at end – leaves Mr Birling speechless (he trails off at the end, stunned and spooked out) and leaves the audience with massive questions.

Double twist >>> enables the Inspector to be a figure that could come and interrogate each one of us.

Makes the play personal suddenly. Is it about 1912 and this one dysfunctional family? Or is it about us? MULTIPLE INTERPRETATIONS

Enables him to seem like the voice of God/conscience….

This is effective but controversial: >>> Play received hostile reception in 1945 due to strong and controversial political message. You could argue that it remains controversial and thought-provoking now but for different reasons (our society is different/has different kinds of social injustices – still it’s important for each individual