How Priestly Uses the Characters to Represent His Own Views on Society :: An Inspector Calls Edwardian Society Essays

How Priestly Uses the Characters to Represent His Own Views on SocietyThe play An inspector Calls is set in 1912 but was written in 1945.Edwardian society at that time (1912) was strictly divided into socialclasses and over two-thirds of the nations wealth was in the hands ofless than 1% of the population. Below the very rich were the middleclasses (doctors and merchants, shop workers and clerks), after thatcame the craftsmen and skilled workers. At the very bottom of thesocial persist was the largest class of all - the ordinary workers andthe poor, many of whom lived below the poverty level. The men ofindustry treated the workers very badly and they were paid pittance.This caused workers to become better organize and strikes werebecoming more frequent as they demanded better conditions and higherpay. J.B. Priestley was writing the play for a middle class audienceand was trying to speak up for the working class by raiseing how theBirlings and Gerald Croft were all involved in mak ing a young workingclass girls life a misery. Priestley wants to show us that we have aresponsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and thatwe do not live in isolation. Our actions affect others. This is theconcept of collective responsibility. Priestley says, things could genuinely improve if only people were to become more socially responsiblefor the welfare of others. We have to confront our mistakes and learnfrom them.The play starts off with the Birling family celebrating theirdaughters action to Gerald Croft. The family included Mr Birling,Mrs Birling, Eric Birling, Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. ArthurBirling is glad because Gerald is the son of his business competitorand it will be a merger of businesses. Through the middle of thedinner there is a knock at the door. This is where we meet inspectorGoole. He tells the family that a girl has committed suicide and thatin one way or some other they are responsible. Mr Birling was responsiblefor sacking the g irl from his factory. Sheila Birling was responsiblebecause she got the girl sacked from a shop where she works. EricBirling was seeing her but the stony-broke it off, and Gerald Croft washaving an affair with her but he also broke it off. All of theirmorals are tested and they are all put to the test because none ofthem rightfully know the truth about what they have done until theinspector brings it out of them. After the inspector goes the familyfinds out that he was a fake and that no girl had died.