An Inspector Calls as a Tool for the Political and Social Criticism Ess

An Inspector Calls as a Tool for the Political and Social Criticism of the Elite "An Inspector Calls", by J.B. Priestly, is in effect a method the playwright uses to convey an imperative political and social message to his readers. John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the north of England. After finishing school, he decided to abandon education to pursue his passion for writing and literature. In 1914 at the age of twenty Priestley was called to fight in the First World War. As one may expect, the years Priestly spent on the frontline, had an immense impact on his ideas towards the social and political system in Britain, and are what fuelled his great politically charged writings. Priestly began to ponder the state of society and the way the social system worked. Perhaps most importantly, he realised that while large numbers of people were suffering, there were many egocentric individuals who were enjoying grand luxuries. "An Inspector Calls" was written in the very week that the Second World War culminated. This shows the urgency with which Priestly wanted to communicate his message. This play, like some of Priestley's earlier work, explores the concept of time, and the phenomenon of how someone's actions can affect someone else's life in the long run. The play is set in an industrial Midlands town in 1912, just before the First World War started. There are 5 main characters, other than the inspector who appears at the very end of Act 1. These are Mr. and Mrs. Birling, their children Sheila and Eric Birling and Sheila's fiancà © Gerald Croft. All of them are upper class citizens and are shown to consider themselves to be part of the social elite. Priestley uses this soci... ...of pay. In his defence, Mr. Birling says: "Well, it's my duty to keep labour costs down, and if I'd agreed to this demand for a new rate we'd have added about twelve per cent to our labour costs." (Act 1, pg 14) Again greed and egocentricity is shown among the higher class. Birling says he had to come down sharp or else they would have been asking the Earth. To this the inspector replies: "They might. But after all it's better to ask for the Earth than to take it." (Act 1, pg 15) Here Priestley is bluntly expressing his anger at the exploitation of the poor by the rich. At its simplest, "An Inspector Calls" is just another moral story, no different from Aesop's Fables. Priestley is trying to teach his audience that individualism and narcissism are one of the greatest evils. He wants us to be aware that our actions today immensely affect events tomorrow.