Coursework – 20th Century Play

‘An Inspector Calls’

By
J.B. Priestley
 An Inspector Calls
Set in 1912
but written and performed in 1945

So…… the audience knew more than

the characters on the stage ……… this
is known as dramatic irony
What was life like in 1912?
Edwardian England

Two years before the outbreak of

WW1
 A society of classes:
Upper Class
Middle Class
Working Class
‘Underclass – prostitutes, beggars,
the Workhouse
No movement between classes. You were born
into, married within and died in the same class.
The rare exception would be marrying up a class.
 The Upper Class

- very wealthy
Had servants but had no other contact
with the working class.
The working class

•Very poor housing

conditions.
•Very little pay
•Everyone worked very
long hours – no unions
The Workhouse

Overcrowded
Appalling conditions
Cruelly run
Death rate high
What was going on in
the world at this time?

The Titanic
was built and
about to sail.
The worry
of war was
on the
horizon.
 1912 attitudes:
•Men had the power/authority
•Upper class men would have affairs/mistresses
•Pregnancy outside the marriage = disaster for the woman
The 1 WWW changed everything:
st

•Women took on men’s work

•Women got the vote
•The war made people more equal eg.
rich and poor had food rations, they
all wore the same sort of clothes, they
all lost their men.
Priestley was concerned
that society who had
worked so well together
during the war, would
return to their selfish
attitudes of the pre war.
 The Family ……

Arthur Birling
? ? ? Sybil Birling
?
? Eva Smith
?
? ?

Sheila Birling Gerald Croft

Eric Birling
Now lets read the play……...