This document includes 6 essay plans regarding Priestley's 'An inspector calls' book, including;
'How does Priestley use different attitudes towards accountability in an inspector calls?'
'How does Priestley use Inspector Goole to explore ideas about equality and injustice in An Inspector Calls?...
01) How does Priestley use Inspector Goole to explore ideas about equality and
injustice in An Inspector Calls? Write about:
• what the Inspector says and does throughout the play
• what some of these ideas about equality and justice are [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks]
Character in context:
● Socialist values and ideology are channelled through the Inspector.
● Priestley utilises the Inspector as a vehicle to catalyse change in perceptions of
responsibility. He encourages the younger generation to break away from the older, more
traditional and individualistic generation.
Paragraph one
“(massively)Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges”
- the Inspector highlights that if a person is in a position of authority then they have a
duty of responsibility to those they are in charge of
- Contrasts to mr birling saying ‘a man has to make his own way’
- The use of the direct address ‘mr birling’ shows he is aiming the message at mr
birling, and wants to make him realise he needs to stop blinding himself to his actions
because he sees eva as not human.
- Priestley speaking to his audience, the message is that the middle and upper classes
use their power and status for their own benefit, but don't use their privileges to help
the less fortunate
- Challenging mr birlings authority
- Priestley is being shown through the inspector, as he believed that there was
injustice in society because of people like the Birlings, who were reluctant to change
because it jeopardises their comfortable position in their ‘fairly large’ home.
Paragraph two
topic sentence- Priestley presents socialism favourably through the antithesis of the
Inspector - Mr Birling - whose contemptible portrayal extends to the capitalist ideology that
he represents.
“...It’s better to ask for the Earth than to take it”
- The foil character to Mr. Birling, who says ‘‘they'd soon be asking for the earth."
- Metaphor relating to the idea of capitalism vs. socialism
- This alludes to the notion that, unlike most people that encounter him, the inspector
is not intimidated by Mr Birling’s social status and is confident to criticise and
question his treatment of the lower classes
- This in turn highlights the inspector’s socialist ideals and thus suggests that he is
acting as a mouthpiece for Priestley’s own socialist agenda as he is reminding the
audience how we should treat the “millions and millions of Eva and John Smiths”
- he is desperately trying to show Mr Birling that he is “taking” the “Earth” yet punishing
those who “ask” for it.
At this point, it becomes clear that the inspector is far morally superior to Mr Birling who is less
concerned about staff welfare and more concerned about profit – focusing on “lower costs and higher
prices” In this sense, the inspector is overtly highlighting the hypocrisy in Mr Birling’s individualist
actions – he is desperately trying to show Mr Birling that he is “taking” the “Earth” yet punishing those
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