Summary
Summary Notes: The Men of 'An Inspector Calls'
- Course
- Institution
- Book
Overall Notes for 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B. Priestley. Contains: - Key Quotes for the Male Characters - Themes for the Book - Context
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Character Study: Mr Birling
-
An Inspector Calls Characters Quotes
-
An Inspector Calls Themes Quotes
Seller
Follow
niag
Content preview
AN INSPECTOR CALLSSet in 1912 (week before Titanic set sale), and written in 1945 after two World Wars and
The Great Depression Edwardian period (George V)
Themes:
- Social Responsibility
- Youth and Age
- Gender
- Social Class
- Capitalism vs Socialism
- Generations
Seven deadly sins:Greed- Mr Birling/ Gerald
- Pride- Mr Birling/ Gerald
- Lust- Eric/ Gerald
- Sloth- Eric
- Envy- Sheila
- Wrath- Inspector/ Mrs Birling
- Gluttony- Mr Birling/ Gerald
Mr Birling:
- Business minded (his passion), cares about his business more than the wedding, treats
it like a business agreement.
- Ignorant to his own own employees and their wishes and needs
- Dramatic irony, shown through his long paragraphs
- Focusing on Eva’s looks before he even thinks about her working manor
- ‘I refused of course’, thinking it was the obvious decision to refuse when the workers
asked for a pay raise
- Cares more about the money then Eric, showing his capitalist views
- Doesn’t want to take any of the blame, pushing his anger onto his son
- Lack of care for the poor
- He believes the workers are earring a fair wage for the industry
- Protective of owners rights and interests
- Bases people's values on wealth and social states
- He is unaware of the disparity caused by wealth and class divide
What Mr B makes you feel:
- Irritating to the audience as he is a stuck in his ways (age)
- Anger/ repulses the audience as he is arrogant and selfish (class)
- Cringe worthy because of his views about women/ patronising (Gender)
- The audience doesn’t trust him
, - He has a pigheaded attitude which is justified through his obstinate comments “germans
don’t want war” “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
- Mr Birling is used to criticising the complacency of capitalist prosperity but he returns to
his own callousness, which shows that upper classes did not care about social
responsibility.
- He is self centred and selfish - he’d rather pass off the visit by an Inspector as a “hoax” /
a joke than face up to what he’s done than accept responsibility which reinforces his
hesitancy to change. (Generations)
Mr B’s quotes:
- ‘Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ (page 25)- dramatic irony- ignorance- titanic
symbolises the rejection of the upper class since the lower class couldn’t afford it.
Therefore, it symbolises the B’s because they think they’re unsinkable and how they
think they’re untouchable because of their class, which is untrue, which is seen by the
rest of the play
- ‘I can’t accept any responsibility’ (page 35)
- ‘Hard headed practical man of business’ (page 25)- 3 times over the span of 3 pages-
fixed mindset, showing off social status- echoing the business men who made profits
from each of the wars
- ‘Fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war. Nobody wants war’ (page 24)- dramatic
irony- foolish, ignorant, big headed
- “Look Inspector, i’d give thousands” - At the end of the play he grudgingly wishes things
were better and he’d make an attempt at redemption however it still exhibits his money
minded mentality as he still thinks in terms of money . Previously, he didn’t want to pay
Eva and the rest of the workers more money, but now, after everything, he would pay
‘thousands’- ironic
- ‘Heavy looking’ ‘portentous man’ ‘ easy mannered’ ‘provincial’
What Gerald makes you feel:
- Disappoints the audience as he is arrogant (Class)
- Dislikes his smug privilege upper class attitude (Class)
- Don’t trust him= evasive and dishonest (Responsibility)
- Respect his honesty eventually (Responsibility)
- Gerald embodies the “establishment” - old money and wealth, upper class estate holders
- usually women who were unemployed and lower class.
- Gerald’s self contradiction which symbolises the contradiction of the upper class men
having nothing to do with lower class women with the exception of sleeping with them.
Priestley highlights the oppression against prostitutes which is unjust as there were
limited options and gateways available for unemployed lower class women.
Gerald quotes:
- ‘An attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy
well-bred young man-about-town’
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller niag. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $8.44. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
75632 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now