GRADE 9 essay on Social class in An Inspector Calls GCSE
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This essay explores the theme of Social Class in the play, and the difference between the two distinct classes clearly symbolised in Priestley's writing with his characters. Providing detailed analysis, varied quotes and much more, this essay was marked as a Grade 9 and was written for the Eduqas e...
You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.
You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole play to answer this question.
Write about the theme of social class and how it is presented in An Inspector Calls.
In your response you should:
refer to the extract and the play as a whole;
show your understanding of characters and events in the play.[40]
5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures
An Inspector Calls was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, based in the Industrial city
of Brumley in 1912. Social class is an integral theme to the play, the Birlings’
actions a result of the privileges and stereotypes they held towards Eva due to
her lower social class. Priestley criticises the upper class and their self-
importance, causing the class distinctions which result in Eva’s suicide, with the
added lack of responsibility they take for what they have done.
At the beginning of the play, Priestley demonstrates the upper class
through the Birlings in the stage directions. It states: ‘dessert plate and
champagne glasses…decanter of port, agar box and cigarettes.’ The lexical field
of wealth through the nouns: ‘dessert, champagne, port’ reflects the luxuries the
upper class were able to enjoy due to their higher social rank, whilst the lower
class were denied the basic needs to live. Mrs Birling comments to her husband:
‘(reproachfully) Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things.’ The adverb
‘reproachfully’ displays how due to Mrs Birling’s higher social rank, she scolds
Birling on his etiquette, showing how important mannerisms are to her – she
believes class and moral are concomitant. The adjective ‘such’ demonstrates her
condescending character towards classes, foreshadowing her later derogatory
comments towards Eva, due to her class. Birling further exhibits the capitalism of
the upper classes: ‘Crofts and Birlings no longer competing but are working
together – lower costs and higher prices. This illustrates the lack of love and
affection in the upper class, as Birling views the marriage between Sheila and
Gerald as a business deal. The phrase ‘lower costs’ portrays how Birling
dehumanises his workers, and has the ability to compromise their lives and
wages simply because he is of a higher social class, Priestley presenting the
power imbalance between classes.
As Act One progresses, Priestley effectively presents the Birlings’
treatment of Eva due to her lower social rank, and the avarice of the upper class.
Birling refers to Eva using the phrase ‘wretched girls suicide’, the derogatory
adjective ‘wretched’ portraying his disdain towards Eva, and implies she is
almost a nuisance to him; because of his higher social rank he is too busy or
empathise with the lower classes. The Inspector then reveals the greed of the
lower class in society through his antithetical parallelism of Birlings statement.
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