GRADE 9 Essay on Relationships in An Inspector Calls GCSE
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Grado
English
Institución
GCSE
This essay explores the theme of relationships in An Inspector Calls - the strain and change of them as the play progresses, between all the character and in particular, the Birlings. Providing deep analysis, quotes and much more, this essay was marked as Grade 9 and written for the eduqas exam boa...
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 how Priestley presents relationships 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. Priestley uses various relationships between characters
throughout the play to criticise different ideologies in society. He presents the
materialistic and superficial relationship between Sheila and Gerald, to denote
upper class capitalism and gender stereotypes, which is also conveyed through
the relationship between Mr and Mrs Birling. He further uses the relationship
between them and their children, to convey how only the younger generation
had the power to reform society.
At the beginning of the play, Priestley successfully presents Mr and Mrs
Birlings relationship as cold and lacking true affection. In the stage directions, it
states: ‘His wife is about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husbands social
superior.’ The pronoun ‘his’ demonstrates how Mrs Birling is seen as property;
woman in the Edwardian Era objectified and introduced with no individuality. The
adjective ‘cold’ perhaps indicates Mrs Birlings unaffectionate relationship with
her children, and lack of warmth to anyone, possibly linking to her class. The
noun phrase ‘social superior’ illustrates her high status, and foreshadows her
prejudice later on in the play towards the lower class, the use of the pronoun
‘her’ showing how she has the control in their marriage in terms of social class,
alluding to her rebukes towards Birling in the play. She comments: ‘Arthur you’re
not supposed to say such things.’ The verb ‘supposed’ reveals her self-
importance – because she is from a higher class, she expects her husband to
conform to the Edwardian etiquettes – this presents the lack of love and freedom
in their relationship, as they are too concerned with the ideal upper class family.
Priestley effectively presents the superficial relationship between Sheila
and Gerald through her doubts expressed at the beginning of the play. She tells
Gerald: ‘(half serious, half playful) Yes, except for all last summer when you
hardly ever came near me and I wondered what had happened to you.’ The
adjective ‘serious’ displays how Sheila hides the concern she has for their
relationship, which could allude to the submission women were taught in
marriage, and the dismissive attitudes and neglect of the patriarchy toward the
women they married. This is proven further by the verb ‘wondered’ depicting her
worry again, but also her conflicting views with her mother – she refuses to stay
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