How Does Priestley Present Inequality in An Inspector Calls
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It scored 30/30 in the exams
In the allegorical morality play An Inspector Calls, JB Priestley highlights how inequality in society leads to social disruption, harm and tragedy. Priestley portrays a chasm between social classes in 1912, contrasting with the progressive socialist view emerging in 1945. Thus, he promotes socialism to his audience in 1945, teaching that inequality leads to the downfall of the individual and society as “one body”.
(1) At this stage the examiner has commented ‘Level 2 AO3’. However, this is a thesis statement which outlines the 3 arguments that the essay is going to prove. So it will lead to much higher levels as the essay develops.
In act one, Birling treats his daughter’s engagement as a business transaction, generating profit. Therefore, he is used by Priestley as a construct to represent the greed of the bourgeoisie in Edwardian society in 1912. Birling tells Gerald, “I look forward to a time when Birlings and Crofts are no longer competing, but working together, for lower costs and higher prices.” This implies that the upper-class are consumed by greed and selfish pride: they only provide for themselves and their “family of course…”
Priestley emphasises Mr Birling’s avarice to foreshadow how, by act three, he still hasn’t learned his lesson. He says he’d still give “thousands, yes thousands” to bring Eva back to life, but in reality, this is simply to cover up the scandal of her death, suggesting how those members of the upper middle classes want to prevent any kind of scandal. Consequently, Birling’s later downfall mirrors the downfall of all capitalist men who prioritise money over well-being in Edwardian society, invoking fear in those men watching in the audience of 1945. (2) After reading the analysis of these quotations, the examiner has decided that this is Level 3 of AO1 and AO2.
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