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An Inspector Calls - Final Exams - Coggle Diagram
An Inspector Calls - Final Exams
Themes
Responsibility
"Each of you helped kill her" - I [A3]
"Obviously it has nothing whatever to do with the wretched girl's suicide" - B [A1]
"Two years ago" - B [A1]
"I can't accept any responsibility" - B [A1]
"There's every excuse for what both your mother and I did - it turned out unfortunately, that's all" - B [A3]
"He should be made an example of" ... "make sure he's compelled to confess in public to his responsibility"... "I consider it your duty" - MB [A2].
"not really" - refuses responsibility and shows criminality.
Rejection of Socialism
"except"..."Russia, which will be behindhand naturally"
"how I choose to run my business"..."it might be" - Political play that explores the morality of business.
"better to ask for the earth than to take it" - Capitalism depicted as a form of theft.
"respectable citizens" and "criminals[G]"..."I wouldn't know where to draw the line[I]" - Priestley conveying the idea that capitalists blur the line between legality and illegality by exploiting an ineffective system. + ("Fortunately, it isn't left to you, is it? [G]"
Religion
Priestley specifically uses words from the Anglican service to convey and teach Christian ideals, establishing a morality play. (80% audience church)
"We are all members of one body" - References Romans 12:5 [eucharist]
The Inspector leaving the play in Act 3 sets up a similar 'experiment' to that of God in the book of genesis.
The Future
Connotes to the didactic and morality text "A Christmas Carol" with "Goole". Suggesting that the future can be changed if behaviours are changed. Contemporary audience would recognise this.
Class Divide
"he says it's important" - Interpretation depends on delivery:
says
= subservience /
he
= authority. Insp = ally of working class.
Gerald acts as a sophist, convincing himself that he deserves to be rich and convincing himself that he should not accept responsibility: "how do we know it's the same girl?"
Patriarchy
"these young women counting their pennies"... "back bedrooms" - Priestley supports the idea that women are more readily exploited by a capitalist agenda than men.
"women of the town" + "a lot of young men" - Seen as convention. (+ - attempts to make Sheila accept the status quo that infidelity should be an expectation)
"only escaped with a torn blouse[S about AM]"..."Sheila![B]" - Birling expects Sheila to show respect to those of hr class, almost excusing this predatory behaviour, condoning it.
"if men will not learn that lesson" - Emphasis on men commands the women in the audience to seize the power of the vote to prevent war from transpiring once again ("fire and blood and anguish"). Perhaps hints at supernatural prophecy.
Second Death
"I remember what he said"..."fire and blood and anguish[S]" - Priestley highlights that learning the lesson was not enough and that Sheila does not yet have the power to correct society because of her gender.
"no, not yet. It's too soon I think [S]" - Hints at the idea that Sheila will marry Gerald as it is the only way to procure equality or her parents' acceptance.
Eric is drunk / "squiffy" at this time so does not accept the inspector's lesson, this shows the immaturity and immorality of the upper class.
Charactonyms
Sheila comes from the Latin Cecilia, meaning "blind" to show how blind she initially is regarding the consequences of her actions ("I couldn't be sorry for her").
Sybil is derived from the tale of the ten Sibyls, mythological prophets. This is ironic as Sybil is naive towards Eric's alcoholism.
Characters
Arthur Birling
"Pitiful affair" (the strike)
"hard headed man of business" - First stated by PM Stanley Baldwin who criticised those who profited from the war.
Refers to marriage as an alliance.
"give thousands, yes thousands" - Fails to carry this out after Gerald theorises that Eva does not exist.
"clothes"..."token of their self respect"
"I know the Brumley officers pretty well"
"I can't accept any responsibility"
"wretched girls suicide"
"I don't like that tone" [to I]
" A young, unmarried girl is being dragged into this" [A2]
Sheila
Introduced as materialistic ("is it the one you wanted me to have") and infantile ("mummy" + "child").
[MB about S] "of course she does" (G trying to be part of family)
[G] "I think Miss Birling ought to be excused"
"You're forgetting I'm supposed to be engaged to the hero" - Embraces logic and reason and shuns infantile nature: switches to "mother" as an address.
Power shift: (about Brumley Women's Charity Organisation) "Yes she is why" [S answers for MB]. Sheila becomes more interrogative after the Inspector's departure in the third act.
Proxy for the Inspector, also refers to "fire and blood and anguish"
"At least you've been honest"
Sheila's lack of an alternative to marriage with Gerald sees the play adopt a tragedy format
Eric
"half shy, half assertive" - Lack of trust from audience towards Eric and, by extension, capitalism. "Half" may also suggest that Eric has not fully been moulded around the cruel agenda of his parents.
"Don't be an ass Eric" - Sheila and Eric pick up colloquialisms, showing that they are more liberal and less traditional.
"In that state where a chap easily turns nasty"..."threatened to make a row". Flaws are still shown with Eric, he seems to view such actions as the status quo
"I don't even remember - that's the hellish thing"
"Not the kind of father a chap could go to"
"We did her in alright"
Refusal to use "I" during confession
"not really" + Eric stole £50, this is more than the amount that Eva would earn in the months she was with Eric.
Sybil
"now stop it you two"
"Eric - I want you a minute"
Interrogative nature helps foreshadow the conflict between the Inspector and Sybil: refers to comments in Act 2 as a "trifle impertinent". Sybil's inability to command the Inspector is used to depict the corrupt aristocracy's influence over law.
"I don't understand you inspector"
Mrs Birling embodies the characteristics that Priestley despised about middle and upper class women through her refusals (as discussed in his radio show 'Postscripts')
"prejudiced" - Shows how fallible a non-welfare state is. 1945 saw the start of the welfare state.
"you must know it isn't true" - Antithical of the ten sibyls from ancient Greek mythology.
"just as I had" - Victim of a harsh patriarchal regime that normalises infidelity. This injustice has become the norm for women in this society.
Suspicious as Eva uses a fake name. This is fraud and perhaps Sybil shouldn't receive blame for this. ("Refused to believe her original story")
Gerald
"easy well-bred young" - Part of elitist class.
"I don't come into this suicide business"
"Hard-eyed dough-faced women".
"Everything's alright now".
"[I] At least he had some affection for her" + "[S] At least you've been honest" - Invites moral outrage.
"She said something about the shop too".
"nice little set of rooms".
Scene Synopsis
Context
Set in 1912 and but first performed in 1945 (in the USSR). This is often used to induce a dramatic irony.
Dramatic Irony:
"in 1940"..."silly little war scares" [blitz]
"we'll have aeroplanes"
"absolutely unsinkable"
"so long as we"..."don't"..."start a scandal"
Priestley became the vice president of the campaign for nuclear disarmament.
Key Terms
Commodities
Eucharist
Disenfranchised
Eva Smith
Replaced employee at milwards as previous died form influenza.
Edna
Edna is responsible for the change of light form pink and intimate to brighter and harder.
"give us some more light" [B] - Monosyllabic, no attempt at politeness.