The play is set in the Birlings house; as it is a safe place where life is secure and sheltered Essay Example For Students

The play is set in the Birlings house; as it is a safe place where life is secure and sheltered Essay The play is set in the Birlings house; as it is a safe place where life is secure and sheltered. The inspector takes the illusion of their life away and shows the Birlings what they previously prefer to overlook, the horrors and troubles of the real world. The play is set in 1912 but was written in 1945 after the Second World War. In the play there is lots of dramatic irony, which to an extent it relies on. Mr Birling flippantly brushes of ideas people have about a war in sight, dismissing them as silly little war scares. He also comments on the workers strikes and feels confident that theyve passed the worst of it. We as the audience know that since 1912 there have been two Worlds Wars, the likes of which the world had never experienced and in the 1920s there were huge workers strikes, which sent the country into chaos. The Georgian period in which they lived was a time of wealth and prosperity for the middle and upper classes and relative relaxation and security. Mr Birling proudly boasts about the progress that has been made, auto-mobiles making headway and a ship, the Titanic which is about to set sail and will make New York in five days ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ and every luxury ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable. Again as the audience we know Mr Birling has misplaced his confidences and the terrible end that unsinkable ship came to when she met her nemesis and lies still and silent at the bottom of the frigid North Atlantic. In 1912 there was no welfare state in Britain, and poor people like Eva Smith often depended on charity organizations. Wealthy people such as Mrs Birling usually controlled these organizations. Mrs Birling would have worked for the charity out of her desire to be seen as charitable rather than out of a sense of respon sibility and concern for those less fortunate than her self. Also during this period the upper class, represented by the Birlings and Gerald ruled the country, owning all the main business, with no thoughts accept for them selves, which lead to consequences for the working class, the Smiths, represented by Eva Smith. The inspector comes into the play, to try and find out who is the most responsible for the death of Eva Smith death and to try and make them understand their responsibility to others. All the characters in the play had some connection with Eva Smith, which contributed towards her unpleasant death. Mr Birling was the first to contribute towards Evas downfall. At one time he employed her in one of his machine shops for over a year. He admits that she was a good worker, and she was even going to receive a promotion, but after the holidays in August, she and a group of girls came back to work and decided to ask for more money so they were averaging at about twenty-five shillings a week instead of twenty-two shillings and six. Soon the strike came to an end as they had been on holiday and had little money left. Mr Birling let the strikers comeback to work for him, apart from the five ringleaders who started the trouble, including Eva Smith, they had to go. After being sacked by Mr Birling, Eva Smith after a time of unemployment managed to get a job at a good quality shop, called Millwards. There she encountered the wrath of Sheila Birling. Shelia had gone to Millwards one day to try something on, her mother and the shop assistant had been against it, but she insisted. When Shelia tried it on she knew they had been right and it didnt suit her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Eva Smith, the girl who had brought the dress up for her to try on, smiling, as if thinking Doesnt she look awful. Shelia was upset and embarrassed and spoke rudely to her. She then went to the manager of Millwards and told him if Eva Smith wasnt sacked shed never go near the place again and would persuade her mother to close the account. Eva Smith, through no fault of her own is now unemployed again. As many girls did, she decided to change her name to Daisy Renton, and make a fresh start. As there was no other work, and was in desperate need money. She turned to prostitution, as many women of the working class had to. One day Gerald met her at the Palace music hall, where he had gone to get a drink, and is a favorite haunt of women of the town. He saw Eva, or Daisy being bothered by Alderman Meggarty, a prominent member of society. He recognizes that she is young and pretty not like the other women. Gerald decided to help the girl and managed to distract Meggarty enough, by saying the manager needed to see him, to get the girl away. He got to know her and then set her up at a friend of his house and kept her as his mistress. It was a mutual benefit, as she needed money and food, which he provided. Gerald liked the idea that he was the most important person in her life, but after a while go bored and had to go of on a business trip and told her she had to go as his friend was coming back. Eva Smith knew that what she had with Gerald would not last and she was just a convenience to him. She went away by herself for about two months. To some seaside place, so she could be alone to try and make her affair with Gerald last longer and savour the memories of their time together. As she could again get no work and in urgently need of money she again turned to prostitution and worked in the palace bar. This is where she met Eric Birling and his puerile behaviour and lack of responsibilit y. She was pretty, not like the other fat old tarts, so he decided to buy her a few drink, although he was already inebriated. Later that night he insisted on going back to her lodgings and we are lead to believe that when he was there he forced himself upon her, using his physical strength and power over her. They met again a few times and Eva told Eric that she was pregnant with his child. Eva insisted, that she did not want to marry him as she saw him for what he was, a spoilt child and treated him like he was a kid. Eric then offered her financial support, which she also refused as she had found out that the money he used was stolen and refused to take anymore. 'The Great Gatsby' by F Scott Fitzgerald EssayIn the play, there is only one theme; this keeps the audiences attention and stops them getting side tracked with other plots. The inspector builds up the tension well by only allowing one character see the photograph at a time, and lays traps, which they all fall into. In particular the inspector sets a trap for Mrs Birling, when he asks her if she is not to blame for Evas death then who is and she enthusiastically lays the blame on the young man who is the father of Evas unborn child and tells the inspector to find this young man and then make him confess in public his responsibility. She is happy to dismiss any responsibility she may have and pass it onto someone, she thinks is far away from her family and her. Almost immediately we find out the father is Eric and she has implicated her son as being entirely responsible for the death of Eva Smith. The inspector scrutinizes one line of enquiry at a time, so again the audience does not lose track of the play and its storyline. The inspector also controls the behaviour and actions of the other characters, deciding if they can leave or not. He undermines Mr Birlings authority, when Eric ask if he can have a drink before he begins to tell his story of the events which he was involved in with Eva, Mr Birling says no, but is quickly contradicted by the inspector who says that he needs a drink now just to see him through. The inspector seems to be omniscient, but actually makes all the characters confess to their crimes. Perhaps the inspector is a supernatural agent for the conscience and the name Goole makes him appear spooky and other worldly. Maybe the inspector has foreseen a suicide about to happen and if the Birlings have a change of heart it could be prevented, but the chance is missed and the suicide occurs. In the text their are many clues which hint that the inspector is not really from the police and in the end the Birlings and Gerald manage to pick up on this, but some of them try dismiss it as a joke. The name Goole sounds like a ghoul, which is an evil demon, that eats the flesh of the dead, or it can be used metaphorically meaning a person obsessed by, or profits by, anothers death. When the inspector has left, he is said by Birling to have exploited Evas death, to frighten the victims of the alleged practical joke. But there are also hints that he is good, perhaps a messenger from God, as he says, we are members of one body like we say in the Eucharist service, reminding us that everyone is the same in Gods eyes. It does not mater whether the inspector is supposed to be good or evil, or what he really is, as the importance of his role is in what he says. The inspector altered Shelia and Erics views and makes them aware of the responsibility they have for others. Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald refuse to take any responsibility for their actions and when the inspector has left expect life to carry on as before, believing that the inspector was a hoax, they represent the past and how the world is in desperate need for change. The end of the play suggests hope of the future as Shelia and Eric who represent the younger generation have learned to accept responsibility and that all actions have consequences. At the end of the play the inspector gives his wide view on responsibly, which contrasts with Mr Birlings narrow view on responsibility that he gave at the beginning of the play. Before the inspector departs he leaves the Birlings and Gerald with a thought One Eva Smith has gone ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We dont live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson in fire and blood and anguish. The inspector, in his speech is telling us that things must change and the Smiths representing the lower and working class should not be used and abused by the Birlings repressenting people of power. He is also referring to the Second World War, as the audience knows, this lesson was learnt through fire blood and anguish and can not be allowed to be forgotten. The main theme of the play is responsibility. You must be responsible for other people as well as your own actions, and think of the consequences your actions may cause for others. In the play, there isnt anyone who is fully to blame for the death of Eva Smith. All the characters were involved in some way, which lead to her death and therefore are all equally responsible. The political message in the play is everyone must realise that there are always consequences for ones actions and everyone has a shared moral responsibility. The play was written in 1945 after the war, to present Priestlys views that the world was in desperate need of a change. When the inspector was at the house it symbolizes the Second World War, when everyone started to learn a pulled together for one cause. During that period all people were thrown into the war or working back home to aid the war effort regardless or class and social status. After the war there was a danger that people would recede back into the old ways, where there were prominent social divides and Priestly is trying to remind people how things were and how well they worked. People saw the need for change when the voted for Labour and Clement Attlee in 1945 who stood for a new way of life and change, against Winston Churchill who offered society restarting where it left off. People saw how the war had changed everything, and things would never be the same again as something as horrific as the Second World War could never be forgotten and voted for Labour which resulted in their famous landslide victory of May 1945. An Inspector Calls is an idealist play and is always relevant, as the theme of responsibility is still as germane today as it was a hundred years ago.