An Inspector Calls is essentially a vehicle for Priestley to criticise capitalism. Discuss. -- A* - page 5
Keywords: An Inspector Call Priestley capitalism
By georgie1 on 31/12/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 5 of 10 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
is clearly a necessity to the Birling family, as both Mr and Mrs Birling are both boastful of Mr Birling being on the “Honours list”, set for a “knighthood”, an ex-“Lord Mayor only two years ago” and a “magistrate”. The way in which these facts are presented to the audience and other characters is as though to intimidate others and make them aware of their authority, power and love for control. Mr Birling attempts to threaten the Inspector when he says that he has “half a mind to report you”, yet retracts this threat as soon as he realises he is not in trouble. It is also clear that Mr Birling is only worried about how they will be perceived by the public when he says that “it isn’t going to do us much good” and that he needs to “cover this up as soon as I can”. He highlights that “there’ll be a public scandal” and that he cares because he was “almost certain for a knighthood”, showing that the capitalist figure is entirely self involved and not worried about anything but his image. He says that he will “suffer from that [public scandal]”, indicating that he is still only thinking about himself. Mr Birling also highlights the difference of “this coming out in private and a downright public scandal”, making it clear to the audience that he wants negative mishaps to occur in private and positive stories to be publicly broadcast. He later says that he had a “special reason” for not wanting any public scandal, showing that he regards himself as ‘special’ or chosen. It is clear that Mrs Birling also likes to think that she is of upper class status when she talks about her “Brumley Woman’s Charity Organisation”. However, the audience is given the impression that she is unengaged from the charity she says that she “used her influence” to have help “refused” for Eva Smith, showing that the charity was scandalous. The word ‘refused’ is repeated in a number or occasions by different characters, reiterating the harshness of the situation. Because Mrs Birling “wasn’t satisfied” with Eva’s claims, the charity was therefore not satisfied. The refusal of help is done in public however Mrs Birling’s reasons are private feelings and therefore the charity remains to be portrayed as good for the community. Similarly, when Eva describes what she did against Eva Smith, it is
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