Inspector Calls Flashcards
‘If men will not learn their lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish’ - The Inspector
- Polysyndeton on ‘and’ amplifies the immensity of his visual imagery
- Prolonged consequences to their action, drawn out effect, eternal punishment - semantic field of hell, and torture
- Reinforces imminent punishment if they do not recognise and respond to their immorality
- Petrifying to an Edwardian society (20th century) = highly religious
Priestly’s intentions
- Makes his characters speak in prose (everyday language) opposed to verse to make his audience form genuine opinions and have emotions towards characters
Eric -‘yes i remember’
- Frivolous with money
- Subjugated (oppressed)
- Impetuous
- Altruistic
- Confined to the rigid expectations of his parents
Words/phrases to describe Gerald
- Charismatic
- Socially superior
- Duplicitous nature
- Apathetic
- Aristocratic privilege
- Philandering - womanizer
- Expolitative
Words/phrases to describe The Inspector
- Moral compass
- Didactic
- Omniscient
- Socially conscious
- Virtuous
- Omnipotent
- Authoritative
‘I speak as a hard headed business man’ - Mr Birling (1)
- ‘Hard’ connotates strong and indestructible - ridicule, constructs these characters to believe they possess these qualities - illuminates his fragility
- Alliteration on hard headed - emulates his persistent and rapacious nature - constantly striving for more wealth and uses his stock of assets currently to shield his ignorant mindset and future pursuits
- Plosive sounds littered - raucous sound echoes his capitalist beliefs and reflects his facade of dominance to fulfill his supercillious pretense.
- socially irresponsible
‘Girls of that class’ - Mrs Birling (1)
- Distant tone
- Epitome of the arrogant bourgeois attitude within the 1800s
- Connotations of innocence and youth - envied by her, as Eva Smith is an emblem of that
Eric (3)
‘he could have kept her on instead of throwing her out’
‘I was in that state where a chap (dodging responsibility) easily gets nasty’
‘my child - your own grandchild - you killed them both - damn you, damn you’
Mrs Birling x2
‘when you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business’
‘You’re not the type - you don’t get drunk’
Sheila x2
‘I think it was a mean thing to do. Perhaps they spoilt everything for her’ Sheila’s intoxication by her parents’ capitalist views - becoming malleable to socialist idea
‘You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here’ - doesn’t make decisions off what she sees anymore
juvenile depiction of Sheila, Priestley allows himself plenty of ability to metamorphosis Sheila’s ideology to show his audience that the younger generation does indeed withhold this ability to change and drive forward betterment for working classes.
Gerald x2
‘I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me’
‘Everything’s all right now, Sheila. What about this ring?’ - materialistic
Inspector x2
‘Burnt her inside out…she was in great agony’
‘Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges’
Inspector strives to drive change in the Birlings morals, political values and ethics, as they are used as a microcosm of capitalism.
‘theyd sooner be asking for the earth’ - JARGON
- portentious
- provinicial
- naive in the face of political unrest
- hubris
- colloqual - authority is breaking down
- clinically scrutinised, he is elicit at a rapid rate
- unconscionable microcrosm
‘not cheap labour, they’re people’
- breaking the zeiturgist
- Sheila’s intoxication by her parents’ capitalist views - becoming malleable to socialist idea
- juvenile depiction of Sheila, Priestley allows himself plenty of ability to metamorphosis Sheila’s ideology to show his audience that the younger generation does indeed withhold this ability to change and drive forward betterment for working classes
- anarch neurisis anagnorisis
