Inspector Calls themes Flashcards
1
Q
Class inequalities
A
- Priestley wanted to reveal deep class divisions present in 1912 and expose the many forms of injustice this created for the working classes
- Priestley wanted to encourage his 1945 audience to embrace the more egalitarian policies being put forward by the Labour party
2
Q
Gender inequalities
A
- Priestley highlights the inequalities faced by women in 1912 society who faced prejudice for having ‘too much to say’ or for getting pregnant out of wedlock
- Highlights the inequalities perpetuated by middle class women who turned a blind eye to marital infidelity and were reliant on marrying well to live comfortably and respectfully
3
Q
Morality and hypocrisy
A
- Priestley wanted to warn against the complacency of middle classes whose lives, whilst seeming to be respectable, were hiding deeply hypocritical and immoral practices and beliefs
The play is a morality play that exposes the characters’ seven deadly sins
4
Q
Generational divides
A
- Priestley explored the opportunities offered by the ‘famous younger generation’
- the younger Birlings in 1912 would have become those in power by 1945, people who he believed held the key to a more socialist future
- Priestley presents the older generation as being blinkered, out of touch and rigid in their capitalist beliefs and without empathy for the plight of the poor
5
Q
Marriage and Love
A
- Priestley explores the way in which seemingly happy marriages were fundamentally business transactions in which wives were expected to turn a blind eye to men’s infidelities whilst remaining chaste themselves
- Priestley explores the way in which these expectations about marriage were passed down from parents to their children
- Women prize love and see it in romantic, emotional terms
- Men view love as a commodity - either as a route to an advantageous marriage or to clandestine sexual encounters
6
Q
Time
A
- Priestley explores the idea that the past affects the present through dramatizing choices made in 1912 which could affect society in 1945
- He explores the idea of repeated events to show how humans have choices to make which can change the course of a chain of events for the better
