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i did this in my asessment really panicked and wrote whatever i could also ran out of time, no im really stressing and wnat to know if any of it is good what i could improve on and what level it is based at

How does Priestley use the character of the Inspector to suggest ways that society could be improved?
Write about:

Priestley uses the character of the inspector as a mouthpiece for his own socialist ideas. Priestley was born into a working class family , his main message throughout the play is that society is “one body”, that we all have a duty to society and it will collapse if we don't honour this duty. An inspector is set in the Edwardian period before the war. And as written in 1945 were still at this time classes were majorly divided priestley wanted to change this he wanted the rich to help the poor and society to work together, his ideas are continually portrayed through the words of the inspector, whose characterization is somewhat of a hero or saviour creating the audience to want to become more like him. The inspector shed lights on many of the concerns which priestley had at the time of writing the play one major one being social responsibility. The inspector creates the audience to question their own behaviour, morals and values in hopes that they will learn some lesson as some of the birlings did.

The inspector treats eva smiths suicide more like a murder investigation, he treats her like an equal demanding justice, making all the charcters to reveal their truth. He says that “one eva smith has gone … but there are millions of eva smiths all intertwined in our lives” the repetition of the word millions suggests that there are many vulnerable people out there beyond the birlings class. It is suggesting that the birlings should stop being so self contained and should begin to look after those who are less fortunate than them. The name eva smith was a very common name in lower class society of that time, perhaps suggesting that there are many more of the lower class than any other. Which priestley is perhaps highlighting as a fault and something that he wants to change in society. Overall the message the inspector wanted to send was that the birlings should help out others in society reinforcing his idea of society being “one body” the metaphor that priestley uses here suggests that he hates the idea of class division and believes it should not exist, echoing the ideas of priestley. He uses the pronoun “we” addressing everyone , not only the birlings but the whole upper class.

The inspector pushes all the characters to try and take responsibility for their actions. Most of the older generation refuse to as they are hard in their ways and still believe that they did nothing wrong “but i accept no blame for it at all” whereas the younger generation both sheila and eric accept their blame and begin to show more social viewpoints towards the end. Which shows how priestley perhaps believed that the younger generations' minds are more malleable and that they were more likely to change.

In conclusion the inspector is the mouthpiece of priestley trying to teach and bring new concepts to society, hoping that people will learn more about the socialist ideas and how society should all avt as one body and be treated equally.

Reply 1

tinygirl96

Look at your class notes. Write up at least two concise full paragraphs focusing on the text etc. Focus on the different ways in which the author of the text tries to communicate with us. Make up a short list. For starters your first paragraph simply could be a intro and only five lines is enough.
Second one needs to be at least eight lines in total. Talk about the time period of the entire text in question. Third paragraph could be about the many social viewpoints. Fourth one must deal with the themes of the play and the characters as well. You could also explore motives in more detail here. Try to do some research and background reading about the text. Read beyond the lines of the text.