Hi, this is a great start. Be sure to check your grammar and proof read the answer. You have missed out quite a few commas and there are a few words in the answer that don’t need to be there. I’m an English student at university and one of the best tips I’ve been given is to read your work out loud as if you’re reading to someone else. Pause when there are commas and take a longer pause when there are full stops. This way you can see if the answer flows correctly. Also I don’t think you need to refer to the author as J.B Priestley every time. Refer to him as that in the introduction and conclusion, but during the body of your answer you can refer to him as Priestley.

Thanks, what mark would you give this?

Hey after recieving feedback on reddit here is the updated version


Inside of Inspector Call, J.B Priestley mainly uses dramatic irony and the juxtaposing of Mr Birling to the Inspector to help convince the audience how the arrogance of Capitalism results in suffering of the poor.

From the beginning J.B Priestley is trying to use characters to help portray social classes. In the middle of Mr Birling’s many self-assured speeches, he rambles on about propaganda stating that the “the Titanic” is incredible and “absolutely unsinkable.” This use of dramatic irony helps to set in the audience’s head the ignorance of rich aristocrats this is because only 9 months later from the setting of this play it sinks. Building on that idea, J.B Priestley links the higher class to Mr Birling using him as a vessel to ridicule and therefore insult the aristocrats for the suffering caused due to their incomprehension of their actions having a consequences or in this case the “unsinkable” “Titanic” sinking.

Expanding on this idea, J.B Priestley is constantly comparing different ideologies such as the Inspector knocking on Mr Birling door to have a personal conversation about what his actions have caused. Building on that, when the Inspector enters the Birlings home it is met by the stage direction “pink and intimate”, possibly referring to Mr Birling and his family seeing life through rose tinted spectacles, to “brighter and harder.” This change of lighting in the stage directions could be J.B Priestley in the form of Inspector shining light on the problems of Mr birling, and capitalism, though this metaphorical conversation could be “harder” to bear with, he must turn their life upside down to make them understand. Evaluating at the end, J.B Priestley wants the audience to wonder if the holders for the top of our economy are socially responsible enough to be there or do they keep causing people such as Eva Smith to suffer.

After the ironic comments about “the Titanic”, J.B Priestley actively builds on Mr Birling’s character towards being dull witted and rude. Mr Birling remarks about the “Germans” not wanting “war” and how there would be “rapid progress everywhere” “except in Russia”, ironically the setting of the play and where it was firstly being performed emphasises J.B Priestley need to push the stupidity of Capitalism to rise the ideas of Socialism. Inspector calls, as a play, was set in 1912 two years prior to the first world war firstly to a Russian crowd who have came out of two world wars to hopefully inflate the rage towards Mr Birling, his thought’s and therefore what he represents: Capitalism. Referring to the characters, J.B Priestley is trying to show the demographic and diligence for the next generation through characters such as Eric and Shelia to hopefully convey the message that the next generation can change the social inequality for the better, but it all needs to start now.



Lastly, this links back to “pink and intimate” transitioning to “darker and harder”, J.B Priestley wants to show at every moment the effect of unrestricted capitalism causing the death of the poor and vulnerable or in this play “Eva Smith.” When Mr Birling comments about the marriage saying, “lower costs and higher prices”, it could allegorically infer with the simple sentence structure how easy it could be to help reduce poverty yet like the juxtaposing sentence the opposite happens. As well, the adjectives “lower” and “higher” could possibly show the effect J.B Priestley would like to have on the audience or the reader’s awareness with the side effects around capitalism and the type of characters produced.

In conclusion, J.B Priestley relies on Mr Birling to convey how merciless the riches actions are and how disillusioned they are to suffering, with money taking place over so many people’s misery.

grade seven or eight

Hi! I'd say this is certainly a high 7 grade, possibly an 8 - it really depends on the examiner and how nice they are feeling about dishing out marks on the day!