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PLEASE HELP❗️❗️What would this GCSE AQA inspector calls answer get out of 30?

1. How does Priestley use the Inspector to suggest ways society could be improved?

In the morality play, “an Inspector Calls” the character of the Inspector strives to drive change in the Birlings morals, political values and ethics, as they are used as a microcosm of capitalism. In juxtaposition, the Inspector is used to represent the “millions and millions” of working class whose lives are at the hands of people like the Birling family.

At the start of the play, the wealthy family are sitting down for a meal, to celebrate the recent engagement of Sheila Birling and Gerald. To the couple, this is a symbol of the joyous unity of two family’s, but to Mr Birling, it seems like more of a business deal, uniting two businesses who may not have to rival anymore, suggesting he is trying to monopolise off of his daughters potential marriage. This is how we are first introduced to the selfish ways of the Birlings, and in particular, Mr Birling. During this celebration evening, the stage directions state that the lighting is “pink” and “intimate”, an atmosphere you would expect for a celebration. But the lighting soon turns to “brighter” and “harder”, when the intruder, known as the Inspector arrives. This to the audience watching the play, would suggest that Priestley wanted to set up the ambience in the room for something a little more serious than an engagement party. When the Inspector arrives, he brings with him an effect of “massiveness” which imposes a threat to Mr Birling, who tries his best to seem intimidating. The noun “massiveness” is used here to potentially represent the bomb that the Inspector is about to drop on the family and how it is likely to change their lives forever.

As the play progresses, the Inspector explains what happened to Eva and begins to allude to the fact that the Birlings are somehow involved. He says that why Eva did what she did was caused by a “chain of events”. The noun “chain” has connotations of being locked up or potentially weighed down. At this point, he begins to show to the Birlings that he is very different to them, and they quickly begin to realise that he is not in agreement with him about most things, and in particular, politics. He separates himself from them by saying “I don’t play golf”, suggesting he doesn’t participate in what could be classed as an upper class sport. It may be concluded here that capitalism and socialism should never mix, and Priestly believed that socialism and socialism only was the key to success in Britain. In 1945, along with 12 million others he voted Labour, who won a landslide victory. It could also be concluded that this event influenced Priestley to write the play as he wanted to promote socialism, so that Labour would keep winning.

At the end of the play, it becomes very clear that Sheila has been most influenced by the Inspectors presence, as she is most accepting of his views and the only Birling to immediately accept responsibility for her actions. She also stands up to her father and says “But they aren’t just cheap labour, they are people”, which juxtaposes the phrase that Mr Birling used at the beginning of the play, “lower costs and higher prices”. This reflects Priestleys hopes for Britain, as he believed young people were the ones who could make the most difference and invoke a change for the UK’s political future. In the Inspectors final speech, he makes it even more clear that he is a socialist, who’s purpose was to make the Birlings change. He says “we are members of one body” which suggests that he thinks we should work together for equality and peace. He also says that we will pay in “fire blood and anguish” if we don’t change. This list of 3 creates a semantic field of hell, potentially reflecting that Priestley believed capitalist aristocrats such as the Birlings will go to hell if they do not accept socialist views.

To conclude, I would say that Priestley has written “An Inspector Calls” almost as an act of propaganda, to promote his political beliefs after the Labour victory. I know that the play was set in 1912, which was a very different time to 1945, and this is done to enable Priestley to use devices such as dramatic irony to make the Birlings and their political ideologies seem stupid and unfathomable. The character of the Inspector was Priestleys mouthpiece, who was there to reveal that having these capitalist ideas made you sinful, for example each of the Birlings had a sin (eg Sheila had envy). Overall, Priestley wrote the play to represent how “millions and millions” of Eva Smiths and John Smiths lives in 1912 and onwards could have been saved if social welfare systems, such as the NHS exsisted.