AIC secrets essay

Can anyone read this please? Tyty 🫶 My exam board is Edexcel
An inspector calls is a drawing room play first performed in 1945 and set in antebellum Britain. Post war Britain was rebuilding society with a new labour government which focuses on collective responsibility and eventually developed a Welfare State and the NHS. This detective thriller was written by JB Priestley as socialist propaganda to demonstrate the destructive impact of Victorian values such as reputation. This links to the theme of secrets as JB Priestley criticises the upper class for keeping secrets to maintain social respectability as well as the double lives of upper-class men. The inspector, an omnipotent mouthpiece for JB Priestley, encourages the characters to take social responsibility and warns them of the dangers that come from the false appearances of the upper class.
JB Priestley uses the theme of secrets to critique the aristocratic class as during the play the Birlings prioritise maintaining social status over morality. Mr Birling places importance on his “knighthood” and reputation, this is how when he says, “a man has to look out for himself, and his family – of course” which shows his capitalist ideology. He dehumanises his workers “lower costs and higher prices”, the use of the noun “cost” reduces his workers down to their wages, which shows he cares more about his profit than the lives and well-being of the working class. JB Priestley represents Mr Birlings as the failing values of prewar industrialists through his prioritisation of money, reputation and his disregard for morality. JB Priestley criticises this individualistic mindset through Sheila when she says “We really must stop these silly pretences” as the adjective “silly” highlights the foolishness of being aware and compliant with a capitalist system and the noun “pretences” implies that Sheila is no longer accepting her family’s façade of respectability. She is an on-stage representation of breaking the upper-class façade of respectability and the use of the pronoun “we” suggests that she is encouraging her family to think more critically about their moral alignments. While Mr Birling is used to show Priestleys concern that individualism will lead to global conflict and societal injustice, Sheila is used to spread his message that the elite class should not be prioritising keeping up appearances over the well-being of the working class.
JB Priestley uses the theme of secrets to expose the exploitation of lower-class women by upper class men who live double lives. This is shown when Gerald says “we’re respectable citizens not criminals” which demonstrates the importance of the approval of society to Gerald. JB Priestley criticises the upper class when the inspector says, “there isn’t as much difference as you think”. This implies that the inspector believes that many members of the upper class are secretly criminals, and foreshadows Geralds double life, which is representative of the many upper-class men who exploited vulnerable working-class women. Women were not able to vote until 1928, and only married women could own property, women were reliant on their husbands for financial security and weren’t entitled to equal pay, which meant that working class women could easily be financially exploited. This links to the theme of secrets as later in the play the inspector exposes Gerald’s infidelity and exploitation, which makes Gerald’s previous line ironic. Through this, the inspector exposes the hypocrisy of the upper class as Gerald keeps secrets to protect his aristocratic privellige at the expense of the working class. Through this, Priestley critiques systematic class oppression.
JB Priestley uses the ending to show the destructive consequences of secrets and public appearances. JB Priestley’s message is that without social responsibility the upper classes are able to get away with immorality. He uses this as a warning in his final speech “The time will come when if men don’t learn this lesson, they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.” This speech is a persuasive device that shows JB Priestley’s didactic intentions with the play, which is to encourage the audience to think critically about the class divisions and conditions that led to the war. The tricolon “fire blood and anguish” creates apocalyptic imagery and alludes to the First and Second World War and implies Priestley’s view that human's selfish nature can lead to violence and conflict. This disturbing imagery also links to Eva’s death as she “burnt her insides out”, which demonstrates how the Birlings’ selfishness led to violence. Eva’s death is a symbol of the suffering of the working class and is a call to action for the upper-class audience to take social responsibility. JB Priestley uses the final speech as a warning to a post-war audience to think deeper about the false appearances of the upper classes that led them to war.
In conclusion secrets are used in an inspector calls to spread JB Priestley’s message of social responsibility. Priestley emphasises the importance of accountability and transparency through the theme of reputation, as he shows the audience that the well-being of the working class should be prioritised over reputation. He also exposes the double lives of upper-class men and the exploitation of women. The inspector exposes the characters to encourage them to take social responsibility and in his final speech he emphasises the importance of denouncing individualism as he warns the characters of the “fire and blood and anguish” that will come as a result of class division