An Inspector Calls A morality play Priestleys Intentions

An Inspector Calls A morality play

Priestley’s Intentions • Socialist • Highlight the problems in society of 1912. • Microcosm of Society • Christian beliefs • 'We are members of one body, we are all responsible for each other'

Play The Morality The morality play dates back to Medieval theatre when most of the population would have been Christian. They were plays that were meant to teach the audience a moral message by personifying vice, virtue, angels and devils through the dramatic spoken word.

Morality plays are allegories – this means a symbolic story as the ideas in it have a ‘deeper’ meaning. In a morality play, the protagonist meets characters who represent good ‘moral’ qualities. They then try to make the protagonist choose a Godly life over one of evil. The characters in it represent personified abstractions. The ‘Everyman’ character in the play is an anonymous hero who undertakes a journey to his death.

Everywoman The play leaves open the question of whether Eva Smith is a real woman (who sometimes uses different names, including Daisy Renton), or multiple people the Inspector pretends are one. There is no right answer here, and in terms of Priestley’s message it is beside the point: because his socialist principles demand that everyone should be treated the same, in his opinion abusing one working-class woman is equivalent to abusing all working-class women. Eva Smith is, therefore, not an individual victim, but a universal one.

The seven deadly sins are also known as cardinal sins, or capital vices. These delightful characteristics are of Christian origin and concern the grouping of certain behaviours that have immorality as their bedfellow. They are: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. It is important to note that they are considered excessive versions of a person’s natural instincts or desires.

The seven deadly sins Arthur Birling Greed. Dinner table at the beginning. “Lower costs and higher prices” Sheila Birling Jealousy and anger. “Furious” at Eva in the shop. Sybil Birling Anger. Toxic vitriol. “Girls of that class” Gerald Croft and Eric Birling Lust. Eric – “threatened to make a row”. Gerald – objectifies her “young and pretty and warm hearted”

Priestley’s play revolves around a central mystery, the death of a young woman, but whereas a traditional detective story involves the narrowing down of suspects from several to one, An Inspector Calls inverts this process as, one by one, nearly all the characters in the play are found to be guilty. In this way, Priestley makes his larger point that society is guilty of neglecting and abusing its most vulnerable members. A just society, he states through his mysterious Inspector, is one that respects and exercises social responsibility. A morality play disguised as a detective story

A morality play disguised as a detective story A crime thriller is a genre that tells a gripping tale based around a crime. The audience receives clues on who has committed the crime and will enjoy trying to guess what happened before the end of the action. An Inspector Calls is a crime thriller because the action centres around the suicide of Eva Smith. Initially, as this is a suicide and not a murder investigation, it would seem that there is no clear suspect. It soon turns out that all the characters are potential suspects for different reasons. What is the effect of this? The crime thriller genre encourages the audience to become involved in the events of the play. In this case they would be considering who is 'more' to blame for the death of Eva Smith. Ultimately, Priestley makes the audience suspects, their behaviour is questioned and they are left wondering if they had committed any 'crimes' like the Birlings had.

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office. ” “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. ” “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other” The language of the Bible