"An Inspector Calls" Essay

“An Inspector Calls”
Essay

Essay Title: Study act three in the play “An Inspector Calls”, exploring Priestley’s dramatic methods and explain how an understanding of the historical and social context of the play might help shape audience response to this act and to the play as a whole.

Written in the last months of World War 2 and set in 1912, two years before the start of World War 1, “An Inspector Calls” by J.B. Priestley presents its audience with contrasting and conflicting views about community and personal responsibility, which are still relevant at the beginning of the 21st century. He did this by setting it in 1912 when there was a huge social gap in society between the upper class and working class. Some even feared there might be a revolution. A war was already taking place in the Balkans between Montenegro and Turkey and the Titanic was to set sail but unfortunately sink the following week. The women’s suffragette movement was being lead by Emmeline Pan...