An Inspector Calls: Themes (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Themes

Exam responses that are led by ideas are more likely to reach the highest levels of the mark scheme. Exploring the ideas of the text, specifically in relation to the question being asked, will help to increase your fluency and assurance in writing about the play.

Below are some ideas which could be explored in An Inspector Calls. This list is not exhaustive and you are encouraged to identify other ideas within the play. Below you will find sections on:

• Responsibility

• Capitalism versus Socialism

• Generational divide

• Guilt 

• Class 

• Gender

Responsibility

Responsibility is one of the most prevalent  themes within the play and the role of the Inspector is to highlight that all actions have consequences. He demands that the other characters be accountable for their actions and that they take responsibility for others. This message is also intended for the wider audience and for society in general.

Knowledge and evidence:

• The Inspector demands each character be held accountable and admit personal responsibility for the chain of events which led to Eva’s death:

  • Each character had an individual connection with Eva, regardless of how fleeting, and their actions will have influenced her fate

• Sheila is the first character in the play to accept responsibility for her actions, which demonstrates her courage and empathy 

• Eric initially offers marriage to Eva which shows some attempt at responsibility:

  • However, as the father of her child, he ultimately fails in his duty to protect both of them 

• The Inspector urges the characters (and the audience) to consider their social responsibility, arguing individuals have a civic duty to ensure their actions must benefit the whole of society:

  • Through the Inspector, Priestley argues that members of a society have duties and obligations towards the welfare of others 

  • He suggests they have a collective and social responsibility to take care of each other

• As Arthur and Sybil hold prominent positions within society, the Inspector suggests they have an even greater duty of care towards others:

  • While the Inspector alludes to ideas of responsibility and duty, Arthur and Sybil also repeatedly use these words though they interpret them in very different ways

• In contrast, Priestley presents Eva as having a greater sense of moral responsibility than all of the other characters

• A pivotal part of Act III is when the Inspector leaves, as it provides an opportunity for the characters to reveal if they have learned anything from his message:

  • Only Eric and Sheila have grasped Inspector’s message; Arthur, Sybil and Gerald are blind to it

What is Priestley’s intention?

• Priestley emphasises the importance of both personal and social responsibility:

  • He insists this extends beyond the confines of a family unit and spreads to society as a whole

• It could be argued that some of the acts committed by the Birlings and Gerald may not individually seem to have been so terrible to drive Eva to suicide:

  • However, Priestley emphasises that individual actions may well begin a chain of events which may have devastating consequences

Capitalism versus Socialism

An Inspector Calls is a play that deals with ideas of fairness and inequality. Priestley used the play to argue that the economic system of Capitalism prevented equality and social justice and that another system, Socialism, which aims to share out wealth, would be fairer for all.

Knowledge and evidence: 

• Priestley presents a powerful social message in An Inspector Calls which is explored through the competing concepts of Capitalism and Socialism:

  • While Capitalism seeks to benefit the individual, Socialism is focused on benefiting society

• Priestley depicts the comfortable, affluent life of the Birlings who thrive on Capitalism:

  • This is contrasted with the distressing account of Eva, who is forced to live a wretched life due to their greed

  • Despite being a good worker, Eva is exploited and marginalised by those within the privileged Capitalist system

• Priestley maintains that such a system creates and perpetuates inequalities in society and prevents social mobility:

  • Eva is trapped in a cycle of poverty and despite her attempts to improve her situation, she cannot overcome it

• The Inspector’s moralistic tone serves to condemn the entrenched Capitalist views of the group:

  • His message that “we are all part of one community” is firmly established

• Arthur is resistant to this message and insists his responsibility is to protect the interests of his business, by making as much profit as possible:

  • He has no sense of responsibility or concern that his workers may need higher wages to live

  • He treats the pay strike at his factory with contempt since it threatens his profits

What is Priestley’s intention?

• Through the Inspector, Priestley presents the Birlings and Capitalism in a negative light:

  • They are individualistic, self-centered and amoral, placing profit and greed above the rights and concerns of others

• Priestley seeks to expose this selfishness and to encourage others to look after one another and to work towards a society where all members are treated more equally and fairly

Generational divide

Priestley explores the idea of generational change in An Inspector Calls: younger characters are more open to social and economic change, and as a result are in conflict with their parent’s generation, who are stuck in their ways.

Knowledge and evidence: 

• Priestley attempts to reveal the inadequacies of Arthur and Sybil as parents:

  • They fail to acknowledge Sheila and Eric as adults and offer little support during the evening’s proceedings

  • They ignore Eric’s alcoholism which may in part be due to their indulgence

  • They attempt to shield Sheila from hearing sordid details about “women of the town”, despite Sheila being already aware of such realities

• Priestley portrays Arthur, Sybil and Gerald as fully entrenched in upper-class notions of superiority and unable to change:

  • Arthur and Sybil mock the foolishness of Sheila and Eric for having been so affected by the Inspector

  • Eric and Sheila do not share the sense of relief as the others when the Inspector is discovered to be a fraud, as this is irrelevant to them

• The Inspector shows the audience that all of the characters have had an opportunity for redemption, though only Sheila and Eric have embraced it:

  • While he displays genuine remorse for his treatment of Eva, by the end of the play he reverts to his original stance 

  • The older generation is more concerned with protecting their social positions and continues to perceive themselves as upstanding members of the community

  • Gerald falls between the younger and older generations:

• In contrast, the younger generation is used to demonstrating their capacity for change and their acceptance of social responsibility:

  • Sheila challenges her parents for not learning from the Inspector, thus illustrating a greater capacity to learn from her mistakes

• The younger generation present a symbol of hope

What is Priestley’s intention?

• Through Sheila and Eric, Priestley offers optimism to the audience that the younger generation is capable of change:

  • Priestley depicts the younger generation as more compassionate and empathetic which suggests they will no longer avoid their social responsibilities 

• Priestley suggests the younger generation will avoid the errors of the previous generation:

  • He suggests the selfish and exploitative Capitalist system will be replaced with a more Socialist agenda

Guilt

For Priestley, guilt is the result of accepting personal and social responsibility for one’s actions. It is noteworthy that younger characters in An Inspector Calls express guilt, but not the older generation, suggesting that they are not willing to see their own flaws, or those of the society they live in.

Knowledge and evidence: 

• The Inspector contends that if the characters are to learn anything from his message, they must express their guilt:

  • For the Inspector, the admission of guilt requires self-reflection and this is an important step in encouraging the characters to change

• For Priestley, their guilt is both individual and collective:

• At an individual level, he believes each character compromised their morals in their treatment of Eva

• At a collective level, they represent the upper classes who have enabled the lower classes to be exploited and mistreated for their own gain 

• Sheila is the first character to express her guilt and it is instantaneous:

  • While Sheila acknowledges her guilt, the Inspector insists that the guilt, as well as the responsibility, must be shared by all

• Similarly, Eric eventually expresses his guilt, though he is only willing to do so in the last act:

  • While he could appear to express a stronger sense of guilt than the others (through his emotional outburst), his immaturity may suggest he is unable to feel it as keenly as his sister

• While Gerald appears to express sincere and honest regret during his confession about Eva, his guilt is only temporary:

  • He attempts to justify his actions towards Eva to make himself appear less culpable

  • When he realises there are no consequences for his behaviour, he no longer cares

  • This could be contrasted with his confession to Sheila over his affair with Eva, as he appears more concerned that his affair has been found out, rather than having betrayed his fiancée

• Arthur and Sybil are the only two characters who refuse to express any guilt for their treatment of Eva:

  • They continue to fail to see or acknowledge that they have done anything wrong

What is Priestley’s intention?

• For Priestley, the guilt felt by the characters and society as a whole must be personal and collective, if the change is to occur

• At an individual level, Priestley suggests we are responsible for our personal conduct toward others

• At a collective level, Priestley suggests we should ensure all groups are treated fairly and equally

Class

Priestley uses the characters in An Inspector Calls to criticise the inequality and unfairness of the British class system and argues that the privilege of class blinds people to their immoral behaviour.

• Class plays a significant role in An Inspector Calls and is a major influence on many of the characters and events

• The immense inequality between the classes is firmly established at the start of the play:

  • The description of the Birlings’ opulent home is sharply contrasted with descriptions of the workers in Arthur’s factory

• Sybil could be viewed as making incorrect assertions about the working classes (of whom she has no knowledge) and views them as morally and socially inferior:

  • She ignorantly links class with morality and cannot believe Eva, as a working-class girl, would refuse stolen money

• Sybil’s hypocritical stance means she overlooks her own selfish and immoral actions and those belonging to her class:

  • She believes her class affords her the superiority to decide who is and is not deserving of charity

  • She overlooks Gerald keeping a mistress and ignores her son’s immoral conduct with Eva

• Priestley demonstrates how the working classes, especially women, could be exploited and abused by those with wealth and power:

  • Both Gerald and Eric abuse their power and status in their relationship with Eva and both men discard her when it suits them

• Gerald is entrenched in the views of his class system:

  • This prevents him from genuinely empathising with Eva’s plight or that of the working classes in general

What is Priestley’s intention?

• Priestley demonstrates the fixation of the upper classes on their status and their poor morals

• Priestley further conveys the hypocrisy of the upper classes and the abuse of power over the working-classes

  • This is clearest in the treatment of working-class girls by young, wealthy men

Gender

Priestley explores the inequality between male and female characters in An Inspector Calls to criticise his society’s suppression of women’s rights and the mistreatment of women in general.

• Gender is an important element within the play and it impacts most of the behaviour of the characters

• Eva would have been viewed as ‘cheap labour’ and therefore more at risk of being exploited and abused by employers because of her gender:

  • Working-class women would have been one of the cheapest forms of labour available to Arthur

• Similarly, Eva is exploited by her gender (and class) by wealthy men and women:

  • Sybil and Sheila use their power to suppress another woman

  • Both Gerald and Eric take advantage of Eva as a working-class girl and there is an imbalance of power in respect of social position and influence

  • Gerald emphasises how Eva was in desperate need of his assistance and portrays himself as being chivalrous in rescuing her

• Sheila can be viewed as a woman who is redefining the role of women at a time when women’s rights were being sought through the suffragette movement: 

  • At the beginning of the play, she plays a typical role within her patriarchal society and is obedient to her father 

  • This can be contrasted to her behaviour as the play develops and she begins to challenge her father and refuses to take back Gerald’s engagement ring

What is Priestley’s intention?

• Priestley uses the male and female characters in the play to comment upon traditional gender roles:

  • Sybil is presented as mainly subordinate to her husband, while Sheila is beginning to challenge this traditional role

  • Eva is presented as an assertive female character

• Priestley also highlights the suppression of women’s rights and how men and women can abuse their power:

  • The Birlings and Gerald Croft all take advantage of Eva in different ways because of her gender