Contrast In An Inspector Callls

In An Inspector Calls, Priestley is keen to show his 1945 audience that mistakes made by an uncaring society in the early 1900s, led to a time of ‘;fire and blood and anguish’; between 1914 and 1945 with the Great War, the Russian Revolution, trade disputes (including the National Strike of 1926), conflict in Ireland and World War II to name just a few. He also wants to show his audience that if they want a different, fairer and more peaceful society, then lessons must be learned from the past. In order to present his message, Priestley uses contrast in a number of ways.

From the very start of the play, Priestley uses the setting and stage directions to show the contrast between the smugly comfortable Birling family in their ‘;substantial and heavily comfortable’; dining room, just a small part of the opulence of their ‘;large suburban house’;, and how hard ordinary workers at Mr Birling’;s factory have to struggle in order to keep themselves and their families fed and housed. It is noted that the strike happened at the worst time for the workers, after the holidays, when they had the least money and were finding it difficult to cope. Mr Birling’;s refusal to consider a small wage rise for his workers, when, in contrast, he lives such a luxurious lifestyle is meant to be seen as mean. Eva Smith is representative of these workers. When Eric steals from his father’;s firm, Mr Birling is quite eager to cover up the crime, lest he lose his Knighthood. For Eric there is no prospect of losing his home or having to find another job, despite the severity of the crime. The consequences for Eva, however, of losing her first job because Mr Birling wanted to discourage others from striking in future, and her job at Milwards because of the caprice of a jealous, spoilt Sheila, are severe;; she ends up homeless and having to work as a prostitute within a very short period of time. The contrast between Eric’;s privileged and protected position and Eva’;s plight is stark. #59;

Priestley contrasts the figure of the protagonist, the Inspector, with those of other characters, particularly with Mr Birling. The Inspector is described as someone who creates ‘;an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’;;; all of which infers that he has an aura of gravity, and is someone who is convincing and therefore can be taken seriously*. #59; In contrast, Priestley describes Mr Birling as ‘;heavy looking and portentous’; (portentous means self-important) –; on the surface he looks imposing, but Priestley infers that this is just superficial.

Most importantly, the views of the Inspector and Mr Birling are contrasted. The Inspector represents goodness, humanitarianism and social responsibility, reiterating with increasing force the idea that people should care for one another;; initially suggesting that despite Mr Birling’;s having sacked Eva eighteen months ago, he might still have some responsibility for her suicide;; his actions being the first in ‘;A chain of events’;. Also the Inspector tells Mr Birling that how he runs his business ‘;might be’; his, and by inference everybody else’;s, concern, and later, having explained Eva’;s worsening situation, when Sheila cries, ‘;But these girls aren’;t cheap labour –; they’;re people’;, the Inspector says ‘;…;I’;ve thought it would do us all a bit of good if sometimes we tried to put ourselves in the places of these young women…;’;. This is Priestley, via the Inspector, trying to make Birling and Priestley’;s 1945 audience begin to consider social responsibility. Conversely, Mr Birling’;s credibility with the audience #59;has been undermined early on, before the Inspector’;s arrival, when he states that Sheila and Gerald will be ‘;marrying at a very good time’;, that: there will not be any ‘;labour trouble in the near future’;;; ‘;Nobody wants war, except some half-civilized folks in the Balkans’;;; the Titanic is ‘;absolutely unsinkable’; and that in 1940 ‘;…;There’;ll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere…;’;. The audience know that there have been many trade disputes between 1912 and 1945;; not one, but two World Wars have been waged;; there was a revolution in Russia in 1917, where the people overthrew the Czar and the landed gentry, causing suffering on an epic scale, and that the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. The audience are very aware, therefore, of the disparity between Birling’;s predictions about the future and what actually happened between 1912 and 1945, making Birling’;s views laughable. Therefore, when he confidently states the view that ‘;…; a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own…;’; the audience must already begin considering whether this is a valid viewpoint. Birling’;s condemnation of his workers for aspiring to better pay and working conditions is hypocritical, when you consider that he wants upwardly mobility himself and that his workers are doing what he considers right –; trying to look after themselves and their own families.

Priestley also highlights the disparity in the way upper and middle class Edwardians viewed and treated women of their own and of the lower classes. Women at this time did not have the vote and it was considered unfeminine for women to have opinions –; on being given her engagement ring, Sheila says: ‘;Oh Gerald you’;ve got it –; is it the one you wanted me to have?’; Men made the decisions and women lived with them. Upper and middle class women, like Mrs Birling and Sheila, were supposed to remain chaste before marriage. After marriage they were not expected to work except for charity work. Lower class women were often forced to work, simply to make ends meet. Gerald, despite having a girlfriend, has an affair with Eva/Daisy –; it being tacitly accepted that men needing sex would have affairs with working class women, or pay for sex with a prostitute, hence Mrs Birling’;s comment to Sheila when she complains that Gerald neglected her the previous summer, that men have ‘;important work to do’; and his being absent from his marriage is something she will probably have to accept and get used to. When the affair with Eva/Daisy ends, as Gerald knows it must, despite agreeing with the Inspector’;s words: ‘;you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?’; it is young women like Sheila that Gerald means, not women like Eva/Daisy. When he tires of Eva/Daisy, he does not give a thought as to how hurt she might be, or what ‘;unpleasant and disturbing’; things might happen to her once the money he gave her runs out. #59;

One message Priestley wants to convey in An Inspector Calls is learning to accept the truth. Priestley wants to highlight the difference between what is said and what is actually meant in the play. Many of the characters use euphemisms in order to avoid topics that they find unpleasant or hurtful. This euphemistic language is deceitful –; it covers up the truth and ensures that evils in society go unchallenged. For instance, it is said that Eva/Daisy ‘;went on the streets’; where she led ‘;another kind of life’; and became ‘;a woman of the town’;. All of these terms mean that she became a prostitute. Mrs Birling calls her ‘;a girl of that sort’;, which means she was lower class and that she found herself in a particular ‘;condition’; –; pregnant. All of these things conceal the truth - that Eva/Daisy, a vulnerable working class woman, was used by higher class men for sex and then left in the untenable position (considering how Edwardian society viewed women who had children outside of marriage) of having to accept stolen money, or having to bring up a child alone and in poverty, or of committing suicide. Priestley infers that if people recognised the truth, instead of using euphemistic language, perhaps something might be done about it. #59; #59;

Although Priestley leaves the audience to make their own decisions at the end, there is no doubt that his use of contrasts in the play are meant to leave the audience with a lot to consider about how to make a better, fairer, more honest society, where all are valued equally.

#59;

*If you look up massiveness in a dictionary, it gives ponderous as a definition. If you look up ponderous, it suggests weighty and if you look up weighty you get: having great weight;; heavy;; ponderous;; important;; forcible;; grave;; adapted to turn the balance in the mind;; to convince. By massiveness, Priestley means the latter definitions of weighty, which I have underlined. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

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