‘An Inspector Calls’ is based before World War I and the Russia Revolution. J.B. Priestly carefully observes the setting and unites the time, place and action in his structure. The time span of the play performance corresponds more or less with the actual time the events presented would take to unfold in real life. The set – the Birling’s dining room – is constant throughout, keeping the plot as simple as possible. The action and dialogue all contribute to the central theme of the play, with nothing extra in between to distract the audience’s attention. This has kept the audience focused on the plot proving it to be dramatically successful. Also, this helps the audience catch any political message that may be given.

Sheila however is moved to tears of shock the consequences of her actions. Sheila understands her mistakes and is contrasted to her parent’s attitudes Eric’s reaction is similar to his sister’s, i.e. he realizes the consequences of his actions. He contributes to the purpose of the younger generation in the play. Both realize their mistakes and solemnly feel that they would never do such things again. This is an important message politically because it shows that the future holds hope due to the disposition of the younger generation.

In the opening scenes, the audience is given a further impression of some of the characters by giving references to the impossibility of War (which follows in 1914) and to progress man is making, represented by the Titanic (which sinks on its maiden voyage). This is most effective to show the pomposity of Birling’s social class. Eva Smith represents the working class. She is time and again, downtrodden. i.e. Mr. Birling throws her out of her job when she needed it. Gerald and Eric both use her and in some way keep secret or smother the fact that they did. Sheila uses her power to throw her out of her last job for virtually no reason – as she admits later on she was just jealous (“Inspector: It almost seems you were jealous of her; Sheila: Yes, I guess I was”). Mrs. Birling sees to it that Eva gets no help when the latter needed it most, simply because Mrs. Birling did not like the girls manner and ‘show’ of feelings. The basic point here to notice is that the audience’s attention is always kept avid by the play’s dramatic plot and yet, consciously or otherwise, we are being informed of the overall nature (be it shrewd, innocent or immoral) of the characters and so in other words, we are being politically informed as well.

Priestly has very cleverly intertwined a specific type of moral fibre in each of his characters. Their reactions upon realizing their mistakes widely describes their nature, and so, the nature of their social classes. While Arthur Birling is moved to anger by the Inspector, he is not concerned about the effects of his actions. He always thinks what he did was right. Through part of his inquiries, the Inspector has massively taken charge i.e. he has put Birling in his place. Due to

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