‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B Priestly was first performed in 1945. The play was set in 1912 before the First World War. He set the play in 1912 because in the Edwardian period society was set into classes that were extremely noticeable. Priestly, after the Second World War, did not want society to go back to the way that it was. Rationing and the Second World War its self had brought the people of England and other countries together. A vision of what a truly socialist Britain would be like was seen during the war. Priestly wanted Britain to move forward and not return to the values of 1912.

The play is focused around the Birling family. A visit from the mysterious Inspector Goole proves to be a horrifying experience for the Birlings as they learn that they have all played a part in the suicide of a young girl called Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.

Priestly’s main aim in the play was to encourage people to take responsibility for their actions, not to shift the blame on to others. Priestly attempts to suggest his ideas through the character

The moral of `An Inspector Calls’ is that no matter what class we are we are all equal and that we must work together. Priestly wanted to get this moral across, but unfortunately there will always be people like the Birling’s.

Birling begin a speech on community, he starts by saying `the ways some of these cranks talk and write now you’d think everyone has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive- community and all that nonsense’. The Inspector enters at this point because he is there to prove Birling’s point wrong.

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