GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Spec 8702

An Inspector Calls: class and capitalism

You are in the audience in 1945. A host at a 1912 dinner party calls the Titanic unsinkable. What are you thinking?

1912 on stage · 1945 in the audience

Before you tap each date, predict it: what would a 1945 audience already know that Mr Birling doesn't? Tap to open what sits underneath.

The older Birlings, and Gerald, in their own words

These are single words, so read each one as a clue. Tap a word to see what it reveals.

English Literature · Reading characters

Gerald: hero or storyteller?

Gerald tells the Inspector how he looked after Eva: he gave her shelter and money.

Which is closest to what you think about Gerald right now?
How sure are you?

English Literature · Symbolism

What might Eva Smith stand for?

Eva Smith has no lines and is never physically on stage, yet she could be one of the most important characters in the play. Each clue below points towards something she might represent. Decide which reading it supports.

Still to sort

The working class as a whole (0)

Clues that make her one of many ordinary people.

Where the line is: These clues are about how common her names are, and about the many people she may stand for.

All of womankind (0)

Clues that connect her to Eve.

Where the line is: These clues come from the link to Eve and the Garden of Eden, not from how common her names are.

6 of 6 still to sort.

Watch out: These are readings, not facts. Notice the hedges in the clues (some interpretations, perhaps, arguably) and copy them in your own writing.

English Literature · The play's politics

Reading the Birlings politically

How can the Birlings be read politically, and how persuasive is that reading?

Constructed political villains

  • Arguably the Birlings are constructed to embody capitalist values, the old order, and the rejection of social responsibility and class inequality.
  • Priestley uses these traits to construct them as political villains, in opposition to his political agenda.

Read as a manifesto

  • The Birlings are presented as exaggerated villains who represent capitalist greed.
  • Their lack of empathy reinforces Priestley's message that capitalism is harmful and supports socialism.

Read as propaganda: it promotes

  • The older Birlings can be argued to lack nuance and be oversimplified, which lets Priestley vilify them and present them as the problem.
  • Depending on who the audience is taken to be, this promotes his socialist agenda.

Read as propaganda: it validates

  • The same oversimplification can be argued to have a different effect.
  • Depending on who the audience is taken to be, it validates an audience that is already socialist-leaning.

Common ground

  • Every one of these readings treats the older Birlings as political figures, not just as a realistic family.

Compare the positions, then weigh them yourself.

Where they part

No verdict is built in here. The manifesto reading is about what the play says capitalism does. The propaganda readings are about how one-sided the characters are, and what that does to different audiences. A balanced answer can set these side by side, using words like could, perhaps and arguably.

Comparing 4 positions: Constructed political villains, Read as a manifesto, Read as propaganda: it promotes, Read as propaganda: it validates.

English Lit · Paragraph craft

One paragraph, built slot by slot

PEEAL made tangible. Each slot is a sentence with a job. Tap a slot to reveal what kind of sentence it wants — and the example that fills it.

An Inspector Calls · Mr Birling, Gerald and Eva

Tap a slot to fill or empty it.

Selected slot

Tap a slot above

Watch out: Notice where the hedges sit: on the claims about Priestley's purpose, not on what Mr Birling actually does.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

The play's most confident speaker is the one history has already proved wrong.

What you need to know

  • The play is set in 1912 but was written and first performed in 1945, so the audience always knows more than the characters do.
  • Dramatic irony makes Mr Birling look foolish and undermines his authority, which discredits his selfish capitalist views.
  • The older Birlings can be read as built to embody capitalist, class-bound attitudes, and Gerald represents privilege and power.
  • Eva Smith never appears on stage, yet her name and her absence may make her stand for the working class as a whole, or for womankind.
  • Write about Priestley's purposes tentatively, with words like could, may, might, perhaps and arguably.

The big picture

The Birlings are not just a family: they are voices for a way of thinking, and Priestley sets the play in 1912 for a 1945 audience so that Mr Birling's confident claims are undercut by what the audience already knows. Mrs Birling, Gerald and Eva Smith add to an argument about class and social responsibility, and we describe Priestley's purposes tentatively because a writer's intention is never known for certain.

Key points

1A 1912 setting and a 1945 audience create dramatic irony: the audience knows the Titanic sank, that war came in 1914 and again in 1939, and that 1911–1914 was the great unrest.
2Mr Birling's words (own and himself, nonsense and cranks, then moonshine in Act 3) show a selfish, dismissive mindset that does not change.
3Mrs Birling refuses blame, and Gerald controls the story he tells about Eva, while Sheila and Eric accept guilt and appear changed.
4Eva Smith symbolises the struggles of the working class, and the Inspector's final speech uses common names to stand for millions of people.
5The play's politics can be read in more than one way: constructed villains, a manifesto, or propaganda that persuades or merely validates.

Worked example

Problem

Fix this sentence: "Priestley wants us to hate Mr Birling because he is a capitalist." It states an intention as a fact, and it doesn't say how the play does it.

⚠ Watch out

Treating the Birlings as simply realistic people, taking Gerald's account of helping Eva at face value, and stating Priestley's intentions as certain fact. Read them as characters used to build an argument about class and social responsibility, and use tentative words such as could, may and perhaps.

🧠

Memory hook

Set in 1912, shown in 1945: the audience is always ahead of Mr Birling. And Eva Smith is a name that could stand for millions.

✓

Check yourself

At the end of the play Mr Birling is unchanged while Sheila and Eric appear changed. Using a hedge such as may or perhaps, say what Priestley might be suggesting with that divide.

Flashcards

(16)
When is An Inspector Calls set, and when was it written and first performed?
Set in 1912, in the Edwardian period (1901–1914). Written and first performed in 1945, just at the end of World War II.
What happened in the 1945 general election?
The Labour Party won a landslide victory, showing a huge shift towards socialist ideals and policies.
What is dramatic irony?
When the audience knows something the characters do not.
What are Mr Birling's three confident Act 1 claims, and what does the audience know?
Unsinkable Titanic (it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912); war is fiddlesticks (World War I began in 1914, World War II in 1939); no more strikes (1911–1914 was the great unrest).
What does the dramatic irony do to Mr Birling?
It reveals his arrogance and makes him look foolish, undermines his authority (perhaps foreshadowing the Inspector's interrogation), and discredits him so the audience is more likely to support Priestley's message about social responsibility.
What do the words own and himself show in Mr Birling's Act 1 speech?
Repeating them emphasises his selfish mindset and belief in individual responsibility. His bees simile shows he sees working together as unnatural and ridiculous.
What does Mr Birling's treatment of Gerald and Eva show?
He respects Gerald for his higher status (and the business benefit of a marriage alliance) but fires Eva for asking for fair wages: he values profit over people.
Which three aspects of class and power does Priestley critique through Mr Birling?
Exploitation of the working class, social division, and misuse of power.
What does Mr Birling's behaviour in Act 3 suggest?
He is unchanged: jovial, using the word moonshine for the Inspector's story, mocking others, relieved at the idea of a hoax. It suggests the upper classes resist change and are blind to their moral failings.
What do the words blame, severely and ashamed show about Mrs Birling in Act 2?
She refuses responsibility: Eva can only blame herself, the father should be dealt with severely, and she is not ashamed. She is self-righteous, unempathetic and judgemental, reflecting the Edwardian view of working-class women.
What do attractive, well-bred and man-about-town tell us about Gerald?
They emphasise his high social status and superficial charm, and foreshadow his hidden relationship with Eva Smith.
Why might Gerald be an unreliable narrator?
He controls his narrative, presents himself as a hero and downplays his involvement. His motives may include his reputation as an upper-class man and keeping his engagement to Sheila going.
What does it mean to call Gerald and Eva foils?
They contrast: privilege and power against the oppressed, in status and class, in morality (exploitation against innocence and vulnerability) and in gender. Priestley can be read as using this to highlight inequality and the need for change.
Why might Eva Smith's name stand for more than one person?
Eva was a very popular name when the play is set, and Smith is a very common surname with working-class occupational roots. Some interpretations link Eva to Eve, so she could represent womankind.
What is the difference between reading the play as a manifesto and as propaganda?
A manifesto reading sees exaggerated capitalist villains reinforcing the message that capitalism is harmful. A propaganda reading sees oversimplified Birlings who either promote his agenda or validate a socialist-leaning audience.
Which words help you write tentatively about Priestley's purposes?
Could, may, might, perhaps and arguably, because a writer's intention is never known for certain.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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