Can anyone help me on an Inspector calls question?

Question

Write fully about tge way Priestly exposes weaknesses and wickedness,not only in the charaters on stage, but also in society?

Thank you for you time and effort :)

Answer 1

Priestly very much highlights the '7 Deadly Sins' in AIC:

Lust - Eric and Gerald in particular

Gluttony - Eric and Arthur

Greed - Arthur

Sloth - Eric

Wrath - Mrs Birling, Arthur, Shiela

Envy - Eric, Arthur Birling, Eva

Pride - Arthur and Mrs Birling in particular

Quotes and subtle hints can be found throughout the play which demonstrate these traits in the characters. Arthur Birling is used a representation of the wrong in the world.

In terms of the context, Priestly was a middle class man writing for a middle-class, theatre-going audience. He begins the play by making the audience feel fairly comfortable, and as it progresses, it flips over and the audience almost see the characters as reflections of themselves. This was a time when 5% of people in the UK owned 87% of the wealth - the Labour Party was introduced during this period, so people were very aware of capitalism and the need to care for the working class.

Answer 2

Well there's that Joe Meggarty (not sure on spelling) who is mentioned and he is supposed to be a very respectable man about town but treats women as object just like all the upper class seem to in the book.

Eva Smith worked in the clothes shop and even though she was a good worker she was fired just because a richer person (Sheila) complained about her, simply because she was jealous.

Hmmm I can't remember much else and I only did it a month ago for GCSE lol

Answer 3

As soon as i saw your question i knew you must be studying the book, something i have done, for GCSE, which by the way i passed with a B. but what a confusing book!! i can still remember the story to a certain extent but im a little confused even now.

I found it to be a book that you had to fully understand, something that took me a few weeks i must admit. I gather that the story plays in real time, something that is not very common, and may i say unique to this play. I believe it starts with the family, all eating dinner, the daughter is engaged (i believe, sorry my mind is running low on names, i cant remember them lol) i know that there was a Mr and Mrs something lol what i loved about this play/book was the mystery, that the woman that each person talked about, was she infact the same woman? each of the family committed a crime/ was unfair towards her, (sorry i cant remember her name either) and they were each taught a lesson by the inspector, which in the end when they recieve a phone call from the police saying an inspector is coming makes you wonder whether the inspector that has been talking to them for the past few hours is real at all, or was he just their concience.

     From what i can gather the whole story is much deeper than it seems at first glance, and can take weeks to grasp, and fully understand. Each person that i have spoken to and have read this has a different opinion on the whole thing, and what they believe to be right etc.

     In answer to your question i think that Priestly's way of defining the weakness with the characters for instance is the way that he uses the inspector as a tool, to make each character realise what they have done, by speaking to them individually and planting the idea that they had some part to play in the woman in question' death. This shows how strong/weak the character's are, some, for instance the son, breaks down almost straight away and realises his part to play where as his sister, and parents take slightly longer to agree on thier roll. The weakness of thisin society is shown later at the end of the story, when the "real" inspector rings to say he is coming, this almost instantly gives Mr ________ the excuse to forget all that was said, while his son and daughter have realised that their effect. true/false whether it is the same woman what they did, did happen to somebody, but Mr and Mrs_________fail to believe this and think that everything can go back to normal.

      On the front of wickedness, umm.....well for the character's the daughter of Mr________ who has just got engaged, could be suggested to show wickedness as he goes behind her back to do whatever he gets up to with this other woman. as for in society i think this was priestly's way of showing the general idea of how people thought then. For instance he takes a range of age characters and shows how they react under pressure, to what they have done. his picking of these characters i believe was to show how different each generation reacts to what they have done.

     Im afraid it i almost 2 years since i have even picked this book up, but after writing this you have made me want to re-read it as i still have so many unanswered questions, im sorry that im not much help as im still confused myself, i'd love you to add details to your question and let me know the names of the characters as that is bugging me now lol.

well sorry i wasnt more help, good luck with the essay/presentation etc x

all i can remember is the 2 character are:

Mr and Mrs __________(something lol)

They have a daughterl.....her name has just come to me, it's sheila!

is the son eric??? lol these are coming to me now lol

and then there's sheila's fiance but i cant remember his name, could you let me know the ones i dont know lol thanks x x