AN INSPECTOR CALLS CONTEXT

An Inspector Calls - Context

An Inspector Calls was written by J.B. Priestley in 1945 and first performed in England in 1946. It is set in a town in the English midlands in April 1912.

J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford in 1894. After fighting in World War One, he went to Cambridge University and became a writer. During World War Two he made radio broadcasts for the BBC, helping to keep morale up during the war and to give his views on the conditions in Britain at the time.

In one of these speeches he said: "We are floundering between two stools. One of them is our old acquaintance labelled 'Every man for himself,'... The other stool ... to see that each gives according to his ability, and receives according to his need."

Priestley was a socialist and his beliefs clearly influence the writing of An Inspector Calls.

Edwardian England

Britain in the early years of the 1900s was split along class and gender lines. The gap between rich and poor was wide and women were treated as second class citizens. For example, when the play is set, women were not allowed to vote.

Edwardian society saw many people living comfortable lives in large houses in the countryside. These people were upper class and their families owned land and had titles, such as Lord and Lady Croft (Gerald's parents) in the play.

Others had become wealthy in recent years, owning factories, and profiting from the advances of the Industrial revolution, the railway system and the opening of markets across the world. Mr Birling and his family represent this growing middle class.

At the bottom of the pile was the working class, represented in the play by Eva Smith and by the servant, Edna. There was little or no welfare system, so that anyone without a job was in danger of starving. No national health system existed, and the education system was limited. The children of poor families often left school by the age of eleven.

The life of working-class women was especially difficult. They were often the lowest paid in society. Society also expected them to marry and have children but also many needed to work in order to support themselves and their family.

Unmarried women were frowned upon by society, to the extent that many sought abortions in dangerous conditions rather than face the stigma of having a child outside of marriage. Many working-class women were forced into prostitution - 'onto the streets' - if they became unemployed, because there was no other choice.

Post-War England

By 1945 some things had begun to change. The war had brought the classes together, both in the army and in the evacuation of children from the cities to the homes of the wealthy in the countryside. Rationing meant that people ate and dressed in similar ways. By 1928, women over the age of 21 were able to vote.

Nevertheless, prejudices and stereotypes remained. By writing the play, Priestley was warning Britain not to go back the attitudes of 1912, but he was also suggesting that Britain could be re-built after the war into a society that was more equal and more just.