An Inspector Calls
Essay on Priestley's An Inspector Calls (Paper 2, Section A).
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An Inspector Calls, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Build a clear, thesis-driven argument in response to the question (AO1)
Open with the idea your essay will prove - "Priestley uses the Inspector as a mouthpiece for collective responsibility, dismantling the Birlings' complacency one confession at a time". Then argue it paragraph by paragraph. One sustained line of argument beats five disconnected observations every time.
Analyse Priestley's methods - language, form and structure - using precise terminology (AO2)
This is drama, so methods include stagecraft: the lighting turning "brighter and harder" when the Inspector arrives, dramatic irony in Birling's "unsinkable" Titanic speech, the cliffhanger phone call. Name the technique, then explain what it does to the audience - Priestley engineers every effect deliberately.
Track a theme - responsibility, class, generational change - across the whole play (AO1/AO2)
Follow the thread from start to finish: each Birling's part in Eva's story, Sheila and Eric changing while their parents refuse to, the final call resetting the trap. Contrasting the older and younger generations' responses is one of the most reliable whole-play arguments you can build.
Weave in context meaningfully - 1912 setting, 1945 audience, Priestley's socialism (AO3)
The play's power comes from its double time frame: set in 1912's rigid class system, performed to a 1945 audience who had lived through two wars Birling said would never come. Priestley's socialist message - "we are members of one body" - lands because the audience knows what ignoring it cost. Use that gap; it sharpens almost any point.
Embed short, well-chosen quotations smoothly into your sentences (AO1)
Slide brief quotations into your own sentences: Birling dismisses community as "nonsense", a single word that exposes his whole worldview. Precise, short quotations let you analyse individual word choices - and they are far easier to carry into a closed-book exam.
Practice
Try a An Inspector Calls question
A GCSE-style original task from this topic. Sketch a quick plan of your own before you open what a strong answer covers.
How does Priestley present ideas about social responsibility in 'An Inspector Calls'? Write about: - how Priestley presents ideas about social responsibility - how Priestley uses these ideas to convey his message to the audience. [30 marks]
Show what a strong answer covers
The marking points an examiner looks for. Not a model answer - a checklist to plan against.
- AO1: shows a clear, sustained understanding that social responsibility is Priestley's central concern, using well-chosen references (e.g. the Inspector's warning that 'We are members of one body' and that men will learn their responsibility 'in fire and blood and anguish').
- AO1: tracks how different characters respond to responsibility - the older Birlings' denial versus Sheila and Eric's acceptance - selecting apt textual detail to support the reading.
- AO2: analyses how Priestley uses the Inspector as a mouthpiece, e.g. the didactic, declarative tone of his final speech and the collective pronoun 'we' to implicate the audience.
- AO2: analyses dramatic form and structure - the well-made-play device of the chain of events, dramatic irony, and the cyclical ending (the second phone call) - to show responsibility cannot be escaped.
- AO2: explores subject terminology and stagecraft, e.g. the intensifying lighting ('pink and intimate' to 'brighter and harder' on the Inspector's arrival) as a symbol of scrutiny and moral exposure.
- AO3: relates the play to Priestley's socialist convictions and its 1945 first performance, arguing he urges a post-war audience to build a fairer, collective society.
- AO3: uses the 1912 setting and the audience's hindsight of two world wars to show Birling's individualism ('a man has to make his own way') is dramatically discredited.