Carl: Yes, the final theme of the play is gender. So we know that An Inspector Calls was written after World War Two. At that time, many British men had left their homes and their towns to go and fight during the war. Women had to step in to fill the jobs that men usually did. And I'm talking as a hard-headed, practical man of business. And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible." Class and Social Inequality: The stark differences between the lives of the Birlings and Eva Smith highlight the deep-seated class divisions in early 20th-century Britain. The characters' attitudes towards Eva are heavily influenced by her lower social status. Mr Birling is a business man whose main concern is making money. This is what is most important to him and he comes across as being greedy.

Eric: I stole some money. But the money is not the important thing. It's what happened to the girl. And what we all did to her that matters.Carl: Priestley wanted to highlight the importance of social responsibility by reminding the audience of what the world would be like without it. A lot of people had health conditions and couldn't afford to go to the hospital. Some people had lost their jobs and didn’t have enough money to rent out somewhere else to live. And many people couldn't really afford to buy food or look after themselves and their families. Jean: We talked about it in the last episode, but there's a real divide between the Birling parents and their children when it comes to taking responsibility for their actions. Now this takes us to the next theme of the play: age.

He makes long speeches at dinner about things that the audience would know were incorrect. For example, he claims war will never happen and that the Titanic is unsinkable. Jean: Her cold, uncaring actions are what leads to Mrs Birling's downfall. She unknowingly condemned her own son in one of the most dramatic scenes of the play. When she says that the baby's father should be the one to take responsibility for Eva. An Inspector Calls". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016 . Retrieved 26 October 2016. Mrs Birling: all a lot of nonsense – I didn't believe a word of it. Inspector: I'm not asking you if you believed it. I want to know what she said. Why didn't she want to take any more money from this boy?

Want to save more time

Jean: No, they're not and in the next episode of the podcast, we're going to be talking about the key themes in An Inspector Calls. a b Gardner, Lyn (13 November 2016). "An Inspector Calls review – Stephen Daldry helps make the case for justice". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018 . Retrieved 7 February 2018. Now this facility is not because Priestley couldn’t write complex plays with symbolic meanings conveyed in abstract terms using language that is hard to understand; it is because on the whole he chose not to. He deliberately chose a wide channel of communication and wanted to reach the widest audience possible. Simplicity to Priestley was a virtue. He once wrote that he ‘wanted to write something that at a pinch could be read aloud in a bar parlour. And the time soon came when I was read and understood in a 1000 bar parlours’. An Inspector Calls has been heard and understood in thousands of theatres around the world. Its simplicity is therefore a large factor in its enduring appeal.

Jean: Sheila is a privileged and naive young lady whose parents treat her like a child. She's introduced to us through the stage directions: Birling: (terrified now) Look Inspector, you're not trying to tell us that – that my boy – is mixed up in this - ?The son of Sir George and Lady Croft of Crofts Limited, a competitor of Birling and Company, he is at the Birling residence to celebrate his recent engagement to Sheila. Gerald's revealed affair with Eva puts an end to the relationship, though Sheila commends him for his truthfulness and for his initial compassion towards the girl. Gerald believes that Goole is not a police inspector, that the family may not all be referring to the same woman, and that there may not be a body. Initially, he appears to be correct and does not think the Birlings have anything to feel ashamed of or worry about. He seems excited at the prospect of unmasking the "false" Inspector and seems almost desperate for others to believe him. Mrs Birling: (rather cowed) she said that the father was only a youngster – silly and wild and drinking too much. There couldn't be any question of marrying him – it would be wrong for them both. He had given her money but she didn't want to take any more money from him. Gender Roles: The women in the play face different expectations and opportunities compared to the men, reflecting the gender inequalities of the period. The tragic circumstances of Eva's life are partly a result of her vulnerability as a woman in a patriarchal society.