Connector
What was the
family name?
J.B. Priestley
LO
Learn the
historical
context of the
play.
J.B. Priestley
Plot
• The Birling family are spending a happy evening
celebrating the engagement of Sheila Birling to
Gerald Croft - a marriage that will result in the
merging of two successful local businesses.
• Yet, just when everything seems to be going so well,
they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole
who is investigating the suicide of a young girl.
• The questions he asks everyone relating to the case
reveal that they all have secrets linking them to the
tragedy.
• What actually happens in the play?
To understand AIC…
• You must know what was going on at the
time.
• In other words, you need the social and
historical context!
• In today’s lesson we will put the play into
context and check your understanding of
the plot.
Laptop task
• Research the years between 1912-1945.
• What do you think were the top five most
important historical events during those
years?
• Rank them, most important first.
Did you include?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
WW1
WW2
Wall Street Crash
Great Depression
Holocaust
Titanic
Atomic bomb invented
Entertainment
Cars mass produced
Why these years?
AIC was written in 1945
BUT
It is set in 1912.
1912 to 1945
This was the period of the Russian Revolution, two
appalling world wars, the Holocaust and the Atom Bomb.
An Inspector
An Inspector
Calls
Calls
was written in
is set in 1912.
1945.
World War I would
start in 2 years.
Birling's optimist
view that there
would not be a war
is completely
wrong
World War II
ended on 8 May
1945. People were
recovering from
nearly 6 years of
warfare, danger
and uncertainty.
An Inspector Calls
is set in 1912.
An Inspector Calls
was written in
1945.
The ruling
classes saw no
need to change
the status quo.
There was a great
desire for social
change. Immediately
after World War 2,
Labour's Clement
Attlee won a
landslide victory
over the
Conservative
Winston Churchill.
Context
• To put this play into
context you need to
know a little about J B
Priestley's life and
political views, and
about some of the huge
changes that took place
in the world during the
first half of the 20th
century.
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley was
born in Yorkshire in 1894. He
knew early on that he
wanted to become a writer,
but decided against going to
university as he thought he
would get a better feel for
the world around him away
from academia. Instead, he
became a junior clerk with a
local wool firm at the age of
16.
1912 - Class Distinctions
Poor Families
Wealthy Families
Context 1912 -1945
• An Inspector Calls is as much about 1945
as it is about 1912.
• Despite Birling’s smugness, the history of
Britain from 1912 onwards was far from
trouble free.
• Make sure you know what happened!
The 1945 audience
would know all
He is wrong!
of this!
He makes these statements with
• How do you think they would have reacted to
confidence,
but
the
audience
would
the following statements from Arthur Birling?
know that he is incorrect!
1. “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” (about The
Titanic)
JB Priestly is deliberately making him
2. “Fiddlesticks! the Germans don’t want war!”
look foolish – the middle class were
3. “we’re in for a time of steadily increasing
wrong
to think they were safe at the
prosperity”
and
created the character
4.top,
“silly
littlehe
warhas
scares”
of Arthur Birling to show a classic
example of this!
Recap - Between 1912 - 1945
• Huge change in history.
• Two world wars, disaster, depression.
• People wanted change!
Task - PEAS paragraph
Why did JB Priestly choose to set the play in
1912, when he wrote it in 1945?
1. “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”
(about The Titanic)
2. “Fiddlesticks! the Germans don’t want
war!”
3. “we’re in for a time of steadily increasing
prosperity”
4. “silly little war scares”
Success Criteria • Mention the audience knows things the
characters don’t (dramatic irony).
• Talk about the effects on the audience.
• Try to include why the writer chose to set
the play in 1912 when it was written in
1945.
• Extension – try to include a literary device
and state why it is used.
Model answer
JB Priestly set the play in 1912 not 1945 in order to show
that middle class people (such as Mr Birling) were
wrong. This can be seen in the quote ‘unsinkable,
absolutely unsinkable’. Mr Birling says this about the
Titanic. The audience watching the play in 1945 would
be fully aware that The Titanic sank and killed lots of
people. This makes the character of Mr Birling seem
foolish and his confidence seems false. JB Priestly
included this deliberately, so the audience would dislike
Mr Birling and everything he stands for. He seems
pompous and arrogant, which is exactly how JB Priestly
thought of the ruling upper classes. Moreover, Priestly
uses repetition to make sure the audience hears this
ridiculous statement.
Review – Mini Quiz
1. What year was the play written?
2. What year was the play set?
3. List 3 things that happened between
these years.
4. What is it called when the audience know
something the characters do not?
5. Write down a quote to do with the
historical context of the play.