Preistley’s main aim Essay

Preistley’s main intension in â€Å"An Inspector Calls† is to show the immorality in society. He accomplishes this by having each character take on a separate stereotype of pre-war society. Birling is the industrious businessman, cold hearted and tight fisted. Mrs. Birling is the bossy, maternal wife who has no sympathy for any one who crosses her strict moral barriers. Eric, the son, is a loose cannon, a young man with mean parents who he cannot look to for help. Sheila is the almost spoilt daughter, who is all too quick to use her power, but still feels remorse later. Gerald is a slightly mature Eric. Still a bit irresponsible, he has the right set of morals and is engaged to Sheila at the beginning of the play. Finally, Inspector Goole is the collective conscience of the group. Each of the characters matures slightly over the course of the play, excluding the parents who seem to be set in their ways. Right the way through the play Birling shows himself to be steadfastly rightwing. His views on society are that there is no such thing and that it is every man for himself. He is shown as having few kind emotions and is mostly celebrating Shelia’s wedding because of the business opportunities it will bring. Preistley is trying to show that these views are wrong. He does this at two levels. One is the more obvious – he has been cast as the evil character that is mean to everyone. The other way is subtler. In all his predictions Birling is wrong as these two quotes show – â€Å"And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The worlds developing so fast that it’ll make war impossible. † â€Å"Why, a friend of mine went over this liner last week – the Titanic – she sails next week – forty six thousand eight hundred tons – New York in five days – and every luxury – and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable† The play was set in 1912 but performed in 1946, so the audience would know that he was wrong about these thing and would subconsciously imagine him as wrong, making them more inclined to agree with Preistley’s view of an ideal society. Birling’s actions and behaviour towards the other characters is typical of a right wing, pompous businessman. He treats all his offspring as tiny children, when they are both old enough to be married. His workers are treated like dirt, fired for wanting a slightly better wage. The Inspector is referred to as a crank, but only once he has left the house. The only person Birling treats fairly apart from himself is his wife, of whom he still takes a slightly lower view than she deserves.