The Class System in An Inspector Calls Essay

An Inspector Calls is set in 1912 but was written by J.B Priestley in 1945. The Inspector Calls takes place at the end of the Edwardian Era . Around this time took place many new inventions along with social controversy and political activity.

In 1912 the wealthy upper class people lived extraordinary lives whilst the lower class lived poor, deprived lives. This is shown extremely well in An Inspector Calls as The Birlings' and Croft family are upper class families and show their wealth and intolerance of the lower class throughout the play.

In the beginning of An Inspector calls the audience get an immediate realisation that the Birling family are wealthy, this is shown by the formal nature of the dinner party and their privileged lifestyle is made clear. The solid furniture, port, champagne and cigars all reflect the lifestyle they lead. J.B Priestley wants the reader to understand the class of the family immediately as he explains the setting of the first Act 'The dining room of a fairly large suburban house'. In 1912 the classes were divided a large amount, there would not be middle class so by J.B priestly saying they had a fairly large suburban house it shows theyre upper class. Priestly then goes on to describe the rest of the setting 'good solid furniture of the period' this proves that it was unusual for lower class people to have 'god furniture'. However the reference to having 'hard furniture' shows that despite their luxury lifestyle it isn't homely and family orientated.

In act 1 the family are sitting down to dinner and it is obvious to the audience that they pride themselves on being upper class especially Mr and Mrs Birling. When Mr Birling is speaking about port he includes Geralds father in the discussion saying how that is the port he buys obviously trying to impress Gerald. We later on find out in the conversation that Gerald also prides himself on being upper class as he says 'Absolutely first class' talking about the dinner. However, despite the Birlings being well off, it is evident that the Croft family are wealthier especially when Mr Birling is making his speech and says 'It's a pity Sir George and Lady Croft can't be with us'. Mr Birling evidently approves of Gerald as he makes references to business and to the Croft family's higher social standing and their wealth, they both indicate things that Mr Birling finds important.

Mr Birling goes on with his speech wishing the happy couple 'the very best that life can bring' suggesting that obviously life is going to be good to them with their class and social upbringing. J.B Priestly is preparing us for the juxtaposition of the life lived by the upper class and the hardships endured by those that work for them.

In Act one after Mr Birling has made his many speeches, the Inspector arrives. Knowing that Inspector Goole is an Inspector Mr Birling immediately begins to express his social superiority thinking that perhaps it would scare him or warn him away 'I was an alderman for years and Lord Mayor two years ago and I'm still on the bench' Mr Birling believes that everyone thinks his way about the upper class and that Inspector Goole would be impressed.

Inspector Goole does not seem to care in the slightest that the Birlings are of a higher class and goes on to explain Eva Smiths suicide. The audience become aware of Eva Smiths class immediately and Mr Birling then realises she actually worked for him, not caring of who he dismisses as to him they're all lower class and not worthy of remembering.

Mrs Birling is the worst of the family members when it comes to appreciating upper classes more than lower classes. When being questioned on the death of Eva Smith she says 'As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money' implying that as she is such a lower class she wouldn't possibly be able to afford to refuse any money and would need as much as she could possibly get. She goes on to dismiss Evas death by saying 'girls of that class' as if her death is irrelevant because of her social standing. Her prejudice towards the girl seemed based on a belief that an unmarried working class girl who had become pregnant could never behave in a noble way which is what the girl may be said to have done when she refused to take money from the child's father because the money was stolen.

When the Inspector leaves the family realise he was a very odd inspector and Gerald uses his position to get information when calling the infirmary to confirm no suicides had happened. Throughout the play the class system is portrayed in such ways that Mr and Mrs Birling have not changed at all since the start of the play and haven't developed into characters that are likely to change and accept people for who they are no matter what their class is. Gerald, Eva and Eric Birling however realise they shouldn't judge people on their class alone and that Eva Smith was not worthless despite her being a working class girl.