How does Priestley explore guilt in An Inspector Calls?
In An Inspector Calls, first performed in 1945 in Russia but set in 1912, JB Priestley tells the
story of the gluttonous and arrogant Birling family, and their roles in the destruction of
working class woman Eva Smith. Through his portrayal of the Birlings as guiltless and
self-centered, the gradual change of the younger generation in Sheila and Eric, and the final
verdict of the Inspector, Priestley suggests that the law is not the same as good morality, but
that repentance and an embracing of the socialist ideals of equality and social responsibility,
will lead to a happier society and a lack of guilt due to doing the right things for all.
Early in the play, Priestley presents a smug and self-satisfied family completely free from
guilt, in order to remind his audience of the secretive and closed-off lives of the rich and
powerful in the Edwardian era, at the expense of everyone else. Even by placing the Birlings
In An Inspector Calls, first performed in 1945 in Russia but set in 1912, JB Priestley tells the
story of the gluttonous and arrogant Birling family, and their roles in the destruction of
working class woman Eva Smith. Through his portrayal of the Birlings as guiltless and
self-centered, the gradual change of the younger generation in Sheila and Eric, and the final
verdict of the Inspector, Priestley suggests that the law is not the same as good morality, but
that repentance and an embracing of the socialist ideals of equality and social responsibility,
will lead to a happier society and a lack of guilt due to doing the right things for all.
Early in the play, Priestley presents a smug and self-satisfied family completely free from
guilt, in order to remind his audience of the secretive and closed-off lives of the rich and
powerful in the Edwardian era, at the expense of everyone else. Even by placing the Birlings
