How does Priestley present his ideas about social class in An Inspector Calls?
In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses his lower class characters to highlight the
disparity between social classes and criticise the upper class, which is benefited by the
capitalist system.
Throughout the play, Priestley uses the Inspector as a voice for the working class. In the
Inspector’s final monologue, he says that “there are millions and millions and millions of Eva
Smiths and John Smiths. [...] We are members of one body.” Here, and throughout the rest
of the play, Priestley uses the Inspector as a vehicle for his own political views, as he
references socialism and highlights the needs for communities to come together instead of
forever being separated by money-hungry capitalist overlords. The repetition of the
numerical noun “millions” emphasises the vast amount of people who were, and still are,
living in poverty, showing that Eva Smith’s death was not just a one-off: this could have
happened, and likely still does happen, to many other working class people. Additionally,
the naming of “Eva Smiths and John Smiths” further illustrates the fact that many people
could have been in Eva’s position, highlighting the need for social reform to prevent any
more people living in poverty from becoming another statistic, just like Eva. Priestley is
clearly using the Inspector not just as a voice for the working class, but also as a vehicle for
his own political beliefs, as he stresses that if communities cannot come together to reform
the system, “they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”, once again highlighting the
need for social reform, changes in the governmental system of rule, and the revolution that
is, according to Priestley, imminent. The Inspector, however, also shows Priestley’s own
values about forgiveness, as the cyclical structure of the play (with Edna announcing the
arrival of the Inspector at the beginning of the first act, and a phone call announcing the
In the play An Inspector Calls, Priestley uses his lower class characters to highlight the
disparity between social classes and criticise the upper class, which is benefited by the
capitalist system.
Throughout the play, Priestley uses the Inspector as a voice for the working class. In the
Inspector’s final monologue, he says that “there are millions and millions and millions of Eva
Smiths and John Smiths. [...] We are members of one body.” Here, and throughout the rest
of the play, Priestley uses the Inspector as a vehicle for his own political views, as he
references socialism and highlights the needs for communities to come together instead of
forever being separated by money-hungry capitalist overlords. The repetition of the
numerical noun “millions” emphasises the vast amount of people who were, and still are,
living in poverty, showing that Eva Smith’s death was not just a one-off: this could have
happened, and likely still does happen, to many other working class people. Additionally,
the naming of “Eva Smiths and John Smiths” further illustrates the fact that many people
could have been in Eva’s position, highlighting the need for social reform to prevent any
more people living in poverty from becoming another statistic, just like Eva. Priestley is
clearly using the Inspector not just as a voice for the working class, but also as a vehicle for
his own political beliefs, as he stresses that if communities cannot come together to reform
the system, “they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish”, once again highlighting the
need for social reform, changes in the governmental system of rule, and the revolution that
is, according to Priestley, imminent. The Inspector, however, also shows Priestley’s own
values about forgiveness, as the cyclical structure of the play (with Edna announcing the
arrival of the Inspector at the beginning of the first act, and a phone call announcing the
