An Inspector Calls Has Been Called ‘a Play of Contrasts’, Write About How Priestly Presents Some of the Contrasts in the Play.

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Throughout the course of this essay I will discuss how the author, priestly, presented the contrasts in his novel, ‘An Inspector calls’, and I will write about how effective his devices are, these contrasts include the difference in age and social status. When the curtains first opens the lighting is ‘pink and intimate’ for the cheery occasion of an engagement party for Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft, but once the Inspector arrives the lighting should be ‘brighter and harder’ so the spotlight is on the Birling family and reveals who they really are. The first contrast, and possibly the most influential on Eva Smiths death, was the contrast between rich and poor. Priestly uses, on many occasions, exaggeration in the characters dialogue, especially Mr Birling’s, in order to highlight his opinions on how self-centred the upper classes of 1912 were. An example of this is when Mr Birling says ‘lower costs and higher income’. This portrays him as someone who values his social status and family comfort more than the well-being of others. A important contrast in the novel is that the different generations had different opinions and by this I mean that Mr Birling tries to shift the blame off of himself and takes no responsibilities for his actions whereas Eric and Sheila think it is terrible that their actions had caused a young pregnant women to kill herself, even after they find out the whole thing was a hoax. It is expected that Gerald is a bit older and more realistic than Sheila and by that I mean that he is aware that what their businesses do is morally wrong sometimes but as long as they make a lot of money he doesn’t care. Mrs Birling is in many ways also portrayed as a person who segregates others due to their social background. The fact that she describes Eva Smith as a girl ‘of that class’ shows that she doesn’t care as much about her death as she sees her as
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