Discuss the methods Priestley uses to present his ideas. An Inspector Calls is a play written by JB Priestley. It was written in 1946 and set in 1912. Priestley uses the play to show the audience of 1946 how attitudes need to change as it was the end of world war two and this should have offered the perfect opportunity to change. Priestley uses the play to show his ideas and beliefs on community welfare and outdated principals, he does this in many ways to manipulate his audience against their normal thoughts and behaviour so by the end of the play they see why things need to change.
Emilia's relationship with Iago is not like any other relationship, he treats her badly, he is quite rude towards her. Iago constantly disrespects her. He never seems to offer her any sort of affection, and he always talks trash about women in general, ‘’wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended’’. Despite this, strangely, Emilia seems eager to please him and satisfy his needs. She steals Desdemona's handkerchief in the hope that Iago will appreciate her for once.
And if that’s sinful, then let me be damned for it!”(Scene Nine).She seems enraged that her reality is unraveled, that everyone now sees her fantasy for what it is, fantasy. Her lies about her purity, her age, her background, everything is now out in the open to be judged and scrutinized by the public. Blanche DuBois is a tragic figure. She is out of place both geographically and temporally (Scene One). She appears to be trying to remain a ‘young women’ when in fact she is getting old, this results in an unappealing persona.
In this story Lizabeth is very rude, for example when her and her friends pick on Miss Lottie, Lizabeth doesn’t care how it makes Miss Lottie feel. When they are hiding behind the bushes throwing stones at the Marigold’s, they think it’s funny, and something “cool” to do. Quote, “we had to annoy her by whizzing a pebble into her flowers, or by yelling a dirty word, then dancing away from her rage.” (79) Next, Lizabeth is very immature in this story, for example, when Lizabeth’s parents are arguing. Lizaebeth get’s tired of hearing it. She get’s out of bed, wakes up her brother, goes over to Miss Lottie’s, and destroys all of her marigold’s, but during this she gets caught, and when Miss Lottie caught her she acted like nothing had happened, and she’d done nothing wrong.
Now from those brief descriptions we can already see the difference in the characterization of all three characters. Although Abigail’s character appears to be one that is instantly dislikeable because of her selfish ways, she is by no means stupid. She knows how to manipulate other people into acting the way that she wants them to act and her control over them is what makes her an effective antagonist. Mrs. Putnam on the other hand appears not to have been as well educated as Abigail. She instantly jumps to the conclusion that witchcraft is afoot, which is apparent when she states “Mark it for a sign, mark it!” when Betty thrashes in her “trance.” She is also paranoid by the fact that there must be some paranormal reason as to why her babies have perished.
Instead of using a regular “okay”, Vernon inserts an “OK” to show her sarcastic anger towards one of her colleagues who disagrees with her opinion. You can tell she is immediately annoyed with peoples lack of respect of her opinion. With the emotion she is trying to get him to agree or even just compromise with the fact she wants nothing to do with having a child. By using such a strong emotion like anger she is adding passion to the argument; angry words like scold, attacks, selfless and deconstructed add fuel to the passage by giving the readers a feeling to have instead of just being neutral and it helps the readers gain an emotional tie and move over to “her side”. Having the readers believe she has a right to her own opinion right of the bat gives the author, Vernon, an upper-hand moving on to the rest of the article.
Women are the weaker sex in this play: they are forced into giving into male power by doing what they are told; which is expected of them. Characters like Beatrice do not conform: she is the complete opposite to what a woman should have been like in Elizabethan times. Women were expected to be quiet and obedient. She, however, is a loud, aggressive and sarcastic character, and she does not obey the commands of any man. If anything she gives commands, ordering Benedick to “kill Claudio”.
Perhaps Shakespeare is trying to convey the message that women are bound by societal expectations and are thus silenced and taught to obey and not talk back or express their own ideas. Since women are not allowed to “speak,” Ophelia can only express her thoughts and “speak” her mind by singing out loud. Unfortunately, society has defined Ophelia as a lunatic, therefore her senseless words are dismissed by the people. Throughout Ophelia’s singing, the Queen constantly interrupts her with questions that continue to build up on the theme of questioning in this play. Ophelia in return, pauses her singing and asks for the Queen’s attention by hearing her out: “Pray you mark,” she says.
For example, she told Daisy another patient that she would rat her out if she didn’t give up her valium pills. She also takes advantage of the fact that that other girls are scared of her, so she gets them to do whatever she wants, such as sneak out at night and follow her to the Dr.’s office. Lisa also conned Suzanne to escape the ward. Lisa also displayed a lack of remorse, shame or guilt. She made an anorexic feel bad for not eating, calling her names like cow or pig.
She does not behave as most ladies were expected to during that time. Rather than being silent and doing as she is told, she speaks her mind. In fact, her very first words in the play show the contrast between her and a typical woman of that time. She refers to Benedick as "Signor Mountanto" showing her lack of respect for him. Whereas most women are quiet and subdued, she constantly insults Benedick in front of others.