An I Calls Historical Context

8/7/2019 An I Calls Historical Context

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Coursework 20th

Century Play

An Inspector Calls

ByJ.B. Priestley


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An Inspector Calls

Set in 1912but written and performed in 1945

So the audience knew more thanthe characters on the stage this

is known as dramatic irony


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What was life like in 1912?

Edwardian England

Two years before the outbreak ofWW1


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A society of classes:

Upper Class

Middle Class

Working ClassUnderclass prostitutes, beggars, the

Workhouse

No movement between classes. You were borninto, married within and died in the same class. The

rare exception would be marrying up a class.


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- very wealthy

Had servants but had no other contactwith the working class.

The Upper Class


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The working class

Very poor housing

conditions.

Very little pay

Everyone worked very

long hours no unions


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TheWorkhouse

Overcrowded

Appalling conditions

Cruelly run

Death rate high


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The Titanic

was built and

about to sail.

What was going on inthe world at this time?


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The worry

of war was

on thehorizon.


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1912 attitudes:Men had the power/authority

Upper class men would have affairs/mistresses

Pregnancy outside the marriage = disaster for the woman


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The 1st WWW changed everything:

Women took on mens work

Women got the vote

The war made people more equal eg.

rich and poor had food rations, they

all wore the same sort of clothes, theyall lost their men.


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Priestley was concerned

that society who hadworked so well together

during the war, would

return to their selfish

attitudes of the pre war.


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Documents

An I Calls Historical Context