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In the play ‘An Inspector Calls’, Priestley presents the theme of power through many characters, such as Mr. Birling, Sheila and the Inspector, and portrays them in different ways based on their use or lack of power.
To begin with, Priestley presents the theme of power through the character of Mr. Birling by immediately illustrating his social power with his appearance as a “heavy-looking, rather portentous man”, demonstrating his desperation to prove his social dominance. The word ‘heavy’ shows how he’s an embodiment of capitalist greed. Birling’s use of parental power is shown through the way he speaks to his adult kids with superiority and lack of respect. “Are you listening, Sheila? This concerns you too. And after all I don’t often make speeches at you” and “Just let me finish Eric” are both examples of this; as he treats Sheila like a child, causing her to act like one until the Inspector arrives, the use of a rhetorical question shows how he’s not actually interested in what she has to say “I don’t normally make speeches at you” because of her age and gender. Birling’s demand for Eric to let him finish is hypocritical, since he interrupted Eric when he was about to object to his thoughts about war. These quotes also show that, at the start of the play, Birling is the character with the most conversational power, he interrupts others, has a frequency of utterances making him in charge of the conversations at the moment, “Birling beams at them and clearly relaxes”, making him easygoing. But, when the Inspector arrives, he takes control of the situation making Mr. Birling irritated because of his lack of power (somewhat impatiently). To intimidate the Inspector, he tells him: “Perhaps I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine”. In this quote, Mr. Birling is implying that he could inform Colonel Roberts, the Inspector’s boss, about his conduct just because he wants to regain his power, respect and superiority over others. By doing this, the Inspector may face a punishment that could extend to him being fired. This relates to the theme of power as Mr. Birling is using his influence as an upper-class and well-connected member of society to intimidate somebody else. The fact that Mr. Birling is appealing to Colonel Roberts’ power shows that Mr. Birlings authority has not influenced the Inspector and relies on other people’s power for his own benefit. By presenting Birling negatively throughout the entire play, Priestley, also presented negatively the capitalist society as it was them who used their power selfishly and only cared about it even more than they care about people, including their own family.
Sheila Birling is another character Priestley uses to present the theme of power, showing the influence young women from an upper class had. It was revealed that Sheila misused her social power in the past to get anything she wanted: “I went to the manager at Milwards and I told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near the place again”. The repetition of personal pronouns shows the importance and the power Sheila had over others; this threat reveals the consequences people with less power got because of the selfish attitudes people with power got. But Sheila also lacks power as a woman as she can’t even have an opinion on her own engagement ring and depends on her fiance’s opinions and choices: “Is it the one you wanted me to have?”. In this quote, Sheila, has never made a reference to herself or her thoughts on the ring by using personal pronouns, but she does when it comes to her fiance’s preferences on the ring. Not only does she have a lack power as a woman, but also because of her age as well. “You look tired, dear. I think you ought to go to bed”. When Mrs. Birling tells Sheila she ‘thinks’ she needs to go to bed, she isn’t taking into consideration her thoughts and believes she can’t make choices for her and by telling her to go to bed, she is treating her like a kid. The quote also shows how her parents believe she isn’t mature enough to handle conversations in which her own future husband is interrogated about another young woman, Daisy Renton, with whom Sheila thinks he had an affair with. Everyone else except the Inspector thinks they’re protecting her, when in reality this is the main reason why Sheila was naive; the truth is constantly hidden from her. The stage directions demonstrate how desperate she is to be heard for once and be taken seriously. Sheila is the character that changes the most in the play in many aspects, especially in the theme of power. As mentioned before, Sheila overused her power for her own interests and at the end of the play uses her power for good and realizes she “behaved badly too”. Through presenting Sheila in such a positive way as mature and “The point is, you don’t seem to have learnt anything” by the end of the play, Priestley is praising her generation, if Sheila was in her early twenties in 1912, she would’ve been in her mid to late fifties in 1945, the year of the play’s premiere, and also many of the play’s audience members. By praising a character who could be seen to represent them, Priestley may be encouraging his audience to learn the same lessons as Sheila and to not misuse their power and help those who are unfortunate, since his audience would’ve had a certain degree of expendable income if they were going to the theatre.
Priestley uses the Inspector as the main character to focus the theme of power on, despite being from a lower class than the Birlings and Gerald. His first appearance immediately implies physical power by being introduced as “need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness” and “He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking”. These quotes show how the inspector is imposing and intimidating to other characters and so is able to take over Birling’s conversational power and dominates conversations using imperative language, interruptions and short sentences throughout the play. This influences everyone, especially the younger generation like Sheila and Eric. He also has the power of knowledge and could be considered omniscient “Of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t know yet. The repetition of the words ‘he knows’ shows, once again, how he has created a significant impact on Sheila as she seems to be the only one to realize his power. Priestley uses a cyclical structure for this character as in his first impression “he creates an impression of massiveness” and also ends with it in his last speech “And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night. He walks straight out, leaving them staring, subdued and wondering”. The Inspector anticipates a hell-like future to teach the characters a lesson with ‘fire’ and ‘blood’, showing once again his omniscience and his impact on the characters because he is Priestley’s voice – Priestley’s strong moral views are represented by him, and his job is to change each of the characters’ attitudes, help them see what they have done, and make them start realizing the consequences misuse of power.
To conclude, Priestley displays the theme of power throughout his play ‘An Inspector Calls’ by exploring different aspects of it using fictional characters who represent the society of 1912.
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