Context
Context should inform, but should never dominate, your reading of the play. Any comments on contextual factors must always be linked to the ideas in the play. When exploring the context in which An Inspector Calls was written, you should consider:
- The contexts in which the text is set
- The contexts in which the text is received
- Its literary context (genre)
Exam Tip
Priestley wrote An Inspector Calls in 1945 but chose to set the play in 1912. British society changed significantly between those two periods and so both have significant political as well as societal differences. While An Inspector Calls carries a mark of its time, you should try to consider what the text has to say about people, human nature, societal structures etc. and recognise these as universal themes, which are just as relevant today.
For example, if you were to write about the character of Eva Smith as a working-class woman in 1912, you may also wish to consider today’s society and consider how much has (or has not) changed.
Each of the below topics links directly to Priestley’s ideas in An Inspector Calls: