GCSE English - An Inspector Calls Part 1 (Daily)

60 mins

Our first session considers the context of Priestley’s post-war England and his political aims in writing the play. Using an Act 1 extract and Context Timeline, we will consider class, gender and generational tensions, political movements and strikes, and the aftermath of WW1 and the Great Depression.

60 mins

Once the Inspector is onstage, class, gender and generational tensions come into sharper focus: Birling and Gerald rally together to oppose the Inspector’s authority while Sheila and Eric begin to realise their own roles in society. We’ll concentrate on stage directions, language, and tone of voice.

60 mins

Sheila acknowledges her own contribution to Eva Smith’s death in this extract but her mother Sibyl Birling stubbornly denies all guilt. Sheila and the Inspector endorse the need for collective blame, while Sybil obstinately tries to use generational and class differences to deny any wrongdoing.

60 mins

Eric, absent during most of Act 2, allows us to consider Priestley’s attack on the willfully ignorant Sybil Birling and study the importance of staging, audience reception, and dramatic irony. Sybil discovers Eric’s culpability in the worst way possible: by realising that she has failed him as a parent.