an i calls historical context
TRANSCRIPT
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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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