An Inspector Calls
J.B. Priestley · 1945 · Paper 2 Section A
Context
Written in 1945 but set in 1912, the play exploits the gap between these dates to create devastating dramatic irony. Priestley — a committed socialist — wrote it as the 1945 Labour government was creating the welfare state. The play is a political argument for collective responsibility, using the Birling family as a microcosm of a class system that Priestley believed had to change.