essay plan for inspector calls

An Inspector Calls: A* / L9 Example Intro + Paragraph

Here are some samples of an essay on An Inspector Calls, on the theme of responsibility. I wrote these myself as a teacher to show students an example of the standard required to get a high level at GCSE. I’ve also broken down the structure below so you can see what to put into each paragraph and how to organise all of your ideas – this is the most important thing for getting a high level in an essay !

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How does Priestley explore the theme of responsibility in the play?  

EXAMPLE INTRO: 

Responsibility is a very important theme in An Inspector Calls, as the Inspector reveals one by one that all the Birling family are partly responsible for Eva’s death. Eva represents the lower classes, and Priestley uses the tragic ending of her character to spread his message about social responsibility, a message which is delivered by the Inspector himself, who acts as a mouthpiece for Priestley’s own views on socialism and equality. Overall, the audience realizes that their actions affect other people’s lives, so they are responsible for looking after and caring for everyone in society. 

An Inspector Calls: Character Revision

EXAMPLE MIDDLE PARAGRAPH: 

• Point (one sentence that answers part of the question, your idea)
• Evidence (quotes/references that prove your point) 
• The technique (language features/dramatic features/structure features)
• Explanation (analysis – how/why the evidence proves the point)
• Development (context/alternative interpretations)
• Link (linking back to the argument/thesis in the Intro)

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JB Priestley embedded strong political messages in his play, and you need to understand those well to be able to write a high level essay or exam answer on the text. This course will enable you o revise the major characters and social messages in the play, and go deeper into the themes and context so you can get the most out of each essay

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An Inspector Calls

J. b. priestley, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

An Inspector Calls: Introduction

An inspector calls: plot summary, an inspector calls: detailed summary & analysis, an inspector calls: themes, an inspector calls: quotes, an inspector calls: characters, an inspector calls: symbols, an inspector calls: theme wheel, brief biography of j. b. priestley.

Historical Context of An Inspector Calls

Other books related to an inspector calls.

• Full Title: An Inspector Calls
• When Written: 1945
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1945 (play premiered in Soviet Union)
• Literary Period: mid-20th century British drama, social realism
• Genre: Mystery drama
• Setting: 1912; a comfortable home in Brumley, England
• Climax: Gerald returns to the Birling home after Goole has left, to report that the Inspector wasn’t actually a real inspector, and to hypothesize that the whole thing was a hoax—that there was no single girl that all of the Birlings had offended, and no suicide that they precipitated.

Extra Credit for An Inspector Calls

Ghoulish Goole. Many interpretations of the text consider the Inspector’s ghostly name to be symbolic of the mystery that surrounds his character.

Essay Titles

For your revision you should plan an essay based around each of the following questions., remember that you can use quotes - or even entire paragraphs - in multiple questions, so be wise when you prepare. for this exam you will not have an extract, but there will be two questions for you to choose between - and you should only answer one of them, for each essay, try to plan in the following way:, write your opening paragraph, know what each of your 2 or 3 paragraphs will be about, revise the quotes you’ll use in them, also, remember that there is a page on this website dedicated to each of these questions so all you really need to do is visit that page and take some notes... ain't so hard really, ten key questions:, 1. how does priestley explore the theme of social responsibility, 2. how does priestley explore issues of social class in an inspector calls, 3. how and why does sheila change in an inspector calls, 4. how does priestley present the character of arthur birling, 5. what is the role of mrs birling in this play, 6. how do the characters of gerald and eric respond differently to the news about eva smith’s death, 7. what is the role of the inspector in an inspector calls, 8. what role does eva smith play in an inspector calls, 9. what criticisms of society does priestley make in an inspector calls, 10. to what extent can an inspector calls be considered a “realistic” play, how does priestley explore issues of social class in an inspector calls, opening paragraph: during the play, priestly uses the middle-class inspector to contrast upper-class edwardians with their working - class counterparts. he shows that although the upper classes assume the privilege that comes with great wealth they do not accept responsibility for those less wealthy than them - though the younger generation do change . the inspector argues that unless society learns to reconcile this issue, then it will, inevitably, face disaster ., p 2 : upper class and wealth not taking responsibility : girls of that class ... i accept no blame for it at all ... i can't accept any responsibility … public school and varsity life ... dreams of knighthood ... gerald's treatment of eva ... mrs birling not liking that eva used her name, p 3 : younger generation : they’re not cheap labour, they’re people … why shouldn’t they try for higher wages we try for the highest possible prices … i’ll never, never, do it to anybody again … also ment ion how gerald changed and then changed back; and how women were treated worse than men, and working class women were treated worst of all, p4: inevitable disaster : h ow the inspector is middle clas s and represents eva ... their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives ... the time wi ll come when men will not learn that lesson then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish ... end with how the play is becoming important all over again, you should be able to tell from looking at this structure that there are loads of different ways that i could have written this essay, and i could have used any one of dozens of different quotes. also, remember that the key is going to be about using both ao1 (plot) and ao2 (quotes) for each paragraph, so you should note down a mixture of key quotes and key moments., use the time before the exam to plan essays that feel like they're your own - have an opinion - and then select the quotes, themes and contextual factors that appeal to you the most. this will help you remember them on the day, and it will help reduce the number of different quotes and themes that you'll need to remember., also, since you can't take any of this planning into the exam hall, your challenge is to understand the argument. this is easier than it sounds, and if you do the planning and - ideally - make a poster of the plan, or revision cards for it, you'll be in a really strong position on the day of the exam..

An Inspector Calls J. B. Priestley

An Inspector Calls essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley.

An Inspector Calls Material

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An Inspector Calls Essays

How j.b. priestley creates sympathy for eva smith in "an inspector calls" judith, an inspector calls.

In "An Inspector Calls", J.B. Priestley uses the characters and attitudes of the Birling family, especially Mr. Birling, to make the audience feel sympathy for Eva Smith. The family is "prosperous" and "comfortable", and Mr. Birling's ostentatious...

Sheila's Evolution in An Inspector Calls Mafalda Ribeiro 9th Grade

Sheila’s character changes massively throughout J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls , often in a manner that registers increasing maturity. At first, Sheila is presented through stage directions as a ‘pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased...

What is the importance of the characters Sheila and Eric? Anonymous 10th Grade

In the play “An Inspector Calls” by J B Priestley, the characters of Sheila and Eric are used to represent the younger generation in Edwardian England, a time when traditional Victorian values were beginning to become obsolete. Priestley uses...

Generation vs Generation Alexandra Rozanski 11th Grade

There are drastic differences that are seen in people who are born in different generations. One may argue that the younger generations are more impressionable and naive while the older generations are very hardheaded and assertive. By creating...

The Interconnected Nature of Society in An Inspector Calls Kezhe Julian Temir 10th Grade

In An Inspector Calls , J.B. Priestley expresses the importance of the interconnected nature of society through his exploration of how his characters react to their responsibility; this theme is also addressed through ideas of society present both...

Surprising Sympathy: Eric and His Audience Aimee Littler 10th Grade

Throughout the opening scenes of Priestley's An Inspector Calls , Eric is portrayed as little more than a drunken child ('only a boy', as his Mother would have put it). If the work is considered to be a morality play, then Eric is perhaps guilty of...

Gerald and the Ideology Behind Him in "An Inspector Calls" Gareth A Morgan 10th Grade

In the play An Inspector Calls , the character of Gerald Croft is extremely significant, as he is the only perpetrator not to be a part of the Birling household. He is also the character who knew Eva Smith most intimately and has many significant...

An Analysis of the Inspector in ‘An Inspector Calls’ Anonymous 10th Grade

In the play ‘An Inspector Calls’, the character of the Inspector is used as a dramatic device in a number of different ways which all help the play to become more interesting and gripping. In this essay, I shall aim to analyse and explore these...

Social Responsibility in ‘An Inspector Calls’ Anonymous 10th Grade

An Inspector Calls’, though set in 1912 in the Edwardian era, was written by J.B Priestley in 1945 as a piece of socialist propaganda to embrace the socialist views becoming more prominent in society, in place of capitalism. The theme of social...

Mr Salles Teaches English

An Inspector Calls 100% Essay

I received 40/40 on my inspector calls gcse question thanks to you- securing myself 9, 9 in english lit and language. Would you like my script to use?

But honestly I can’t thank you enough. I’ve encouraged friends in year 11 to watch your videos so they can improve too🙏🙏

Thanks Noah - here is the essay!

Let’s call this an average of 7 words per line. Noah writes about 27 lines per page for the last 5 pages, and 13 lines on page 1.

That gives a total of (7x27x5) + (7x13) = 1036 words.

This is typical of full mark essays, and grade 9 essays. Points make prizes, simple as that.

If you aren’t practising writing fast, you aren’t practising getting grade 9.

Thank you for reading Mr Salles Teaches English. This post is public so feel free to share it. You probably know someone else who wants top grades.

This was written for the Edexcel paper.

Mark scheme:.

There is an assured personal response,

showing a high level of engagement with the text and

discerning choice of references to the text.

A critical style is developed with maturity,

perceptive understanding and interpretation with

The understanding of relevant contexts is excellent.

Understanding of the relationship between text and context is integrated convincingly into the response.

High performance-in the context of the Level of Demand of the question,

Learners spell and punctuate with consistent accuracy, and

consistently use vocabulary and sentence structures to achieve effective control of meaning.

The items in bold italic are different to AQA - but overall, both exam boards want the same thing from a grade 9 essay: it needs to be well argued and perceptive.

Mr Salles Teaches English is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts which help you get top grades, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What Scores the Marks?

Your Thesis Statement should make it easy to work out what the topic of the question is.

Noah has gone into the exam knowing in advance that he wants to write a thesis statement which explains two aspects of context - one, that this is a socialist play, and two, that the tragedy is Aristotelian.

This means that he is not really integrating his context into his argument - it kind of stands on its own here. It is only at the end of the thesis statement that he uses the key words of the question ‘the younger generation’.

This means his thesis statement ignores the second bullet point of AO3.

So, my advice is, do plan your thesis statement in advance. But, in the exam, make it relevant to the question as quickly as possible by introducing the key words from the question in your first line.

Priestley portrays the younger generation of 1912 to promote his socialist message to their children in 1945. His play follows the Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to illustrate the terrible consequences of not following socialist principles in society between 1912 and 1945.

This is a very weak quote to back up the idea that Eric is a socialist. His words about the Birlings seeking higher profits justifying the workers’ need for higher wages would have been much better here.

" Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices ."

But, the examiner has a kind of checklist of Priestley’s ideas:

Eric is sympathetic to the working classes

He challenges his father’s capitalist ideas

Edwardian society was patriarchal, so Eric also attacks the sexist control of women

Noah writes about all of these, so it’s tick, tick, tick from the examiner.

Paid subscribers get a fully marked grade 9 answer every week. And they get access to the 50+ already published.

Substack lets you access all these for free in a 7 day trial!

Noah has introduced an alternative interpretation of Eric’s behaviour here, which is always going to give you higher grades.

He leaps to this a little too quickly, as we don’t see exactly what social responsibility Eric is denying - his alcoholism, his stealing from his father, his probable rape of Eva - but Noah is beginning to make the case that perhaps Eric has not learned the Inspector’s lesson or, if he has, that it will not have enough power for Eric to make use of it.

This is a sophisticated argument. Although the younger generation might hold socialist beliefs, they will never be able to live up to them because of the privileged lifestyle they’ve led, and the wealth they continue to enjoy.

There are no extra marks for using the words ‘proletariat’, ‘bourgeois’ (adjective) and ‘bourgeoisie’ (noun). Noah actually confuses the last two. So, I tend not to use these words - working class and upper class are good enough for me.

Notice how Noah writes about society and Priestley’s views - this is what earns the marks.

You should know by now that writing about the characters as ‘constructs’ is the way to show the examiners you understand the writer’s ideas.

Noah uses this as a springboard to analyse Priestley’s ideas about social responsibility.

Writing about one character as the ‘foil’ of another also emphasises how the play is constructed in order to promote Priestley’s message (in simplistic terms younger generation good vs their foil, older generation bad).

The quote ‘ we are members of one body ’ would have helped Noah here. It is one I would slip into every essay.

This paragraph has gone a bit rogue. Noah doesn’t tell us what was ‘vile’. He doesn’t link Mrs Birling’s actions, in denying charity to Eva, to the consequence: Eva’s suicide and murder of her unborn child.

So, he loses a lot of Priestley’s message and anger.

However, he is able to link to Priestley’s ideas, so it scores marks.

You’ll notice that Noah keeps bringing context into his explanations of Priestley’s ideas. This is excellent.

(You never have to introduce context by saying ‘contextually’, in the same way that you wouldn’t introduce your analysis by saying ‘analytically’).

This is a weaker analysis of Mrs Birling’s language, but the examiner is happy because Noah is linking it to Priestley’s socialist ideas.

Noah makes this relevant to the question by always referring to the perspectives of the older and younger generations.

This is a bit confusion.

Noah makes the strong case that Mrs Birling is being wilfully blind to Eric’s actions and responsibility.

He suggests that Priestley uses this to criticise upper class society, as this is what Mrs Birling represents.

But he also asserts that this is a criticism of the patriarchal society and that Mrs Birling is a victim of it. This needs a lot more explanation to make sense.

Points 1 and 2 score well, but point 3 is left hanging.

As soon as you say that the Inspector is a proxy for Priestley’s views, you are treating the Inspector as a construct.

So, you get higher marks.

Linking Priestley’s portrayal of the younger generation to his desire for social responsibility is a strong link to the conclusion.

The socialist and Christian context of 1945 is also cleverly linked to the theme of social responsibility.

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Grade 9 'An Inspector Calls' essay

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

10 May 2024

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Conceptualised ‘grade 9’ essay for ‘An Inspector Calls,’ evaluating ideas about social class in the play.

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