How is the theme of social responsibility shown in and in spectacles? Let's find out. What's going on Revision Squad? It's me, Liam, aka Mr Knight, aka Dystopia Junkie, and in this video... I am going to discuss how the theme of social responsibility is apparent in J.B.
Priestley's play An Inspector Calls. I'll explain what I mean by that theme, analyse quotations that are relevant to it, and also discuss why Priestley might have included it in his play. Remember that discussing an author's possible intentions could contribute to you achieving the very top grades.
Make sure that you've got a pen and paper in front of you so that you can take notes of the things that I say over the course of the video, as most of them won't be appearing on screen. Please do not forget to like, comment and subscribe if this video helps you out, as that helps me out too. Right, so what exactly is social responsibility? Well, you could say that it is...
Acting in a way that benefits society at large. Or that it's about balancing economic gain with the welfare of society. So not just chasing profit, but looking after people too. In short, it's behaving ethically and morally. And in a really simplistic way, it's about putting others before yourself.
Now from my experience as a teacher, Students freeze or freak out when they are asked to analyse a theme that they've never heard of before. However, in most cases, the themes you're given are just going to be a synonym for one that you have studied. So I thought I would give you some synonyms for social responsibility. So therefore, the discussion in this video could also be applied to the themes of responsibility. After all, social responsibility is just a super specific type of responsibility.
Social responsibility is very much an aspect of socialist thought. If a question asks you about the difference between political thoughts or socialism versus capitalism, the analysis in this video can also apply. And also duty, doing the right thing, either because it's your job or because you are morally obligated to do so.
Duty could in some cases be related to. Social responsibility. So that's what social responsibility is and some synonyms for it.
If you need that clearing up some more, please do let me know by dropping this video a comment. Our first quotation comes from Mr. Birling. He says, A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own. In this quotation, taken from the start of the play, Mr. Burling shows a lack of social responsibility. This is because he thinks a man has to look after himself and his own, meaning himself and his family and nobody else.
It is important to remember that Mr. Burling is trying to give some advice in his dialogue, and so when he tells Eric and Gerald that a man has to mind his own business, he uses this idiom to suggest that they not only look after themselves first, but that they should actively turn a blind eye to other people's issues. It is significant that this quotation comes from the start of the play, as we get to see Mr Birling's normal level of social responsibility before the inspector deals with him, allowing us to see if he does indeed change because of the inspector's teachings. Indeed, it seems to be this stance on social responsibility that seems to trigger the inspector's arrival, as the doorbell rings immediately after Mr Berling says this.
Our next quotation comes from Sheila during her interrogation. She says, miserably, so I'm really responsible? This quotation shows Sheila beginning to entertain the idea that she was responsible for Eva's death, as shown by her question.
However, The stage directions suggest that Sheila is reluctantly and unhappily taking on some responsibility, especially given that the responsibility in this case is the responsibility for a young woman's death. This indicates that, despite being the right thing to do, taking on responsibility can be incredibly difficult. Our next quotation comes from Gerald's story of his time with Eva.
He says, So I insisted on Daisy moving into those rooms and I made her take some money. I argue that this quotation shows a slight degree of social responsibility as Gerald has rescued Eva slash Daisy from a precarious and potentially dangerous life and has put her somewhere better. The verbs in this quotation are interesting as he has insisted that she moves into his friend's rooms and made her take some money.
It sounds like he has forced his generosity onto Eva slash Daisy implying that social responsibility places the working class in a passive role and strips them of their agency. I find this instance of social responsibility to be interesting. Gerald has certainly behaved in a way that is socially responsible, since rescuing Eva slash Daisy was ethical and moral, and yet she is only one person.
As an upper class business owner, Gerald could do more to help society at large. Of course, we do not know how he or his business treats his employees, but we can assume it is not necessarily in the most socially responsible way. given that Gerald generally agrees with how Mr Birling treats his employees. Overall, this could suggest that, although it is easy to be socially responsible on a small scale, it could be much harder to apply this properly to society as a whole.
Our next quotation comes from the inspector's interrogation of Mrs Birling. He says Was it owing to your influence as the most prominent member of the committee that help was refused the girl? Now, this quotation is interesting as it and the text around either side of it shows a few different things about social responsibility. The inspector mentions a committee referring to the committee of the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation.
The very fact that there is a committee shows a degree of social responsibility, as there is a charity in place to support Brumley's least advantaged. However, when Mrs Burling confirms that it was her influence that led to help being refused to Eva, we see that she has a complete lack of social responsibility. She rejects Eva's case because she is prejudiced against her. and in doing so has put personal issues ahead of other people's. She is incredibly selfish and does not seem to particularly care about others.
Our next quotation comes from Mrs Speaking of the man who impregnated Eva slash Daisy, she says, find this young man and then make sure that he's compelled to confess in public his responsibility. Now this shows a couple of interesting things about Mrs. Birling's attitude towards responsibility. First of all, it shows her traditional views towards pregnancy, namely that the child should be the father's responsibility.
It seems that Mrs. Birling places greater emphasis on private responsibility, the connections between individuals, than she does on social responsibility. The person to blame for Eva's death in her view, is the man who got her pregnant, rather than society, which put Eva slash Daisy in an impossible position to begin with. Secondly, Mrs Burling seems to think that responsibility is tied into shame.
When she tells the inspector to make sure that the young man is compelled to confess in public his responsibility, It seems that she wants people to see his actions as a mistake, something that they should learn from. In a sense, this does show some social responsibility, as making an example of one man could prevent many others from making the same mistake. But by forcing him to do this in public, it almost seems that she wants to humiliate him, making this a very harsh treatment.
You have to wonder... Is that harsh treatment because Mrs. Berling thinks that the young man who got Eva slash Daisy pregnant was working class? Does her opinion change somewhat when she realises that it's someone who belongs to her own class?
Next up we have a quotation from Eric. In telling his story of his time with Eva, he says, I insisted on giving her enough money to keep her going. Here we have another quotation that shows a character behaving in a somewhat responsible way. Having got Eva pregnant and knowing that she does not want to marry him, Eric does what he thinks is responsible and provides for her financially.
Much like with Gerald, Eric says that he insisted on providing for Eva. This verb again places her in a passive role, suggesting that when the middle and upper classes try to take care of the working class, they give them no say in the matter. Interestingly, we also know that Eric in fact stole money from his father's business in order to provide for Eva. He's Almost like Robin Hood in this case, he's stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.
And in some sense, you could argue that he is behaving in a socially responsible way, because he is prioritising the well-being of people over his father's, and therefore his family's, business gaining profit. Social responsibility, then, can sometimes mean putting the middle and upper classes at a minor disadvantage, in order to benefit the working class. Our final quotation comes from Mr. Burling.
Once the inspector has left, Gerald announces that he was a fraud, and they all discover that no girl has died tonight. He says, triumphantly, Now you might think that this is a bit of an odd quotation to pick. especially with the theme of social responsibility in mind. But let's look at the stage directions. Mr. Burling speaks triumphantly.
This adverb suggests that he feels like he has won something or has defeated something. After this though, he produces a huge sigh of relief, and I think that this tells us a lot. Because Mr. Burling has produced a sigh of relief, He is obviously glad that there will be no public inquiry, that the prospect of him receiving a knighthood is not at risk, and that his reputation is not threatened either. In short, Mr Burling is glad because he is not responsible for a young woman's death.
He is glad to have that responsibility off of his hands. Furthermore, because this sight is huge, we really do see just how much Mr Burling is grateful for. Birling wants to be free from responsibility.
He did not like the idea of people thinking he was responsible for a young woman's death, showing just how much he shirks social responsibility. I have also included this quotation as it mirrors our first one nicely. At the play's beginning, Mr Birling shows a rejection of social responsibility, and he does the exact same thing at the play's end.
He has learned nothing. So now it is time to consider JB Priestley's intentions, which should help you to achieve the top grades in your exam. Just like with characters, you can analyse themes with this in mind.
So why did Priestley make social responsibility a theme of an inspector course? It didn't just happen by accident or materialise out of thin air. So first of all, and Yes, this is a little bit obvious.
I reckon that Priestley made social responsibility one of the themes of his play, in order to emphasise the idea that we must all be socially responsible. Being a socialist, it is likely that Priestley considered many of society's ills, including the losses suffered during the First and Second World Wars, to be caused by the ruling classes, the rich and powerful middle and upper classes. By showing how the ruling class has acted with little social responsibility and how this caused Eva Smith to die, Priestley emphasised that his audience must behave in a socially responsible way in order to avoid this sort of thing from happening again.
The characters who accept the least responsibility, namely Mr and Mrs Burling, come out of this play the worst, meaning that they all not shown to be nice people particularly. The opposite is also true. The characters who accept the most responsibility, such as Eric and Sheila, come out of the play the best. Here, Priestley has created a correlation between how nice of a person you are with how much you accept responsibility, and as such he has demonised those who have distanced themselves from responsibility altogether.
His message to his audience is simple, accept responsibility for your actions and you are a good person. And finally through his exploration of social responsibility, Priestley queries whether or not the middle and upper classes did enough for the working class in 1912. The Burlings and Gerald all exploited, used or abused Eva Smith in one way or another. When unnecessarily dismissed from two jobs, the only work she was able to find was prostitution. Money was either gifted to or stolen for her in order to ensure that she could just about survive. An assumedly limited amount of welfare was cruelly denied her.
Priestley has displayed that the middle and upper classes certainly did not provide the working class with anything close to enough. He wanted his audience to consider what more could be done to support them. So that is my analysis of the theme of social responsibility over.
But what could you do next? Well, there's actually a few other areas that you could look at if you wanted to find some more quotations that relate to this theme. You could look at how characters talk about duty. There's an interesting exchange held between Mr. Burling and the inspector on page 41. It's about public men having responsibilities.
Have a look at it. What does that tell you about responsibility? And attitudes towards responsibility are shown once the inspector leaves. Who looks for a way out?
Who still resolutely accepts what they have done? This again could be something worth thinking about. Anyway, whether or not you choose to scout out those quotations, please do not forget to drop the video a like if you found it useful.
Leave a comment on it, especially if you decide to dig out those extra quotations. Like, I really want to know what you think. And finally, if you aren't already, please do subscribe to my channel, as it helps me out a lot and you won't miss out on any of my upcoming GCSE revision content.
But whatever it is that you do choose to do, I hope that you have an awesome rest of the day. If you are revising, please remember to take frequent short breaks as a burned out student is not a happy or successful student. So there we go, those are some of the ways in which social responsibility is shown in J.P Priestley's and Inspector Call's.
But which one quotation do you think is the most important when thinking about that theme? Please do let me know down in the comment section below.