'An Inspector Calls' - Essay

The essays for 'An Inspector Calls' should be completed and handed in to me in draft form by Friday the 2nd of July. Anyone who doesn't do this will be getting a phone call home about it.

Here is a copy of the essay plan that I handed out in class on Monday.

aic plan

A Well-Made Play

One of today's Learning Objectives was to understand the meaning of the term 'well-made play'. The definition is below. If you haven't got a note of this already, please make sure you copy it down.

Well-made play: a play that exhibits a neatness of plot and smooth-functioning exactness of action, with all its parts fitting together precisely. An Inspector Calls works through an interlocking series of unexpected events, leading up to a final revelation that is almost a trick ending.

To find out more about the concept of a well-made play, click a here.

The essay will, of course, be about dramatic devices in Act One of 'An Inspector Calls'. I will post up more details about this once we've completed the tables.

Morality

Today I explained to you that 'An Inspector Calls' follows in the tradition of the morality play, an ancient form of production that makes statements about good and evil/right and wrong through allegory.

A definition of the term allegory and the PowerPoint we looked at in class can be found below. You should have been taking your own notes in your jotter, but it might be helpful to look over them again.

ALLEGORY:


Allegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the literal. It teaches a lesson through symbolism. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. An allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor.

Examples: The recent film 'District 9' explores the concept of apartheid in South Africa through allegory; instead of the races being separated, the human species is separated from an alien civilisation who are kept in shanty towns.

'Wall-E' is another example of an allegory. It explores the idea of love overcoming everyday monotony; the two robots are represent humans trapped in a lifelong pattern, which is thrown off by their love for each other.

"I realized the point I was trying to push with these two programmed robots was the desire for them to try and figure out what the point of living was...It took these really irrational acts of love to sort of discover them against how they were built...I realized that that's a perfect metaphor for real life. We all fall into our habits, our routines and our ruts, consciously or unconsciously to avoid living. To avoid having to do the messy part." -- director Andrew Stanton

Morality in ‘An Inspector Calls’

Social and Historical Context - Videos

In class today we learned about the social and historical context of An Inspector Calls. It might be useful for some of you to watch the videos again - if you'd like to do so, click here. There are some other videos there too which might be helpful.