Morality play

A play that teaches moral lessons, often through characters who represent virtues or vices.

A dramatic tradition that teaches moral lessons, often through characters representing virtues, vices or moral authority.

The play combines a recognisable family setting and detective-style questioning with the morality play tradition. Medieval morality plays taught audiences about right and wrong, often through representative figures embodying virtues and vices. Inspector Goole can similarly be read as a figure of moral judgement: he exposes selfishness and demands change, rather than merely collecting evidence of crimes.

A medieval and early Tudor dramatic tradition in which characters representing moral qualities help teach audiences about good, evil and the possibility of repentance.

The morality play tradition helps explain this emphasis on judgement and repentance. Medieval and early Tudor morality plays used figures representing virtues and vices to teach audiences moral lessons. Priestley’s characters remain recognisable individuals, but the Inspector can also be understood as a representative of conscience or responsibility.

A drama in which characters representing moral qualities guide or tempt a central figure, encouraging the audience to reflect on good and evil.

A dramatic form that teaches moral lessons, traditionally through representative human characters and personified virtues or vices.

A drama that teaches a moral lesson, often through characters who represent contrasting values.

A drama that teaches moral lessons, traditionally through characters representing virtues or sins and through opportunities for repentance.

The morality play tradition helps explain this reckoning. Popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, morality plays taught lessons through sins, judgement and repentance. Birling’s greed and pride, and Sheila’s envy and anger, give Priestley’s drama a comparable moral dimension.

A dramatic form that teaches moral lessons through characters’ wrongdoing, judgement and opportunities to change.

A play that teaches moral lessons through characters' choices, wrongdoing and opportunities to repent.

A dramatic tradition in which representative characters and conflicts teach lessons about good and evil, wrongdoing and moral change.

Medieval and early Tudor morality plays used representative figures and conflicts to teach audiences about wrongdoing and moral change. Priestley’s modern domestic drama similarly tests its characters and uses the Inspector as a moral guide. Sheila and Eric accept the lesson; their parents retreat towards their old attitudes.

Drama in which characters can represent moral qualities and the action teaches a lesson about choosing between good and evil.

A play that teaches a moral lesson, often through characters who represent contrasting values. An Inspector Calls draws on this tradition while also using the suspense of a detective story.

A drama that teaches a moral lesson, often through characters who represent human qualities, virtues or vices.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720