English

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How does Priestley make An Inspector Calls dramatic? Consider the inspector’s revelations, how the characters react and the importance of place in the play.

In ‘An Inspector Calls’ J.B Priestly uses a wide variety of techniques to add drama and interest, this was needed to maintain the audience’s attention throughout the performance.

The first section of the text is a very long and detailed paragraph of stage directions. This sets up the performance by firstly describing the location ‘The dining room of a fairly large suburban house.’ It then continues to go into more detail about the surroundings and the atmosphere they should create. ‘The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and home like.’ This amount of detail is necessary because it is needed to reflect the lifestyle and status of the family, who are themselves explained in detail further into the stage direction.

Initially it describes each person’s appearance; Mr Birling is described as ‘heavy looking’ and Shelia is called ‘a pretty girl’. It also continues to explain their attitudes; the most important is that of Mrs Birling; ‘She is a rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior.’ This is an important point to make clear at the start of the play as it wouldn’t necessarily come across simply through the dialogue. The final statement of the direction states what is happening currently in the scene where they ‘are celebrating a special occasion’. We later find out this to be the engagement of Shelia and Gerald.




This is the most prominent example of stage directions; others mostly just state the movements of the characters. This description of setting is important because of the importance of place through out the play. All of the play is based in the dining room of the Birling’s home. It is elaborately decorated, and would be recognised by people of the time as a n upper class family. The main reason for keeping the room constant is realised when the inspector is introduced. Firstly it becomes apparent that the inspector is an intruder in the Birling’s home. They are relaxed in familiar surroundings, it is their family home where they ultimately feel secure, and when the inspector introduces himself they begin to feel on edge this is shown best by the stage directions as Mr Birling replies to the inspector

Birling (after a pause, with a touch of impatience) well, what is it then?

By keeping the set of the play constant it gives the audience the feel that the characters are trapped by the dining room walls. As they have no idea what the rest of the house is like they can only envision them in one place. This aids the play in a lot of ways, because the sets are not changing through out the audience can focus on the storyline and characters instead of always having to look at the details of set and get an understanding of the location or relevance of surroundings. Also because of the limitations in set atmosphere is built up but isn’t lost as the centre of each scene doesn’t change at all. This works for the play because in makes the tension intense.

Further through the play it becomes an interest as to when a character leaves the room. The audience becomes interested into where they have gone, if they have fled the house or contacted some one else. Also a big point of interest is if the character will come back. This hesitance adds ambiguity which is a very successful dramatic technique.

The room could be symbolic to the main theme of responsibility. The idea is that the characters are all trapped inside so they can’t escape the control of the inspector, in the same what that they all have to realise they can’t escape their responsibilities.

Arguably the most dramatic sections of ‘An Inspector Calls’ are the inspector’s individual interrogations with each character. This drama is made more intense by the sole setting of the dining room. The all witness each others downfalls, people who they had respected are picked at until they admit their own terrible secrets. As well as making everyone nervous it makes the interrogation seem even more awful to the individual as they see how accurate the inspector is.

The first person the inspector targets is Mr. Birling this is a tactical move on the inspectors behalf as he reveals Mr. Birling’s unfair treatment towards his workhouse staff appals his family. This means they lose all respect they had for him, therefore he loses his powerful role of leader over the group. But this role needs to be replaced especially as the family are in the midst of such traumatic times, and so the most dominant person takes over, in this case the inspector. This works well because the more venerable characters, particularly Shelia feel the need to be totally honest to him, making the stories more detailed and dramatic.

The inspector’s main interrogation technique could be generalised under the title of ambiguity. When he first arrives he is very vague as to why he is at the Birling’s home. ‘I’d like some information, if you don’t mind.’ Because of his confidence the family do not doubt his authenticity and continue to speak to him. The audience would realise this and be interested to find out why he has chosen the Birling’s. The most striking use of ambiguity is the way he presents a photograph to each character. At no point does he show more than one person the photograph. This leaves us with the suspicion that he could be showing photographs of totally different girls. Also the inspector could be using the two names of the girl as a way to include the whole family in the interrogation. This adds drama to the play through the use of irony; the audience have the suspicion that the inspector’s claims may be fraudulent but the characters don’t realise.

The language he uses also leaves a lot of space for the characters own interpretation. ‘I think you remember Eva Smith now don’t you Mr. Birling?’ Their responses are then tailored to what they believe the inspector to be interested in. This shows the audience how much guilt they are feeling, as before their answers would be carefully thought out. He also persuades the characters to admit by urging them on ‘Go on.’ this gives them the impression that he is hearing the response he expected and wants them to continue so they reveal more detail, only shocking their family members and the audience rather than the inspector. Also a lot of the descriptions the inspector gives the language is very melodramatic ‘a young woman drank some disinfectant and died, after several hours of agony.’ This is a very graphic description for a police officer to give, but the idea is to provoke an instant reaction of shock without having to reveal too much description so as not to let out his plan of action. This also makes powerful images in the midst of the audience it give an instant interest into how the family are connected to such a shocking incident. Along with this use of melodramatic language rhetorical questions are used regularly amidst his questionings. When he is speaking to Gerald about his involvement he quickly adds ‘well, we know one young woman who wasn’t, don’t we.’ As well as comparing the dead Eva Smith to Gerald’s sister the inspector also catches him out, giving him no chance for a response. This gives the audience an example of the atmosphere in the room, making the tension and so also the drama increase.

The whole play is based on a moral, of responsibility. After the audience has realised that the Inspector may not be all he claims they consider why he has visited the Birling’s. It seems as if his aim is to make them realise the fact that they have responsibility for people other than themselves. We also realise that it’s necessary for the younger generation, in this case Shelia and Eric to change the way they act, before they become set in their ways, the extreme version of this shown through Mr. Birling.

This moral is shown mainly through a comparison of reactions to the inspector. Mr. Birling is determined to believe that he has done no wrong, and that his social status means he should not need to worry. He try’s to pass off responsibility by refusing to focus on the situation, but instead making general comments;

‘Still I can’t accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?’

This attitude makes the audience dislike Mr. Birling because his view seems to be instantly at fault. This character works well because his attitude seems to be worsened by the fact that there are family members who realise their own, and everyone else’s mistakes. Shelia is the prime example of this, she is instantly worried about her families connection to the death of Eva Smith ‘Sorry! It’s just that I can’t help thinking about this girl- destroying herself so horribly � and I’ve been so happy tonight.’ And when she is told she herself has connections with Eva she is even more concerned; ‘I’ve told my father � he didn’t seem to think it amounted to much � but I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse. Did it make much difference to her?’

After the whole family have been subject to questioning they all start to deal out the blame. This is when we really see the characters who do not want to accept responsibility, such as Mr Birling. He tells Eric it is his fault, ‘You don’t seem to care about anything. But I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours list.’ Mrs Birling only defends her husband ‘I should think not. Eric, I’m absolutely ashamed of you.’ The comparison of views is used again, the strong views of Mr and Mrs Birling make Sheila and Eric’s opinions seem even more accurate. Eric is clear to understand the importance of what has happened. ‘I say the girls dead and we all helped to kill her � and that’s what matters.’ The audience realise that this is the right attitude to have so instantly side with Eric, making Birling’s fit of rage seem even more arrogant to the audience.

It could be viewed that restricting the play to one room affects it dramatically. This could be because of the loss of interest in the surroundings through the play, as there is no contrast to keep the audience engaged. But in my opinion this works for the play because you begin to become accustomed to the surroundings and begin to focus on the action in the play instead. The characters work well together as a whole as there is a variety of characters. This enables the audience to view contrasts between their reactions to their own and each others secrets.

Over all I think the play is successfully dramatic because of the wide use of techniques priestly uses. It is important to keep the audiences attention throughout the whole duration of the play and this is done by the use of language and an intriguing plot. Drama is introduced by involving irony and ambiguity along with twits and turns in the plot. As a text it could be viewed as over the top, but it must be realised that it is planned for the stage and so needs the ambiance and environment of the theatre.



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