Another form of a dramatic device Priestley uses is the use of certain sound effects. The main one is the use of the doorbell that rang when Inspector Goole enters Birling’s house. The audience would easily be able to identify that it has to be the inspector ringing on the Birling’s house as the play is called “An Inspector Calls”. At the Edwardian time it was not very usual that is visited at this time of the night. Therefore the doorbell also represents a sudden change in the play.
The point in time the doorbell rings is also used very effectively. It rings exactly after Arthur Birling told Gerald, who is getting engaged to his daughter, that “a man has to make own way – has to look after himself”. This suggests that there will be a contradiction to Birling’s thoughts about knighthood. Therefore the doorbell is a symbol of somebody’s response thinking the opposite.
Life in that time around the Second World War was much more different from now. For Example in that time everyone was classed in different classes. There was the middle, the most important class in the country at that time. There was also Higher and Lower class. If you wanted a job they would look at your class. The lower class people were poor and found difficulties in living. The classes were made from your background and heritage, people with a rich background would find it easier to live because they would have money and could do mostly anything they want. An Inspector Calls is a play written by J.B. Priestley in 1945, based before World War I, in 1912. The play is about a family, the majority of whom are upper class, who live in a capitalist atmosphere; full of lies, pride and pure selfishness. Throughout the play an inspector gradually reveals the characters' true identity, looking at how they all contributed to the suicide of Eva Smith. As the play progresses you begin to see that the characters start to understand their personalities, 'wrong-doings' and problems and each of them, despite differing degrees of transformation, move closer to being a socialist citizen. Priestley's main concerns at the time of writing An Inspector Calls were the state of society and social inequality; there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Priestley was a socialist, whilst the characters that he was trying to convey to the audience were, in general, capitalist. The whole play is based in the Birlings living room where they are celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald Croft. They are having a dinner party with the Birling family and Gerald, put on not just to celebrate the engagement but because Mr Birling is looking to transform his business to join with Gerald's father, in what Mr Birling sees as a great business opportunity, and a chance to move higher up the social ladder. The atmosphere is very happy and joyful until an Inspector arrives to question the family about the death of a young girl called Eva Smith. As the inspector discloses what each member of the dinner party did to contribute to Eva's suicide, each character gets upset and angry as the inspector turns to them to inform them of how they contributed to her death. Some of the characters are big enough to show regret and take blame, whilst some cannot swallow their pride; and are too scared to lose their status, and thus, continue to lie. Priestley uses these themes to get across his concerns to his audience and the characters. He does this by using, what turns out to be an unofficial inspector.
We immediately see that the Birlings are an Upper Class family, as they can see by the way that they have dresses, in tails and white ties, and you can also see that they are an upper class family because of the luxuries that they are having, for example, port and champagne. Another point that you can see that they are an upper class family is by the fact that they are in a “fairly large suburban house”, and this means that they were quiet wealthy, and that they have “solid furniture of the period”, meaning them to have furniture that everyone else would have at their houses, during that time period. The Play is set in “the dining room of a fairly large suburban house”, showing that the play would take place in this one scene only, the dining room, and it is the same set throughout the whole of the play. This is so as to keep the audience’s attention on the characters and the entrances and exits, so then, the audience will just focus on the people, not the setting. Many of the events that Mr Birling says would not happen, for example, the sinking of the Titanic, and that the First World War would not happen, do in fact happen. These are examples of Dramatic Irony, as the audience knows that they have happened, but the actors do not know this. This is also used to show how idiotic Mr Birling is, as Priestley is a Socialist, and is trying to convey his thoughts about Capitalism into the play, and thus, creating an idiotic character like Mr Birling in the play. The staging is also important, as it says on the stage direction, that the lighting is “pink and intimate”, to show that there is something going on in the dining room, in this case, an engagement, and the lighting is pink to make it look like the room is full of love, but gets “brighter and harder”, to create tension, when the inspector arrives.
Not all of the Birling family are upper class. This is shown by the fact that Mr Birling is provincial in his speech. He also uses colloquial language, like “fiddlesticks”, which is unceremonious language, and shows that Mr Birling was not born into an Upper Class family. As we know, he has moved up the Social Ladder through Wealth and the marriage with Mrs Birling. We know that Mrs Birling was born into an upper class family as she knows how to behave, for example, when Mr Birling says that the food is good, and to thank the cook. Mrs Birling then says “Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things-“, meaning that Mrs Birling knows how to “act” upper class, and this shows that Mr Birling has not been in an Upper Class family. Mr Birling has gained wealth through the industrial revolution, gaining money through the investments of coal and steel, and thus, gaining money through the revolution. However, we know that they are Upper Class, as by looking at their furniture, and how they are dressed, and that they have a maid. Mr Birling is also planning to move higher up the Social ladder through the marriage of Sheila Birling, his daughter, and Gerald Croft, a successful businessman. However, we also know that Mr Birling does not know the etiquettes of the upper class, thus showing he is not upper class.
In “An Inspector Calls”, Mr Birling uses many phrases which are Ironic. Some examples of this are; when he says the Titanic would never sink, and when he says that there will never be an outbreak of War. When Mr Birling say; “Everyone should think of themselves”, implicating that no one should think of others, and mind their own business, showing that he is a Capitalist, and this is when the exact moment of when there is a knock at the door and the inspector enters. Mr Birling is therefore shown as an idiot, and Priestley is making a travesty of Mr Birling.
As the play was set in 1912, but was written in 1945, the audience know what has happened in all of that time period, and hence causing Dramatic Irony. Due to some of the things that Mr Birling says, like that the Titanic is unsinkable, people start to think he is daft, and does not know anything, even if he just pretends to. This makes the audience start to not believe anything that Mr Birling says throughout the whole of the rest of the play, as he is wrong, and, in Priestley’s view, portrays him as a senseless fool, as a capitalist. Mr Birling is not shown as a creditable character, as what he says is inaccurate, and Priestley is making a criticism of Capitalists.
In my opinion, Priestley made Mr Birling an Ironic Character for the reason that of Mr Birling being a Capitalist. Priestly was a socialist, so in his scrutiny, he can see that Mr Birling is exploiting workers, so hence, presenting Mr Birling as an unfavourable character. Personally, I think that Priestly did not like people like Mr Birling; in fact, I think he detested people like Mr Birling, who exploit workers, and only cares about money, so creates a character that is foolish, and does not know much about the World.
At the beginning of the play, Sheila is very excited about her engagement. She is a bit like her parents, and she is also naive. Sheila, at the beginning of the play, and before, was very jealous, and a bit snobbish. She was jealous of Eva Smith, when she tried on a dress at Milwards, and Eva looked better than her; due to this, she went and complained about her, and insisted to the manager Eva had been insolent and must be sacked or the Birlings would close their account, as they were regular customers. From this, we can tell that she is spoilt and used to getting what she wants. She abuses her power as the daughter of an important customer to get rid of Eva Smith, and we can tell that she was very Jealous of her. We make out that very trivial issues disturb her, and that she is hot-headed. Although she has probably never in her life before considered the conditions of the workers, she shows her compassion immediately she hears of her father's treatment of Eva Smith: "But these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people." However, Sheila is the most emotional character and the one closest to being Socialist. Unlike her father she is very sympathetic and open-minded. However, despite this, Sheila does show her youth through act one. “You're squiffy” is a youthful way of saying “You're drunk” and “Oh - it's wonderful! Look Mummy - isn't it a beauty?” This shows a playful, joyful and slightly immature Sheila.
As the play progresses, Sheila turns sympathetic, and more towards the Socialist side, as she now cares more for other people. She also accepts responsibility towards the death of Eva Smith, and she is no longer prepared to pretend that they are a perfect upper class family. She also ends the relationship with Gerald, by giving him back his engagement ring, and after this, he goes for a walk. However, Sheila also says; "last summer, when you never came near me", showing that she is not as naive and shallow as she first appears to be like. Sheila regrets all her actions that she had done to get rid of Eva Smith, and made her commit suicide. Sheila also does not like the fact that she too had played a part in leading to the suicide of Eva. It is also appealing that she is not angry with Gerald when she hears about the affair; she says that she respects his honesty, showing that she is becoming more mature. She is also angry with her parents in Act 3 for trying to "pretend that nothing much has happened." Sheila says "It frightens me the way you talk:" she cannot understand how they cannot have learnt from the evening in the same way that she has, and that they do not care what had happened to Eva Smith at all. At the end of the play, Sheila is much wiser. She can now moderate her parents and Gerald from a new perspective, but the greatest change has been in her; her social conscience has changed and she is aware of her own responsibilities.
Priestley compares Sheila and Mrs Birling in the play “An Inspector Calls”. At the beginning of the play, Sheila and Mrs Birling are similar. Mrs Birling stays proud and snobbish throughout the play, but does it in a subtle way, whilst Sheila only has the characteristics as her mother at the beginning of the play. Towards the end of the play however, Sheila turns out to be caring and responsible, showing that the younger generations accept change, as they had experienced the industrial revolution and continuous change. Mrs Birling still does not except the blame towards Eva Smith’s death towards the end of the play. She is unmoved and her responsibility for her actions does not change, and she is still unmoved until she learns that she had just killed her own grandchild. Mrs Birlings is described at the start as "about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband's social superior”, showing that she is a snob, very aware of the differences between social classes. She is irritated when Mr Birling makes the social gaffe of praising the cook in front of Gerald and later is very dismissive of Eva, saying "Girls of that class." She tries to deny things that she doesn't want to believe: Eric's drinking, Gerald's affair with Eva, and the fact that a working class girl would refuse money even if it was stolen, claiming "She was giving herself ridiculous airs." She admits she was "prejudiced" against the girl who applied to her committee for help and saw it as her "duty" to refuse to help her.
Priestley intentionally creates two very different characters so as to show how different the older and younger generations are. Priestley also creates these two different characters because it shows how different people can be, even if they are from the same family. The opinions of Priestley are by the ironic presentation of Mr Birling in particular. It also gives tha audience an insight into a range of political views, for example, capitalism and socialism, giving the audience an opportunity to see if they are concerned with the self, or concerned with everyone.
Sheila represents the younger generation, showing change, and Mrs Birling represents the older generation, showing people who do not accept change. Priestley tries to show faults in the thinking of Mrs Birling, and capitalists, and is trying to portray them as hard-hearted and cold. This shows that the younger generations are much more willing to accept change, and responsibility. However, the older generations are not willing to accept change, and think that they are right, as they are older.
In conclusion Priestley uses a wide range of dramatic devices to convey his political and social concerns and ideas to the members of audience. He made the audience very clear that the capitalism and egoism that was present in 1912 has to be put aside and socialism has to replace it. Priestley made it clear by using a member of the lower class (Inspector Goole) and the upper class (Arthur Birling) and juxtaposing both of them. By doing this he could make the contrast between the classes clearer and show the opinions and concerns of both classes. He used the Inspector very well to voice his own opinions to the audience. I think this play may still be relevant to today’s society because even today there are people that are in favour of capitalism and egoism. This play could convince them that we are all “members of one body” and that we are “responsible for one another”.
