On page 10 there is a big moment of suspense when the play has a stop because they “ hear the sharp ring of a front door bell” and “Birling stops to listen” this creates a confused and frustrated impact on the audience because it draws them in and makes them want to keep watching to find out who it is at the door.
On page eleven as the inspector enters even though he is a small man he “creates at once an impression of massiveness” and then he talks in really short straight to the point sentences. The inspector creates tension when he announces the news of what has happened which hits all of the characters. There is more tension cuts through Birlings sentence and announces a girls name is Eva Smith. When the inspector says the girls name is Eva Smith, Birling gets tense and talks “slowly” when he responds to the name the inspector creates more tension when he takes the picture out of his pocket towards all of the other characters apart from Birling because only Birling gets to see the photo.
On page 18 Birling cuts over Sheila and this is like he is trying to keep in control and is a bit tense because she might say something he doesn’t want the inspector to know. Tension and suspense hits all of the characters in the room on page 21. When the inspector pulls out another photo but only shows it to Sheila and then the tension builds up when they all see her reaction when she sees the photo, the audience is curious and they also want to see the photo.
There is some tension between Eric, Sheila and the inspector as they begin to argue and repeating little parts of what they are saying,
As the inspector mentions that the girl changed her name to Daisy Renton, the reaction that Gerald gave made him seem really tense and made the audience feel slightly in suspense wanting to know how he knows her, this also leads to great tension between Gerald and Sheila, and as the inspector leaves the room they begin to argue about Gerald’s reaction towards the name Daisy Renton and how he knew who she was. The way Sheila cuts across Gerald seems to make him feel tense and frustrated because he can’t say what he wants to say to Sheila in his own defence. When Sheila asks Gerald “when did you first get to know her?” the pause that J B Priestly uses at this point is really good and has a good effect on the characters and the audience by creating suspense and anticipation just like the other pauses he has used throughout act one of the play.
Right at the end of act one when the inspector slowly comes into the room and has a short pause, then just says “well?” and the curtain comes down giving an extreme effect on the audience as it is at a key point of the play and it makes them want to know what happens next but has to wait until the next scene to find out what happens and what the inspector knows about Gerald and Eva Smith or if he knows Daisy Renton.
In this essay I have given examples of tension and suspense that J B Priestly has created in the play An inspector calls by using pauses in perfect places and just at the right time, uses of cut ins across other peoples sentences and secrecy of important information like the photo’s that everybody wanted to see.
