Priestley manipulates his audience into believing they are being taken back into a period of stability which is established by the stage directions which suggest a naturalistic setting, ‘fairly large suburban house’ and ‘good solid furniture of the period’. The setting and lighting are very important. Priestley describes the scene in detail at the opening of Act 1, so that the audience has the immediate impression of a ‘heavily comfortable house’. The setting is constant as all the action happens in the same place. Priestley says that the lighting should be ‘pink and intimate’ before the inspector arrives which reinforces the idea of a rose-tinted glow to the room. When the inspector arrives the lighting changes to ‘brighter and harder’ which gives the impression that the family are under interrogation and may find themselves in an uncomfortable situation. The lighting reflects the mood of the play. There are, however, subtle hints that not all is as it seems as early on in the play the audience wonders whether the happy atmosphere is forced. The Edwardian era contained cracks in society; complacency meant that clues to future upheavals were ignored. And so too with the Birling family, although the immediate setting in the household appears solid and secure, cracks soon become obvious. As the first clues of cracks appear in the stage directions before Act 1, we soon learn that the ‘good solid furniture’ is all a veneer and Priestley hints at this in the fact that the house is ‘not cosy and homelike’.
Birling’s speech is littered with dramatic irony. As the play is set in 1912 and was first produced in Moscow in 1945 and London in 1946 audience at the time knew everything that had happened in that period of time, while the Birling family did not. The audience knows how wrong Mr. Birling is when he makes confident predictions about there not being a war ‘Nobody wants war, except some half-civilized folks in the Balkans’ and he is also excited about the sailing of the Titanic ‘New York in five days....and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’, the ship that famously sank on her maiden voyage. This creates a tension between the audience and the characters and action on stage. Dramatic irony is also used by Priestley to expose Birling’s selfish philosophy as wrong about the war, the strikes and the Titanic and also his belief that ‘A man has to look after himself’ which will be shown as one which should be condemned.
The timing of entrances and exits is crucial in the play. Priestley uses them to add tension and excitement into the play. For example, the Inspector arrives immediately after Birling told Gerald that ‘a man has to look after himself and his own’. Also, right at the end of Act 2, just as Mrs. Birling denounces the father of the child and claims that ‘he should be made an example of’, Sheila and the audience that Eric is involved and Eric enters the room. There is evocation of tension as each member of the family is interrogated by the Inspector and found to have played a part in Eva’s death. This is reinforced by Sheila’s tearful interruptions of Mrs. Birling’s self assurance, ‘Mother – stop – stop!....But don’t you see…’. The Inspector’s pattern of questioning is ‘one line of inquiry at a time’ which is an example of Priestley’s use of dramatic structure. This has the purpose of establishing a chain of events ‘otherwise there’s a muddle’. As an inspector of their consciences he must make his point absolutely clear. Priestley breaks this chronological pattern of investigation when he questions Mrs. Birling before Eric which gives the effect of shattering any secure expectancy of the audience as well as exposing Mrs. Birling as pompous and cold-hearted. Also the repetition of the last words of Act One and Act Two and the first words of Act Two and Act Three contributes to the sense of no escape for both the audience and the characters. This is again reinforced by the structure of the play and the fact that it is a ‘well-made play’ and adheres to classical unities of time, place and action which gives the effect of no escape for the characters until they have learned their lessons.
The ending leaves the audience on a cliff-hanger. In Act 3 the Birlings believed themselves to be cleared of any blame when it is discovered that the Inspector wasn't real and that no girl had died in the infirmary. This releases some of the tension - but the final telephone call, announcing that a real inspector is on his way to ask questions about the suicide of a young girl, suddenly restores the tension very dramatically. It is an unexpected final twist and sustains the message of avoiding complacency and acknowledging responsibility.
The Inspector is a representation of everything that Priestley believes in and Mr. Birling is a similar representation of everything that Priestley hates and tries to fight against. Birling monopolises the dialogue which reinforces his pompous attitude and uses the exclusive first person singular, ‘I’, while the Inspector shows his belief in socialism by using the inclusive first person plural, ‘we’. The Inspector is used by Priestley to convey his message of social responsibility and how we must all care for each other. Birling is totally selfish and believes that ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’. These views are in sharp contrast to the Inspector’s who believes that;
‘We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for one another.’
The rhetorical devices in the Inspector’s final speech are a robust lesson to the audience and a culmination of Priestley’s message of responsibility to others. The pattern of three in the above quotation reinforces his message of compassion for all, of brotherhood. The use of repetition further strengthen his message, especially of the inclusive plural first person pronoun ’we’ at the beginning of the short sentences. The repetition of ‘millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths’ reminds the audience of the number of ordinary people who suffer and need our help. His final sentence carries the stark warning of ‘fire and blood and anguish’ in its reminder to the immediately post-war audience of the horror of war. The repetition of ‘and’ would help to evoke the misery of the effects of the total war that involved civilians.
The Inspector is used throughout the play as a socialist with a compassionate attitude who conveys the realization of the fact that we are responsible for each other and the importance of society. The Inspector has a keen sense of moral which is shown by his disgust and anger by what has been done to Eva Smith. The choice of Eva’s surname, Smith, reinforces the idea that ‘there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us’ and that it is our duty to look after everyone that we share our planet with, no matter what their social status happens to be.
Priestley showed great interest in the theories of time of Dunne and Ouspensky. Dunne’s theory laid out the idea that you could be given the gift of seeing forward as well as seeing back . This would mean that you could see forward into the future to see the consequences of your actions so you could change your actions. Ouspensky’s theory was that when we die we re-enter our life once more form the beginning. We are born into the same house and continue to repeat all the events of our life. This cycle would go on and on unless we changed ourselves spiritually and open the way into a new life. Priestley’s interest in these theories of time are shown in the reactions of the characters in the play at the end. Mr. and Mrs. Birling and Gerald return to the blind, complacent attitude shown at the beginning and there is no sense of moral growth or social awareness. If, as in Dunne’s theory, they had the ability to look into the future and foresee the consequences of their actions they would probably not change. There is a sharp contrast between their reactions and those of Eric and Sheila, the younger generation, who are suggested to herald the new era of social reform and social security. They realize that things cannot continue as before and that something has changed them morally, as in Ouspensky’s theory, they have had the opportunity to foresee the future and change their actions and they are shown to have acknowledged this and to take the opportunity to change.
In conclusion, Priestley uses many methods and techniques to reinforce the idea of social awareness and his message that ‘We are responsible for one another’. All of these have an effect upon the audience and help us to understand the beliefs of socialism. His play, ‘An Inspector Calls’, should be seen by everyone to help them to realize the importance of social equality in our society.
