Explore the ways in which Priestley uses the inspector as a dramatic device in Act1 to extract information from Mr. Birling and Sheila

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Samantha Owen 10SDB

Coursework- Explore the ways in which Priestley uses the inspector as a dramatic device in Act1 to extract information from Mr. Birling and Sheila

Priestley uses the inspector as a dramatic device to open up the lives of the Birling family, after the horrible suicide involves a young lady each family in turn have met and caused misery to, and create drama whilst using a wall- building method to break into the characters individually. The Inspector adds mystery to the play as to where he has come from and to what purpose he is there for. The inspector adapts his technique to the individual he is interrogating and links each members stories in an un-ravelling effect. The play was written 1945 set back in time to1912 so that the audience have the advantage of knowing what was to happen in the ‘future’.

The inspector has many roles within the play to add drama and encapsulate the audience, one of which is to insert more mystery to the play and leave the Birlings reviewing themselves as well as the so-called inspector who has just appeared on their doorstep. Edna invites the inspector into the dining room where the Birling family are celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald. Throughout the play there are doubts over where the inspector has come from and who exactly he is. At the end of the play after which the inspector has left, Gerald comes back form a walk where he had found out that the inspector in fact hadn’t been part of the local department. This leaves the family confused and trying to piece together the inspector and who he is. The last line of the play Birling reads ‘That was the police. A girl has just died- on her way to the infirmary- after swallowing some disinfectant. And a police inspector is on his way here- to ask some- questions-‘. Neither the family nor the audience know exactly who the inspector is. He could be their conscience, a ghost, or a time- traveller, he could be anyone. However the question still remains to why he was there. None of the families’ participation in the suicide of this young girl is illegal, just plainly morally wrong. The inspector narrated this story, as he is the one who unravels the plot, the story line. Bit by bit he pulls at the family until the whole sordid affair is out and the family are left bare. This could mean that the inspector is a conscience simply visiting the family to show how they are mistreating others in society. The inspector also adds mystery in that he only ever shows one character the ‘photo’ at a time and nobody understands why, until the end when Gerald suggests that he could show different members of the family a different photo, and could simply be talking about different people rather than one woman who simply changed her name. There is no evidence that this is true, though neither is there any evidence that it is false, so the inspector is used again to create mystery for the audience, as they are unaware of the meaning of the photo.

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Wall building is the effect described in play that is used by the inspector to tap into the individuals psychologically. Sheila says ‘ you mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl. If you do, then the inspector will just break it down.’ This shows that the inspector openly lets them build up a wall, whether its out of sympathy- like Sheila, or by getting angry and agitated like Birling, ready to break it down if you put one foot wrong. With Birling the inspector gets him ruffled and hot under the collar ...

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