The style of the play seems at the beginning to be straight forward, a detective thriller. After the Birlings family celebrations with Gerald Croft are understood, the inspector arrives with the death by suicide of Eva Smith. The effects of the play, the lighting of soft warm colours for the family celebration and then the bright harsh lighting when the inspector comes, increases the tension and acts as a symbol, to symbolise that the inspector wants to inspect the family and show up all their problems. Also the use of sound effects, the doorbell, which is used to show the arrival of a visitor, breaks up the family celebrations. I think that this is to give understanding to the audience of what the mood is like. This is an outside character, which we later find out to be a fake, comes in and ruins the mood like an intruder. The significance of the doorbell is that it happens during Mr Birling’s speech, because it puts across to the audience the idea that Mr Birling is wrong in what he is saying.
For example, he says, "The titanic is unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" and that "The Germans don't want a war nobody wants a war". All these things tell us about his ignorant ideas about society, as in reality we know that these things he said were not true. The Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage and world war one broke out 2 years after the play was set. This is a reason why when I read the play I regard Mr Birling as someone foolish.
The inspector emphasizes the importance of thinking and acting as a community, reflecting J.B. Priestley's socialistic views.
When questioning Mr Birling, the inspector shows a more personal attitude towards Mr Birling, and believes entirely in what he is saying. Mr Birlings actions change within a few moments of the inspector’s sudden arrival. At first, he and Gerald Croft joke about the reasons for the inspectors visit, this is probably because he feels that he has nothing to fear because of his high status. The inspector is unsympathetic towards Mr. Birling, which seems to keep him under control, even though he is from a lower class. Priestly is trying to outrage the audience, and stir up the emotions and bring out the corruption of the class system.
The Inspector is always aware of the lack of time and that everything is controlled by it. Little things like this show that she understands the Inspector. Also Sheila says to her parents "It's you two who are being childish- trying not to face the facts".
The main reason for her change in attitude I think is that she has an open mind and is willing to listen to what people have to say. More importantly, she tries to improve the bad aspects of her personality. She admits "I behaved badly too. I know I did. I'm ashamed of it". It is obvious that she wants to change because she keeps saying, "You're pretending everything's just as it was before" and she does not want it to be that way. The only other person to share her attitude is Eric. I think that she will try to improve her family's relationship and help people in need, treating everybody with the same respect.
This is very different in Mrs Birlings mind as she is more callous than her husband. She is fully aware of her social status, and uses this to gain whatever she wants.
