Dramatic tension is a practice used by story tellers and play writes. It can be made using language or actions, dramatic tension is designed to keep the audience hooked and on the edge of their seats. I intend to find out how JB Priestly creates dramatic tension in his play Inspector Calls. I am going to see how the language of the time has effects on the methods he uses and see which scenes in the play cause the greatest amounts of dramatic tension. I will start with a brief description of the story.
An inspector arrives at the home of Arthur Birling is a self made man in the industrial period of Britain. He believes in the rising economy and has every faith in himself and family. He believes ‘a man looks after himself and his own.’ The inspector questions Birling over the suicide of a young girl Eva Smith. In turn he questions the rest of Birlings family, his daughter Sheila, her fiancé Gerald Croft, his son Eric and his wife Mrs Birling. Each reveals injustices on their parts concerning Eva Smith. With a stunning twist at the end of the lay the Inspector is revealed to be a fake. After he has left they receive a phone call saying that a girl has been found dead and an inspector will be coming to question them.
There is a clear moral message being delivered throughout the play. This is that you should be aware of the affects of your actions may have on other people. It is important to understanding the whole play that this concept is grasped. Priestly uses the characters as symbols, they convey different stereotypical beliefs of the era. Mr Birling is an example of the man of this era, modern thinking was coming into play, due to this people became sure in their beliefs and this led to men such as Birling appearing pompous. He ‘knows’ what is best for his family. He ‘knows’ what is wrong with the world. His ignorance is highlighted with these two lines.-‘The worlds developing so fast it will make war impossible’-just before the start of world war one.-‘The Titanic- unsinkable absolutely unsinkable.’-Titanic hits an iceberg and perishes killing most the passengers. A reason for many of the deaths was pointed at the lack of lifeboats onboard. When studying the book there are two points we must remember when studying this play. The first is that Mr Birlings views which appear misinformed and pompous were the common thoughts of most of his generation, not his own. Secondly and in conjunction with this we must try and view him as a symbol as opposed to a character. He is always trying to better his social status and he sees his daughter marrying Gerald Croft, son of Sir Croft, of Crofts LTD as the ideal opportunity to move up the social ladder. Birling is a mans man and tries hard to keep his feelings and emotions well under wrap. His words seem to have a much more positive charge when talking about the forth coming engagement of his daughter. He lets his guard down after Mrs Birling, Sheila and Eric leave the room. This is a second hint at Birlings generation, they are all show. He begins to joke about not getting into trouble ‘as long as we all behave ourselves.’ Birling is blind to any slight chance of his family getting into trouble. This shows how he distances himself from ‘the ordinary people’ when in reality he is just a normal working class man with large goals. This scene is the last relaxed one in the whole play. Priestly fattens up the audience with Birlings self indulgent tripe and then hits the audience with a bombshell, the Inspector. It is quickly obvious to the audience that the Inspector is about to take Birling off his pedestal. Birling however is ignorant to any threat posed by the Inspector, assuming that he just ‘wants a warrant.’ This is a foundation for the whole story the tension starts to build in this scene but it never reaches a high point.
