In 1912 women being inferior meant that Mr Birling rarely listened to the females of the household, which made the inspector less compassionate with him as the inspector seemed to be more of a socialist.
The play would have been relevant to a 1940’s audience as it involves a lot of the values that the audience would have lived by before any of the significant event between 1912 and the 1940s. The audience may also start to understand what was going wrong back then that caused all the events up to the 1940s.The play also has relevance to today’s audience as it indicates values that should still be a strong influence on our lives today.
Priestley uses dramatic devices to convey some of his concerns and ideas. The use of setting is a constant reminder of the class system, as in a theatre production the play stays in one room. In the stage directions Priestley makes sure that the room looks stately but not comfortable or cosy. In a theatre production the setting doesn’t change as it is written in ‘real time’, which is much easier for a theatre performance. In the black and white film version, most of the film is still in the one room, but there are flashbacks for how each character came into contact with Eva Smith. One of the main problems with this is that in each flashback, you see Eva Smith, but you see the same girl each time, which makes the ending idea that it isn’t the same girl impossible.
Most of the characters are The Birlings family and people connected with them, which means the characters are mainly upper class. The only lower class characters are Eva Smith and Edna the maid. Mr Birling tries to stay in charge as he is the oldest, and is male, but he loses his authority over Sheila and Eric as they could see what was going to happen and Mr and Mrs Birling couldn’t. Mr Birling tries to keep his authority by siding with Gerald as he would be the second most powerful in the household and shares Mr Birling’s views. Unfortunately for him that was not enough for him to keep his authority.
Things are not as perfect as they seem because The Birlings just want to appear perfect to everyone else. Sheila didn’t feel properly engaged until she had the ring, so she obviously was slightly unsure about her relationship with Gerald.
The Inspector is a useful dramatic device for Priestley because the Inspectors views in the play are the same as Priestley’s (socialistic), so Priestley uses the Inspector to help convey his own concerns and ideas about the class system to The Birling family, who represent the old fashioned views and values of a lot of the general public at the time.
Before the inspector arrives the lighting is soft and warm, to highlight the general mood at the time, as they were having a family celebration. When the Inspector enters the lighting turns to a cold white, which reflects the change in mood, as the Inspector is given a hostile stay from Mr Birling, who was not happy to be joined by the Inspector. The cold colour may also represent the manor in which the Inspector conducts his investigation, holding no secrets back and causing chaos in the family, by using no compassion or understanding. This makes The Birling family uneasy in the Inspector’s presence. Also before the inspector questions one particular character, he stares at them for a time, which aids their unease. Priestley uses Act One as a dramatic device by making it completely ironic in retrospect. If the audience know how everything mentioned in the play is going to turn out then they may be easier influenced into Priestley’s view of a ‘fairer’ society.
In an old film version of the play featured old fashioned acting and characterisation. The acting was very over-dramatic but just suited to the time. The set design of the film was true to the wishes of Priestley, as well as the props and costumes. All the actors were chosen to suit Priestley’s description, whereas at a theatre production we went to see recently, the actors weren’t chosen correctly. Sheila was too old, as was Mrs Birling, and Mr Birling looked younger than his wife. The movement in the film production was very over-dramatic to compliment the acting. All the actors on the film production used Received Pronunciation (BBC English), as any common accents where frowned upon at that time.
Even though both performances that I watched were slightly outdated, inadequate and old fashioned, they helped my understanding of the play because they used the correct pronunciations and expression for the words. This way you know exactly what Priestley is trying to say.
In conclusion Priestley uses dramatic devices in Act One to influence the audience with his view, so they see how a small meaningless action that they do, may destroy someone else’s life. Priestley interests and involves the audience in the play by giving it a good storyline, and using dramatic irony with the events after the play was set, so the audience feel like they know something that the characters don’t, so the audience know whats going to happen, or at least try to guess.
At the beginning of Act One, the audience think that the Birlings are perfect, which is just what the Birlings try to do, but by the end of Act One, the audience starts to realise that it is really all an act.
Priestley’s message was that we are all part of one community. We are all responsible for each other, and our actions may affect someone else’s life. He wanted to show how social status may lead to exploitation and hypocrisy. Being a socialist, Priestley believed there is a collective responsibility for each other, even if some people don’t feel guilty about something until they know how it really affected someone else. He also believed that the class system and gender roles were wrong at that time. But after the war things changed as everybody had to pull together to do what they could. This is still apparent today, as the class system is less apparent and less important, and the gender roles are completely different, women are no longer inferior.
