Priestley had a message in his detective thriller play set in Edwardian England in an industrial city. Priestley manages to express his social and political views through how an upper/middle class family hide their secrets. Priestley is extremely critical of those with wealth and status and how people high in society refuse to acknowledge how their lives of others who are less fortunate.
One dramatic device that Priestley uses during his play is lighting. At the beginning of act one the lighting is “pink and intimate” showing a time of celebration. A fairly welcoming, pleasant scene. Later on in Act one though, the inspector arrives the lighting becomes “harder and brighter” this is showing the tension. It signals a change and therefore something is going to happen. Also the bright light could be thought of as a spotlight, as an inspector interrogates a witness.
Irony is another dramatic device that Priestley uses in act one of “An inspector calls”. Fairly near the beginning of the play Mr Birling mentions that the ship titanic is the unsinkable ship, he also mentions that war will never happen. However, Titanic did sink and we did go to war, and Priestley knew this when he wrote the play. I think the point Priestley is trying to make, is that Mr Birling thought he knew everything as a typical upper class man of that time would. Priestley sows not only was Mr Birling wrong but also many other upper class men.
When the doorbell rings in act one there is a great effect on the characters. Mr Birling for instance is silenced by the doorbell and Mr Birling is a man of many words. The doorbell keeps the audience interested for they want to know all the details of who and why this visitor is there. The doorbell gives you an impression of the inspector before he arrives for he is already silencing the characters before even entering the scene.
Priestley’s main device is the Inspector. The Inspector introduces himself as Inspector Goole, which sends a thought to members of the audience, for Goole is a peculiar surname. “Goole” sends images such as ghosts and phenomenal creatures, which adds to the supernatural element of the play. The Inspector almost stands outside the plot and just comments on the characters behaviour. While doing this he manages to question society and carry on Priestley’s moral message.
During the play people exit the scene, however the plot doesn’t stop. The action carries on, and the story continues to unfold. This leaves the audience with a clearer view of the story than the characters do and the audience watch on to find out what happened outside the room and also what will happen when they discover themselves the continues plot.
The final device used is the Inspector saying just one word of “well?” This gives an edge to the play for this cliffhanger keeps the audience on their toes, for no one knows what will happen next.
In conclusion to this, I think Priestley uses many different dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to members of the audience. I think the main and most effective device is the Inspector. The Inspector is almost based on Priestley and therefore when Priestley wrote the play, he found carrying his view through the play to his audience was much easier for it was creating a feeling that he himself were there.