The stage directions are very detailed; they show how he intended to set up the play. “The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, buy not cosy and homelike.” This shows how detailed he was about describing how the furniture should look. This demonstrates how precise Priestly could be when describing how he wanted his play to be performed. When he describes the lighting – “…The lighting should be pink and intimate until the inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder.” He shows how the light can be used as an interrogation light, it gets the audience believing that the characters are about to be questioned.
When the inspector arrives, both of the Birling parents are rather annoyed as their celebration was disturbed by the inspector. They both show how angry they are by taking swings at the inspector (verbally). Mr Birling dominates all early interaction between the family and the inspector; however he looses all of his control over the conversation when the inspector begins questioning Sheila.
The play was set in 1912, however it was actually written in 1945 this time difference plays a large part in the play, it allows Priestly to use dramatic irony, and this is a very useful tool. He uses world war 1 and world war 2 as events to develop this idea, he says such things as “When German officers have had too much to drink and begin talking nonsense you’ll hear some people say that war is inevitable” this demonstrates one of his many references to war. He says that it’s inevitable but the audience, an audience of after 1945, would know about World War 1 and the beginning of World War 2. Priestly also uses this when he talks about the titanic, again Mr Birling describes the Titanic as being an “unsinkable ship” and he knows that it sunk in a tragic accident. The audience knows this as well and would find this humorous. By doing this it shows how Priestly has put Mr Birling down and made him seem very ignorant. This Re-enforces his socialist beliefs, by the end of the play, the audience who would be very rich, or of a higher social class. This makes them feel guilty and almost as if they are to blame for the murder of the Daisy Renton/Eva Smith / Miss Birling’s death.
The inspector is very clever as he moves around the family groups questioning them; he chooses them one at a time and questions each one fully. This proves a very successful technique. He starts with Mr Birling, who admits no responsibility for the death of Eva smith. As he only sacked her, he claims it happened over 2 years ago, so it couldn’t have possibly affected her. When Sheila is questioned, she admits to it almost immediately, the inspector will not let her take the blame for this because she only got her fired from a job. This shows how the younger generation takes more responsibility for their part played in the suicide of Eva Smith. When the inspector turns to Gerald the family was already shaken, the inspector cleverly mentioned Daisy Renton and Gerald gave himself up because his facial expression suggested that he knew her. It turned out that Gerald had cheated on Sheila and had an affair with the mysterious Daisy Renton. This shows how the inspector’s excellent questioning style exposed the Birling’s for the inconsiderate people that they are.
To sum up, Priestly uses many dramatic devices, such as: Dramatic irony- when he uses something important in history and goes against what happened, like the titanic crashing he makes Mr Birling say he thought it was unsinkable. He uses lights in a very successful way; he makes the audience believe that the inspector has the power to change the atmosphere just by entering a room. It gets so much more harsh and much more of a questioning atmosphere. Even after the inspector leaves there is still a lot of tension in the room, especially between Sheila and Gerald, Gerald having previously admitting to having an affair.
Anton Martin
10 CMJ