The dates 1912 (when the play was set) and 1945 (when the play was performed) are important, this is mainly because world war one took place from 1914 to 1918, which was two years after the play was set and world war two took place from 1939 to 1945 which was just before the play was performed. As Mr Birling claimed there will not be a war this is an example of dramatic irony, because the play was written in 1945 so the audience knew that there were two world wars about to happen, but the characters did not. When the play was first performed in 1946 the audience had war fresh in their memories, so this involves the audience once more, as social responsibilities had a large effect on them.
In 1912 the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic sunk, Mr Birling in the play claims that the titanic is ‘unsinkable’ so again this was an example of dramatic irony, as the audience knew that the titanic did sink, but the characters did not.
In 1948 the welfare state was introduced, this meant when priestley wrote the play there was no provision for people that couldn’t work so this again created dramatic irony. The genre of an inspector calls is a murder mystery, this is because as the Inspector called (inspector Goole) he changed a very contented night of the Birling family into misery, trying to find out why Eva Smith committed suicide.
Act 1
There was plenty of use of dramatic irony early on in the play, e.g.
Arthur Birling claims there will not be a war with Germany,
“the Germans don’t want war” this is dramatic irony because Mr Birling claims there will not be war, but the audience know that the war has already occurred from 1914 to 1918. This use of dramatic irony changes the views of the audience on Arthur Birling, they do not take him seriously and Mr Birling loses his respect. Birling claims the titanic is indestructible, “Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” the audience knows that the titanic did sink in 1912 proving Birling wrong again.
Birling claimed that they had passes the worse of labour trouble.
“We’ve passed the worse of it. We employees…coming together to see our interests of capital are properly protected”. This is dramatic irony because the audience know the strikes do increase dramatically over the next 10 years. This dramatic irony affects the views of the audience on the characters, for example, we do not take Mr Birling seriously after he says these speeches in the play, this makes us think Birling is not very intellectual, However Mr Birling thinks he knows best and likes the sound of his own voice, for example, “we can’t let these Bernard Shaw’s and H.G Wellses do all the talking. We hard headed practical business men must say something sometimes”. Mr Birling mentioned H.G Wellses and Bernard Shaws since they were socialist, this shows that Mr Birling does not respect them much, and thinks he has more essential things to state.
When the inspector arrives at the Birling’s house the lighting becomes brighter, and any shadows would be eliminated. Birling says to Edna “Show him in here. Give us some more light” Edna does then goes out. Edna not only gives more light by switching the light on, but also by opening the door for the inspector. This is because as Edna let the inspector into the house it showed that the Birling family could now no longer hide anything and the Inspector will bring everything to light. This certainly does happen as the inspector finds out why Eva Smith committed suicide, and how the Birling family all had a part in her death.
The use of sound effects are used, as the doorbell interrupts Arthur Birling while he is speaking, Arthur Birling says that “A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” It was at that point the inspector enters (with a sharp ring of a front door bell). Priestley uses the inspector to interrupt Birling as he talks about socialism and responsibilities, proving what Birling thought was wrong, Birling stops speaking and listens. The affect this has on the audience is they know that someone has come to correct Arthur Birling about responsibilities. The inspector proves Birling wrong by telling him what happened to Eva Smith as Birling did not care for her as an employee. The inspector later on says; “we are responsible for each other” this speech gives an opposite message to that which Birling gave when he was interrupted.
As the inspector arrives at the Birling household, all the characters give a first impression. Arthur Birling is confused at first, but after the inspector explains why he has come, Birling wants to do all the talking and not get his family involved. He also threatens the inspector so he would go away. E.g. “how do you get on with…colonel Roberts? ...perhaps I ought to warn you I see him fairly frequently”. Gerald gets annoyed with the inspector and wants to see the girls’ photograph, “any particular reason why I shouldn’t see this girls photograph inspector”. When Eric finds out he is very shocked for example, “My God”. He also thinks Arthur Birling was wrong to sack Eva Smith “don’t see why she should have been sacked”. Mrs Birling is very calm when the Inspector arrives “My husband has just explained why you’re here” Mrs Birling doesn’t care about whatever the inspector wants, and she doesn’t want to help much, when the inspector begins to ask Mrs Birling questions, she answers angrily. This changes the views of the audience on Mrs Birling as it starts to make her sound suspicious of something.
However when the inspector leaves the Birling household he says, “there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths…all intertwined with our lives…we are responsible for each other…if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.”
Conclusion
In this play Priestley has shown us that the Birling families’ political and social ideas were wrong, he used dramatic devices to involve the audience in the play and influence them to become socialist. Priestley wants us to agree with the inspector and also be responsible for each other, the play changes our opinions as it shows us what can happen if we are not socialist.
The playwright changes my opinions of the Birling family during act 1 because of the dramatic devices JB Priestley has used, the dramatic irony used to involve the audience, for example. Mr Birling mentions the titanic and it is unsinkable, the audience know the titanic did sink, so JB Priestley is involving the audience and changing there views towards Birling. I think the playwright’s message is that everyone should believe in socialism and be responsible for each other, this is still relevant today. As the Birling family did not believe in socialism and this lead to Eva Smith committing suicide.
The last speech the inspector says he talks about fire, blood and anguish this could be signifying and bringing up the painful memories of war. As the audience had war fresh in their memories, Priestley could have used this to influence people to be socialist and keep peace.
Gurinder Singh Khakh
