An example of this occurs when Sheila admits that she used her farther power to get Eva Smith sacked from her second job at the grocery store. She got her sacked because she was jealous of the way she looked. In act 1 she admits to this when questioned by the inspector.
“ You might have been said to be jealous of her (inspector), yes I suppose so” (Sheila).
In act 1 Mr Birling is quoted saying, that the girl Eva Smith was a hard working, “country bred girl”.
This quote shows that Mr Birling has differences between the different classes of living. This is due to him describing Eva Smith as country bred girl, therefore it can be said that Mr Birling is trying to show that he and his family are different to that of other communities.
Mr Birling describes Eva Smith as being a,
“ Good worker”.
He says this because he is trying to show the inspector that he didn’t sack Eva Smith unfairly. He tells the inspector that he sacked her because she was rallying protests for a wage increase and not due to her being low down in the social ladder. Mr Birling is trying to show that he didn’t sack Eva Smith because she was a working class girl. By reading this play it can be seen that J, B Priestley has concerns over the way in, which the middle class people treat the working class people. I can conclude that J.B. Priestly is trying to create solidarity for the working class people.
J.B Priestley uses dramatic irony very early on in the play. This can be seen in the play when Mr Birling says that the Titanic is,
“Unsinkable”.
Knowing that it sunk in 1912 this automatically makes the audience realise that Mr Birling is trying to mislead them because the audience already know that this has taken place and therefore this is an example of dramatic irony.
Also it can be seen again that J.B Priestley has used the past in this play. This is the case because in the play “an inspector calls” there is a strike for higher wages. The same thing took place in 1919 when 50,000 iron foundry workers went on strike for higher wages. Due to this play being set in 1912 J.B Priestley has used the past to create irony because, when this concept arises the audience will automatically realise what J.B Priestley is trying to get at.
In act 1 Mr Birling is quoted saying,
“ There is a wild talk about possible labour trouble in the near future, don’t worry where past the worst of it”.
This quote is another quote in, which J.B Priestley uses dramatic irony. This is because he has made Mr Birling say that labour will no longer be in trouble, but because this play was set in 1912 the audience know that the labour market did not recover because in June 1921 unemployment was at 2.2 million. This is another example of irony used by J.B Priestley.
J.B Priestley tries to show how the mood changes when the inspector arrives. He does this by describing the scene in act1.
He describes the scene as a, “heavily comfortable house”.
He does this because this gives the audience an impression of the settings. As a narration Priestley is quoted saying, the lighting should be,
“Pink and intimate before the inspector arrives”.
When he arrives the lighting should be, “brighter and harder”.
Priestley does this to show how the mood changes when the inspector arrives. Before the inspector arrives the lighting is “pink and intimate”. When the inspector arrives the lighting becomes “harder and brighter”. Priestley does this to show the audience that once the inspector has arrived the people in the Mr Birling’s house start to feel tension.
The use of the doorbell affect interrupts the conversation between Mr Birling, Eric and Gerald. This can be seen act 1. When Eric is quoted saying,
“ Yes, you’ve piled it on tonight farther”.
This quote shows that the conversation between Mr Birling and the boys was long. Due to the doorbell ringing it has interrupted this conversation, hinting to the audience that the play is about to have a twist. The doorbell is described as a “ Sharp ring”. It seems that J.B Priestley has used the doorbell affect to show the audience that the play is about to change.
The effect that a new major character has on the rest of the characters is that it makes them feel interrogated in their own house. In our case the new character is the inspector he starts to question the Birling family by doing this he makes them feel paranoid. An example of the interrogation can be seen when Mr Birling gives the inspector information about how he refused his workers a higher wage rate.
The inspector is quoted saying, “ why?”
This is an example of interrogation because the inspector is questioning Mr Birling’s view. There is an example, where the inspector makes some of the characters feel paranoid. This occurs when the inspector looks at Gerald, Eric and Sheila and he says to them,
“ Are you sure you don’t know”.
This quote from the inspector makes Gerald, Eric and Sheila feel that the inspector knows that their involved, therefore this makes them go into a defensive nature.
The way the characters exit allows them to say things, which can't be said in front of other characters. An example of this is when Mr Birling has a so-called man’s chat with the boys. This conversation starts when the females have left the scene. This is because J.B Priestley is trying to show a stereotypical difference between men and women. This is because; the conversation held between Mr Birling and the boys is about war and employment. In the 1900’s you would not associate these issues with women.
When the inspector leaves the scene this enables the characters to join forces and make them question each other. This takes place at the end of act 1, when Sheila starts to question Gerald about the girl. Gerald admits he knew the girl, but he asks Sheila not to tell the inspector. Sheila is quoted saying,
“ Why –you fool –he knows of course he knows. And I hate to think how much he knows now”.
This quote shows that Sheila is feeling paranoid; because she is feeling paranoid she is unable to help Gerald with his plan.
Act 1 finishes in such a way that the characters are paranoid with each other. They ask each other for an alibi, but the other character believes that the inspector already knows what happened. These characters think that the inspector is trying to question their conscious. An example of this is when Gerald asks Sheila not to tell the inspector. Gerald is quoted saying,
“ So for god sake don’t say anything to the inspector”.
Then Sheila laughs she is quoted saying,
“ Why-you fool –he knows, of course he knows”.
This quote shows that the characters have started to feel paranoid in such a way that they are unable to trust each other because they think that the inspector knows everything.
By reading this play you will realise that much of act 1 is actually ironic in retrospect. By this I mean that most the language used is actually fiction rather than non-fiction. I believe this because in act 1 Mr Birling says that the
“ There is to be no war” and employment is high and he is quoted saying that the Titanic is “absolutely unsinkable”.
It can be seen that J.B Priestley uses this type of language, so that he makes the people in the audience to think of the opposite to what is happening.
We think that Mr Birling and his family are perfect later we realise that this is not the case because Mr Birling and his family take advantage of the girl Eva Smith because they have the power to do so. When Mr Birling says,
“As long as I don’t get into trouble I will get my knighthood”.
As soon as he has said this, the doorbell rings. By reading this play you will realise that whatever Mr Birling says the opposite always occurs. It can be said that J.B Priestley has used Mr Birling to hint to the audience that a twist is about to occur in the play.
J.B Priestley uses irony to make the audience laugh at the characters. The device he uses allows the audience to have knowledge over the character. In my opinion the message of this play is that because you live up the social ladder it doesn’t mean you’re higher than other people. The author has used this message because; during world war two this was happening
