The Beginning of act one is completely stage directions and character descriptions, from this we get an insight as to what the Birlings as a whole are like. First opinions of them are that they are well off and quite ‘proper’(heavily comfortable furniture but not homelike) as we read further into the stage directions we can tell they are sitting at a large dinner table in ‘evening dress of the period’. This gives us an impression that they don’t seem like a family as they are having a family dinner yet they are in evening dress, we presume the Birling house hold is not one where you can relax and be yourself.
The scene is now set as a nice family dinner and we start the play. We are given this ‘picture perfect’ image so the audience can start to relax and so they think it’s a peaceful happy night with light conversation and a sense of
___________.
This image is rapidly disturbed by a man who walks in with massive authority and a sense of supreme largeness, We are told that this man is an inspector and we immediately question why he is at the house.
As Mr Birling tells Edna to show him in the room he also says to give them more lightly, his makes the inspector appear stern and hard.
It is said that inspector Goole has a habit of staring hard at the person he’s about to address before talking to them, This creates an uneasy atmosphere and the audience become tense.
The inspector tells Arthur, Gerald and Eric of a girl’s death, this creates even more drama because it shocks the audience and of course makes the audience
Wonder what that has to do with them, Arthur asks this question for the audience.
When the inspector tells Arthur of her name, Edna Smith, He doesn’t seem to know anything about this girl until he explains more about her. This is a way of making the story move forward and giving vital information to the audience about the story and the girl’s death.
As more characters are introduced to the audience the inspector starts to interrogate them aswell, we find that each member has something to do with this girls death.
In a way the audience has seen the Birlings in a good light and the inspector in a bad one so when the audiences idea of nice people admitting to wrongs they have done it shocks them in a ‘how could you?’ shatters the perception of a perfect family.
The role of the inspector is to be a dramatic device in the play. Without him there would be no story, no tension and no drama or excitement.
As a Dramatic device he is used to give the play some ort of story line. he story depends on a plot and the audience relies on the inspector to narrate the play. without the inspector the audience would have no knowledge of Eva smith/daisy Renton.
The inspector spends time with each character prompting and questioning them, resulting in the story unfolding and the audience understanding the play.
By the Inspector shocking and surprising the family we are able to see the reactions that they give, this provides facts about the personalities of the characters. This makes the audience relate to them as equals and this means they get even more shocked when the ‘truth’ is revealed.
The fact that the Inspector knows so much about the Birlings is quite surprising as it makes you wonder why he does and gets the audience suspicious, creating drama.
The moral that Priestley is trying to get at is that every one is to take responsibility for everyone and not just there selves. He has a belief that society can only develop through co-operation. He narrates these views at the end where he uses the inspectors departing speech to narrate this.
