An Inspector Calls. Priestley uses many dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to the members of the audience as well as involving them in the play. Priestley humours the audience by setting the play in the past (1912 when he wrote in 1945) and

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John Boynton Priestley uses many dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to the members of the audience as well as involving them in the play. Priestley humours the audience by setting the play in the past (1912 when he wrote in 1945) and then making his characters predict the future and making them predict it wrong. He was a socialist and believed that capitalism was wrong and not fair. When the First World War broke out, Priestley fought in the infantry and had near death experiences on many occasions. After the war Priestley became a graduate from Cambridge University and then moved on to become a freelance writer in London. He wrote for the most of his life but then passed away in 1984.

There is a family in the play called the Birlings and they are visited by an inspector who tells them that each one of them played a part in a death of a woman called Eva Smith. They then all remember this lady Eva smith and most don’t learn their lesson. The family is then visited by a real inspector who tells them that they are actually responsible for the death of a girl. It is important that the play is set in the past because then the audience wouldn`t understand the humour and Priestley could also use dramatic irony because the audience would know things that the characters don’t. “And I say there isn’t a chance of war. The world’s developing so fast that’ll make war impossible”. This shows dramatic irony and the audience would have reacted to this very strongly because they knew only 2 years later a world war was to break out. So the audience would have laughed at this and Mr Birling’s wrong statements, the audience would have found this extremely amusing.

In the playwright `an inspector calls` Inspector Goole plays a significant role in helping the Birling family see the error of their ways. Some of the Birlings take this on board throughout the play and start thinking more about their actions. Whereas others seem to continue with their ignorance and just try to forget everything the inspector tells them and act like he never came in the first place.

Inspector Goole could be looked at as being `Priestley’s voice` as throughout the play inspector Goole expresses his thoughts especially in his soliloquy and these thoughts are very similar to J B Priestley’s ideas on life and the way everybody should be treated equally. Goole appears to be very firm but good at his job. It seems that inspector Goole is at the Birlings house to prove something and to get a point across.

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Priestley has a large amount of messages in his play but his messages to the audience are the most important because he wants to get the directly involved. But his main message is to look after other people in society. This is echoed when the Birling’s find out they have all contributed to a death of a young girl. Eva Smith. Priestley wants the message to get across to the audience but he adds a dramatic twist to keep the audience involved; he does this by making and inspector come into the scene. Inspector Goole. The inspector is the one ...

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