Analyse the dramatic devices Priestley employs in "An Inspector Calls" to create tension and communicate his theme

Priestley uses juxtaposition of the characters Mr Birling and the Inspector in order to emphasise his own views on collective responsibility to be right. He does this by using the contrast of Mr Birling and other members of the Birling family to show Capitalism and the views of collective responsibility held by a capitalist in a bad light. This contrast is most prominently seen in the character of Mr Birling. He is a capitalist who believes that a man has to make his own way in life and not to worry about others. He brands socialists as “cranks” who talk about “community and all that nonsense, as if we were all mixes up together like bees in a hive”. The imagery Priestley uses of bees in a hive is very effective. This is due to the picture it conjures in our mind, of a community all caring and looking out for each other, all working for the common good. This positive idea is something that Birling is seen to strongly reject as it does not benefit him, being a rich capitalist man. This is reinforced by the stage directions at the beginning of the play. Their house is described as lavish and comfortable yet, “not cosy and home like”, which is what Priestley, wants to portray Mr Birling as, successful yet cold hearted. Capitalism is shown to have corrupted the Birling’s distancing them from each other and introducing formality between the members of the family, for example the stage directions state, “with Arthur Birling at one end, his wife at the other” showing the husband and wife to be sat at opposite ends of the table. To sway the audience’s opinion even further, Priestley uses dramatic irony to portray Mr Birling as a fool. This is where Priestley’s choice of when the play was set and then when it was performed are vital. Mr Birling proclaims there “isn’t a chance of war” and that the titanic is “unsinkable- absolutely unsinkable” which with the hindsight of both the world wars and the sinking of the Titanic, the audience know to be completely false. This makes the audience question Mr Birling’s integrity and make him seem idiotic. This therefore makes them less inclined to believe anything else Birling says and therefore his view on collective responsibility too.

Not only does priestly use his characters and their dialogue to show his theme, there are other more subtle dramatic devices used which help to communicate his central theme.

Eric and Sheila's positive response to the Inspector's message, compared to Mr and Mrs Birling's negative response, is also greatly symbolic. Priestley uses this generation divide and contrast to show that the younger generation symbolise hope for the future, a future of socialism. This is due to the way they are remorseful for their actions. Sheila states, “I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse” showing how the death has affected her because she knows she is partly responsible for it, “No, not really it was my own fault” the fact she speaks so freely about it clearly shows she is perfectly willing to accept it. After this point in the play her role seems to mimic the inspectors, she tells her parents, “You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl showing how everyone plays a part in a community. Eric reflects the same opinions as Sheila after learning the part he plays in Eva Smith’s death, “it’s what’s happened to that girl and what we did to her that matters”. This shows how Eric views the responsibility they had for Eva Smith as the only important thing. Priestley therefore uses these characters to positively contrast to the opinions of Mr and Mrs Birling to show collective responsibility as an optimistic thing. He shows the characters positively growing as people through acknowledging their responsibility. This mirrors what he feels would happen to the country if collective responsibility was adopted.

Priestley uses contrast in his lighting to show how naive and foolish the Birling’s are in their opinions and how the inspector brings a harsh truth to them. The highly specific introductory stage directions state the lighting “should be pink and intimate until the inspector arrives and then it should be brighter and harder”. I think the lighting first used creates the sense that the Birling’s are looking through 'rose-tinted glasses' with an unduly cheerful and naive view of their life. This is because they only look after themselves and through the capitalistic system; they have benefitted hugely and are very wealthy. It is for this reason they do not concern themselves with anyone else’s problems especially those of the lower classes. The lighting and the idea they are looking through ‘rose tinted glasses’ shows that that this 'warm' and 'joyful' atmosphere is not really what it seems. This is confirmed when the Inspector appears and the lighting changes to a "brighter and harder light" where it gives the impression of exposure of the truth. This harsh truth is the devastating consequences of when people do not realise their responsibility for one another and do not view society as a community. It is this Priestley wants the audience to take heed of.

Priestley times the Inspector’s entrance perfectly which not only prepares the reader for the main theme but the importance it is to have throughout the play too. The Inspector arrives midway through Birling’s speech concerning his capitalist views on the responsibility of a businessperson. He exclaims incredulously, “You’d think everybody has to look after everybody else” showing how ridiculous he believes this concept is. He states just before the Inspector enters, “I’ve learnt in the good hard school of experience that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own- and-”. The entrance, timed just as Birling is recalling his views on collective responsibility is an effective one as Birling is describing the philosophy that the inspector is brought into challenge, which is to be the plot of the entire play. The timing of the entrance also seems to discredit what Mr Birling has just said. Using the Inspector’s entrance in this way highlights the key theme of collective responsibility and emphasises how important it is to be in the play.

The ending Priestly chooses shows that life is cyclical and that the same things will happen again if people’s attitudes to social responsibility do not change. The event ending the play is that having found out, “There’s no Inspector Goole in the police” the Birling’s receive a phone call from the police stating “A girl has just died –on the way to the Infirmary-after swallowing some disinfectant” and that “a police inspector is on his way here-to ask some- questions”. This extraordinary repeat of the evening’s events shows that as the characters of the older generation refused to admit their role in Eva Smith’s death, or take any responsibility, it will keep happening until they accept it. This represents that with the same attitudes of capitalism (as held throughout the two world wars) life will just go on in circles repeating history. The History Priestley is of course referring to is the two world wars Britain had just faced in 1945, when it was first produced. Priestley wants to show socialism and the ideas of collective responsibility that accompany it as a way to stop the awful events of the past happening again and a way to move forward and to rebuild the country. Priestley believes the way to do this is by people working together as a society, instead of reverting back to capitalism. As the end of the play plays an important part in communicating Priestley’s key message he does well to end the play on this cliff hanger as it keeps the audience thinking about the play and its meaning even after it is finished.

To keep the entire play concentrated on his main theme, Priestley doesn’t change anything between acts, each one starting as the last one finished. This achieves a sense of continuity. Continuity is therefore a dramatic device Priestley uses to keep the audience focused on the message he wants to communicate.

Priestley intelligently uses his dramatic devices to build tension, creating a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions and events within the play.

Priestley first creates tension through the timing of the inspector’s entrance. This is because Birling’s speech is interrupted by, “the sharp ring of a front door bell”. The loud sound shocks the audience and then leads to the mystery of who is at the door, naturally building tension. Mr Birling tends to speak in large speeches; he and his family see him as someone who people would not dare interrupt. The fact Mr Birling’s speech is interrupted by the arrival of the inspector, which I feel enhances the tension created even further. There is also tension created through the Inspector’s entrance itself. We learn from the stage direction that despite that the Inspector is not of a large size and weight, “he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness”. Dramatic tension is therefore naturally created as the audience sees a determined, fearsome character enter the room, greatly contrasting to the previous atmosphere in the Birling household. It is through this that the audience realises that the Inspector is there for a significant reason. The fact he is an Inspector of police emphasises further that the reason for his presence must be important. Tension is then created as the audience are unaware and curious as to why he is there and leaves the audience guessing subsequent events. This tension is heightened due to the Inspector dragging out his explanation of why he is actually there. Mr. Birling directly questions, “What can I do with you? Some trouble about a warrant?” The Inspector replies, “No. Mr Birling” building tension as he does not answer the question for not only Mr Birling but also the audience, first time round.

Priestley also uses contrast in his lighting to create tension with the Inspector’s entrance. Before the inspector enters the lighting is “pink and intimate” due to the joyous atmosphere within the household with the engagement of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft. However on the Inspectors entrance the stage direction implies a change in the lighting, it becomes, “brighter and harder”. This creates tension for the audience as the lighting has changed from a cosy, comfortable colour with connotations to romance to a sharp bright colour. Thus making the audience feel uptight and creating tension.

The character of the Inspector is a device used by Priestley to create tension throughout the entire play. This is due to the way the Inspector controls the pace of the play’s events by slowly unravelling Eva Smith’s life and dealing with one character at a time, exposing their involvement with her death. In this way Priestley transforms the play into a murder mystery where the audience are constantly trying to predict the future events. One of the ways the Inspector controls the pace information is written within the stage directions, “Both Gerald and Eric rise to have a look at the photograph (of Eva Smith), but the inspector interposes himself between them and the photograph, which the inspector then replaces in his pocket”. This shows how the Inspector is increasing tension for the characters in the play and therefore the audience too by breaking up the plot into sections and gradually revealing the plot.

Priestley times the ending of the acts perfectly to obtain tension between the acts. He does this by ending them on cliff hangers. An example of this is at the end of Act One when Gerald admits to Sheila that he had had an affair with Eva Smith. The Inspector then enters and simply says “Well?” which hooks the audience, as they want to find out what is to be said next. Priestley also uses the ending of An Inspector Calls to create tension by ending it on a cliff hanger. Some of the tension built up in the play is relieved when the Birling’s feel they are off the hook as they believe it was all a hoax. However, the final telephone call answered by Mr Birling reveals that what they deemed to be a hoax was in fact true. This rapidly restores the tension very dramatically and leaves the audience on an unexpected final twist that none of them could have been expecting.

Lastly, Priestley creates tension throughout the play through the conflict between the characters in An Inspector Calls. This way of creating tension, by having a conflict that builds up between two parties is adopted by most plays. Conflict is created between the Inspector and the Birling’s by Mr and Mrs Birling’s complete denial and outrage to the idea that they hold responsibility for Eva Smith’s death. The stage directions describe Mr. Birling as saying things, “somewhat impatiently” and he repeatedly states in different ways the blunt fact, “I can’t accept any responsibility”. This conflict inevitably creates tension for the audience. As well as this type of conflict, there is also conflict created between the members of the Birling family. For Example, when Sheila talks to Gerald about “last summer, when you never came near me and I wondered what had happened to you”. Gerald vaguely states he was busy and the audience get a sense of underlying secrecy when Sheila states, “that’s what you say”. This creates tension between the characters and for the audience as they wish to know what actually happened. Priestley also uses accusations and uneasy laughter between the members of the Birling family, such as “unless Eric has done something” in order to build up tension. This provokes thought within the audience as to whether Eric has done something, inevitably creating tension as the answer to this is unknown. This tension is increased through hinting from Priestley that the family have actually done something wrong. For instance Mr Birling emphasises, “so long as we behave ourselves”.

It is therefore clear to see, that without doubt J.B Priestley uses his characters, dramatic irony, contrast, lighting and his ending to great effect in communicating his main theme and creating tension. Tension is successfully employed by Priestley, using mainly conflict between his characters and the character of the inspector to control the pace of the plot with the ending cliff hanger leaving his audience wanting more. Yet at the same time, Priestley uses these same devices, most significantly his uses his characters to convey not only his views of socialism and his key theme but uses contrast and dramatic irony to show the downfalls of capitalism. In addition to this the Inspector, lighting and the ending are also used to enforce the importance of collective responsibility. Leaving the audience with the clear message that, “We are members of One Body”.