“And what had this girl done to make you lose your temper….”
“…. And was it the girls fault”
(page 23)
The inspector also draws on the tragedy of Eva’s life and death, he does this by attracting sympathy of the audience and characters, especially Shelia Birling. He gives hard hitting, clear descriptions of the girl’s misery and horrific death. This could be linked to the horrors of the recent war that had ended when the play was first released. This sympathy is added to by the inspector’s description of Eva’s pretty appearance and the trouble she was in. This was to shock the audience into realising the neglect and hardship of people less well off than themselves.
“Pretty?”
“She wasn’t pretty when I saw her today, but she had been pretty- very pretty..”
The inspector demonstrates how each of the family were responsible for the impact they had upon Eva and her death. J.B Priestley introduces dramatic irony into the play at this point. This is shown when the inspector is interviewing Mrs Birling; she condemns her own son after realising that Eva was pregnant.
“Certainly. And he ought to be dealt with very severely -…”
(Page. 48)
This brings the audience into the play by making them more aware of what is going on, as they know more than the characters themselves. This shows a naivety amongst the characters; this naivety is shown throughout the play an example of this is on page 7.
“ The Titanic she sails next week … New York in five days – and every luxury- and unsinkable.”
J.B Priestley has introduced the use of irony this is shown in the above quote. The opposite of what Mr Birling said happened. This gives the audience hindsight, which makes the audience smirk as they no that the Titanic sank. The play is known as a well-made play, this means it has a plot, which flows smoothly, and all the different aspects of the play fit together. This has also had an effect on the play’s popularity as the audience as well as the characters move from a state of ignorance to knowledge. The inspector introduces a moral aspect to the play this makes him different to an ordinary police officer. He is more concerned with the difference between right and wrong than what is legal or not. The inspector has a very abrasive nature, he is more concerned about truth and justice than social conventions. The inspector represents the character’s conscience this brings the audience closer to the minds of the characters and into the play.
J.B Priestley has brought another style into the play, this is typical of the morality plays of the late middle ages, these plays were to show the audience the condition of man. Priestley brings a religious element into the play, the need for goodness and temptation of evil. This is shown as each of the characters suffer from one of the seven deadly sins (pride, sloth, gluttony, envy, covetousness, lust and anger). I think that Priestley intended the audience to take a modern moral from the play about the horrors of war.
Eva Smith / Daisy Renton brings a mysterious edge to the play, this creates intrigue. She never appears on stage and the audience never finds out her real name, but the play revolves around the last two years of her life. She remains a symbol of a real person, her sense of right and wrong prevents her from taking the opportunity to marry Eric and accepting stolen money to care for her unborn child. I think that J.B Priestley is very clever in the way that he uses Eva’s tragedy to make us think about our own responsibilities towards others. The inspector also uses Eva to change the attitudes of the Birlings towards others. This relates to the audience of 1945 which were straight out of war, community spirit is very high and the social boundaries have been broken down. The attitudes of the characters in the play are very closely linked to the era in which it was based, pre- war Britain 1912.
Other aspects of the play have increased the popularity of the play these are the three unties of time, place and action this is achieved by all the events in the play taking place in the dining room. This keeps the audiences attention as the play runs continuously through all three acts. An example of this is in act three when the telephone rings, the second twist is the time-release mechanism the phone call interrupts and takes them back to relive events. This is the cyclic structure, where the play moves in a loop. J.B Priestley achieved this by repeating the first lines with the very last lines:
“ A girl has died in the infirmary…”
This is were events that have happened in the past happen again, like Groundhog Day. I think J.B Priestley used this to signify that lessons had to be learnt form the two wars to prevent this catastrophe happening again and not to let social class build up barriers between people.
The play has many different moods this can be seen in the stage direction. With a mood of high celebration around the dinner table, the use of soft pink lighting achieves an intimate atmosphere. When the inspector arrives harsh bright light is introduced into the room, destroying the cosy feeling.
The use of cliffhangers creates tension and builds suspension, this adds to the atmosphere and intrigue. This keeps the audience on tenterhooks, an example of this is when Eric leaves the house and the inspector wants to talk to him but the audience doesn’t know why.
“..We do need him here. And if he’s not back soon, I shall have to go and find him ..”
I enjoyed reading this play and I can see why it is so popular. It has been turned into a film with the screen play by Desmond Davis, this also a very popular depiction of the play “An inspector calls”. J.B Priestley used this play to show his audience his views on society and its destructiveness. He used views of typical archetype woman (Mrs Birling) this shows that many people in this era deliberately blinded themselves to the world around them. He confronts the stereotype that women should not become pregnant outside of marriage and that they should not be rejected by society. J.B Priestley uses the seven deadly sins in each of the character’s personalities, he uses moral issues, this gives the audience something to relate to and this in turn makes the play more popular. The play shows how high society were naïve and wrong, however this message has become less over the years as the audiences have differed. The audiences in 1945 were straight out of war and instead of Mr Birling’s message “look after yourself” were disregarded, as people wanted to look after each other. I think that J.B Priestley used this play as a reminder not to go back to the way things were before, all of these facts relate to how the audience felt at the time this gives us an insight into peoples attitudes and how they have changed. This has boosted the popularity of the play over the fifty years it has been shown at theatres around the world.
