How does J.B. Priestley create dramatic tension and suspense in Act One of "An Inspector Calls"?
How does J.B. Priestley create dramatic tension and suspense in Act One of "An Inspector Calls"?
"An Inspector Calls" is a rather dramatic play, written in 1945 by J.B. Priestley, and set in 1912. In the play's opening scene, a typical family party is happening, celebrating Sheila Birling's marriage to Gerald Croft. In this celebration, the audience can guess that something is already about to go horribly wrong (as most seemingly happy moments turn bad in the world of theatre). Indeed something does go wrong; with the arrival of a police inspector. As soon as the Inspector appears, the happy and relaxed mood transforms into a tenser atmosphere. At first, when the Inspector is invited into the Birlings' house, (Mr) Birling tries to guess why he has called, and acts quite boastful towards the Inspector, trying to impress him also by claiming that he used to be Lord Mayor. When Birling finds out that Eva Smith has just died, he becomes a lot more edgy, and immediately questions the fact that it has anything to do with him. The other members of the family, when interrogated, are also held in tense moments by the Inspector.
Even before the Inspector arrives, the audience are made to feel that all is not well.
At the very start of the play, when Edna the maid offers Birling and Gerald a glass of port, Birling tries to impress Gerald by telling him that it's the same port he gets at home from his father. At that point Birling is aware that he is socially inferior to Gerald, and he tries to work his way around it. Birling also makes his wife take some port, because he wants to make Gerald think that they are all of the same social status. However, Mrs Birling is socially superior to her husband, and she only drinks port in moderation compared to Arthur and Eric. Birling unfortunately follows this up with another mistake, where after he relaxes, he tells his wife to thank the cook for the meal he and everyone else have just eaten. Mrs Birling is critical of her husband, and reminds him not to talk to servants. Mrs Birling is now seemingly aware of their social statuses, and she tries to urge him not to show it.
Sheila and Gerald, the soon-to-be wed couple, are not quite at ease with each other themselves. Sheila shows this by reminding Gerald of the previous summer, when he "was awfully busy at the works". This raises the audience's suspicion over Gerald. Also, on Sheila's receipt of her engagement ring, she says "is it the one you wanted me to have?" to Gerald, rather than "is it the one I wanted?" This shows that Gerald is in be charge of their relationship together, and that he could end it at any time. Sheila then says "I'll never let it go out of my sight for an instant!" This is somewhat ironic as further along the play, in Act Two, Sheila gives Gerald back the ring, and right at the end of the play, she tells him to keep it.
Eric's behaviour is rather strange at the start of the scene, at one point he suddenly bursts into sarcastic laughter, which suggests to the audience he knows something the others don't about Sheila and Gerald. Eric is also a heavy drinker, and his sister Sheila is aware of this by her comment "You're squiffy," which Eric immediately denies. He also tells Sheila not to get too excited and to control herself; again J.B. Priestley is using irony as Eric is the one who needs to be controlled.
When the Inspector arrives, the stage directions describe the impression he makes, which is one "of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness." He creates an aura of superiority, although police inspectors in the 1910's were looked down on. He also acts quite intrusively towards the Birlings, questioning them and interrupting them when he feels he has something more important to say.
The Inspector questions each family member in a tension-creating way. As soon as he continues with the story from Eva's diary, Gerald, particularly, reveals he is keeping a secret from the others. The Inspector knew that Gerald kept ...
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When the Inspector arrives, the stage directions describe the impression he makes, which is one "of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness." He creates an aura of superiority, although police inspectors in the 1910's were looked down on. He also acts quite intrusively towards the Birlings, questioning them and interrupting them when he feels he has something more important to say.
The Inspector questions each family member in a tension-creating way. As soon as he continues with the story from Eva's diary, Gerald, particularly, reveals he is keeping a secret from the others. The Inspector knew that Gerald kept "Daisy" (Eva) as his mistress, and Gerald wasted little time in showing himself up, by immediately questioning the fact that Eva changed her identity to the one which he was familiar with, and then getting himself a drink to cool himself down.
Gerald is not only the one who reveals information to the rest of the family. After the Inspector shows Sheila Eva's photograph, Sheila screams and runs from the stage. Prior to this, Sheila learns that a customer complaint led to Eva's sacking at Milwards', where she worked at the time, and by now we know that the customer in question was Sheila.
The Inspector makes implications that everyone will be interrogated at some point: he does not show Eric or Gerald the photo at all (because he doesn't need to). This makes the audience think that Gerald and Eric are involved. Also, the Inspector detains Gerald when he tells him that he is going to marry Sheila. This sparks Birling into arguing with the Inspector, because at this point Birling only thought he was involved, and he is trying to prevent Gerald from getting caught up.
Sheila, instead of trying to argue, listens to the Inspector and has a far more conscientious view over Eva's death than anyone else, particularly Birling and Gerald. Sheila works things out along time before the others, and tries to tell them what has really happened.
When the Inspector arrives, this entrance is made at a very significant moment in that scene, when Gerald suggests that Eric has "been up to something". Of course, if you read on, he establishes himself as a criminal, for stealing his father's money. Eric knows that he has done this, and the audience get clues when Eric uneasily responds to Gerald's "joke", saying that he doesn't find it amusing. This is just one of the many moments in Act One where the characters enter and exit the stage at particular moments merely to raise suspicion among the audience.
On page 7, when Mrs Birling, Sheila and Eric all leave the stage at the same time, it is clear that Mrs Birling wants to leave her husband and Gerald alone, and the mood almost completely changes from Birling's ironic drone about politics to trying to make a good impression of himself to Gerald again.
Following that, at the top of page 9, Birling tells Gerald to reassure his mother that "we'll try to keep out of trouble during the next few months". Subsequently, Eric enters, and this suggests he has something to do with the sentence previously said by Birling, and, of course, Eric is the one who is going to land in the most trouble of out of everyone involved.
When Sheila returns, the Inspector has arrived, and is talking about Eva, and how "she didn't exactly go on the streets". Sheila doesn't know about Eva's suicide, and her first question when she enters is "what's this about streets?" before she notices the Inspector, and this may hint that Sheila knows something the others don't. After she is told about Eva's death and is shown the photograph, Sheila recognises it at once and runs away, which implies that she is involved with the events leading up to Eva's death. When she returns, she knows that the Inspector knew it was her, which signals that the Inspector is one step ahead of everyone.
On page 25, when the Inspector informs the others that Eva changed her name to "Daisy Renton", Gerald gives himself away, and then the Inspector requests to see Birling just so he can leave Sheila and Gerald alone together, and Sheila tells Eric to show the Inspector out. This is so Sheila can ask Gerald about "Daisy", and how he came to know her. When the Inspector returns, uttering "Well?" before the curtain falls, it seems that the Inspector wants to know more, but of course he already knows about Gerald's affair with Eva. This instead makes the audience want to know more, and leaves the scene on an important cliff-hanger.
The stage directions and props have great importance throughout the progression of the play. Throughout the opening description, the Birlings' dining room is described as "substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike". Also, it says that "the lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder". This creates an atmosphere which is typical of an upper-class dining room. The lighting at the start of the scene describes the relaxed mood, until the Inspector arrives and the lighting brightens, explicating the now tense mood of the Birlings.
The actors receive small prompts on how to express their lines, and small actions and sounds which all add effect to increase the apprehension. For example, right at the beginning of the play, when Birling takes the port from Edna, there is a small stage direction indicating that the should push the decanter towards Eric. The audience can only suppose that Birling will assume that Eric will take some port, as he very rarely refuses it.
After Eric's sudden chuckle, Sheila is told to say her next sentence "severely". This suggests that she is taking his comment seriously, and she then demands why he has just suddenly burst out laughing, because he may know something she doesn't about Gerald.
The Inspector carries with him a small postcard size photograph of Eva. He shows this to each of the characters in turn, when they do not fully recognise Eva by the mention of her name (in the case of Gerald and Eric, he doesn't need to show them because they recognise her from one of her names). He only shows the photo to one of the characters at a time, and to cover this up he says he can only do "one line of inquiry at a time". What he really may be doing, as Birling says near the end of the play, is that "he could have used a different photograph each time". Even though this may not have been the same person, each character reveals and realises their sins, particularly Eric, who could be liable to prosecution after the theft of his father's money.
Doors also contribute to the tension in the opening scene of the play. When Sheila runs off the stage after recognising Eva's photo, Birling, predictably, is irritated by this and when he tells the Inspector about the "nasty mess", the Inspector responds with a similar comment about Eva. After this, Birling thinks twice about retorting, and exits, slamming the door, which can only possibly mean that he is agitated. The front doorbell (when it rings, interrupting Birling's conversation) also gives the audience traces of information about Eric and Gerald, when Birling tells them both "that a man has to mind his own business and look after his own". After reading on you will find out that neither Eric nor Gerald did any of these two things when associated with Eva.
The drinks decanter plays a key role in the leaking of clues and information to the audience. It is mainly used by Birling, Eric and Gerald. Eric is heavily reliant on alcohol to calm himself down, and never misses the opportunity to take some port, this may be a result of his crimes (he is constantly feeling guilty about stealing his father's money). After the Inspector mentions that Eva changed her name to "Daisy Renton", Gerald immediately takes a drink of whisky to relieve himself, and thus blatantly giving himself away. Birling also uses the port to try and impress Gerald, because he is insecure about his current social status compared to his wife (or even Gerald himself).
Sheila's engagement ring is another essential prop- Gerald chose it without asking Sheila which one she wanted first, which shows that Gerald is in charge of the relationship, as previously mentioned.
J.B. Priestley makes full use of dramatic irony before the Inspector arrives. As the play was written in 1945 and set in 1912, Priestley can make full use of ironic claims about war and the sinking of the Titanic. On pages 6-7, Birling makes a speech to the others, using the subjects of war and technology. He claims that "there isn't a chance of war", because "the world's developing so fast it'll make war impossible". He then speaks about the Titanic, and how in his view it is "unsinkable". The irony of it is that in only two years time Britain will declare war on Germany, and that the following week (as stated by Birling- "she sails next week") the Titanic will sink. In result of this, the audience are made to doubt Birling, and his judgment of certain issues. For example, the effects of his incorrect predictions are applied on page 9, when Birling tells Gerald that he can promise his mother that they will "try to keep out of trouble during the next few months". The audience will not believe Birling (as he was mistaken before) and will think something is going to go awry in the near future. He also predicts a knighthood for himself, if he stays out of trouble. Going by the audience's assumption, he's going to hit a snag along the way, and may find himself having to forego his knighthood.
Following this conversation, Eric enters, and wonders why the two men are laughing (he may have heard the last few words of that private conversation), he may think they are talking about him in particular (he still feels guilty about stealing his father's money) and he immediately goes for a glass of port.
All of the characters denied knowing Eva solely by the use of her name, especially Gerald, when the Inspector notifies them that he has finished questioning Birling and wants to speak to one of the others. Both Gerald and Sheila deny that they have "known an Eva Smith", but they have, just under an alternative identity. Gerald in particular got to be familiar with Eva (he started a relationship with her); he just didn't recognise her "real" name and the fact that she could change her name didn't cross his mind at all.
On page 22, Gerald tells the Inspector that he thinks he's "getting a bit heavy-handed", by not letting Eric leave the room. The Inspector then compares them to criminals, by saying "if you're easy with me, I'm easy with you". This means that if you are polite to him, he will be polite in return. It may be the reason why the Inspector was slightly colder towards Birling and his wife than anyone else. Gerald then informs the Inspector that he and Eric are "respectable citizens and not criminals" and the Inspector then comments on this, by saying he "wouldn't know where to draw the line", which is ironic as Eric has already established himself as a criminal, and no-one knows yet as Eric has tried to restore himself as a normal person.
The scene then closes with Gerald revealing that he had an affair with Eva to Sheila, and then he tries to persuade her not to mention it to the Inspector. Sheila then mocks him, telling him that the Inspector already knows about this and he will be able to tell if Gerald is lying. Gerald is humiliated after his dismissive comments and his denial of knowing Eva. The scene ends on a tension creating cliff-hanger, with the Inspector saying a single word to begin the opening conversation of the next Act.
In Act Two, the audience will immediately be expecting Gerald to reveal the details of his affair, and inevitably, where Eric and Mrs Birling are involved in the events leading up to Eva's suicide.
