J B Priestley has turned the Inspector into a dramatic device in the play. He was maybe trying to make the Inspector the central part of the play by making him control when information is revealed to the audience and characters. For example, he chooses deliberately that Mrs. Birling does not know that her son (Eric) is the father of Eva Smith’s baby. He gives limited information when he tells her there was a baby but chooses to tell her before Eric knows that his mother (Mrs. Birling) knows. He does this deliberately so Mrs Birling blames the father of the baby, which we know is Eric., ‘then he’d be entirely responsible’. From this quote, it is clear she is blaming the father, however, she would not say this if she knew it were her son. The Inspector does this to show her that even the unlikely to her has happened and will feel guilty for blaming her son. We can say that the Inspector acts like a catalyst throughout the play. He moves the story forward according to his preference, ‘no, I can’t do that yet. I’m sorry, but he’ll have to wait’. This quote sounds as if he has structured when each specific character find out the truth, maybe according to rank of importance to Eva Smith’ death. Through this technique that J B Priestly has used for the Inspector, of letting characters find out information that different times, it brings out suspense and tension to the reader as well as the audience and characters. Besides, exclamation slashes; questions make the audience unprepared and tense with limited information. As a dramatis device, the Inspector presents J B Priestley’s central themes and involves the audience.
The Inspector uses techniques that make the characters feel threatened to answer him through hesitation to find out the truth. One of the ways is questioning the characters in a demanding, threatening and rude way, ‘To punish the girl just because she made you feel like that?’ He makes the character feel compelled to answer, also by giving his opinion in a question so the other characters are eager to know the characters response.
The endings are always unresolved. This creates suspense because as the story unravels, the characters guilt form together gradually making the Birling family reputation deteriorates since the Inspector visits them. The Inspector also ends the acts, for instance, at the end of Act 1 he says ‘well?’ as if he were expecting an answer from Eric. He also speaks for everyone like the audience and characters, as they are tense and thinking the same thoughts as the Inspector.
The Inspector tries to hint to the characters and audience about a War that will come if the Birling’s, also the audience if everyone does not learn their lesson, they will be taught through ‘fire and blood and anguish’. He says this to show that if the Birling’ and others, for instance, the audience do not learn their lesson, things will deteriorate. This quote shows the Inspector’s direct speech towards class system, possibly showing us him rebelling towards it. This is significant because we know the story is set in 1912 when much of the story and characters conversations involve the occurring events at the time.
The Titanic was believed to be unsinkable, however, to us it is dramatic irony that we know it did sink, whereas, Birling does not. Birling boosts himself and his family about their prosperity, and thinks his life will never become tragic, however, this changes and similarly so does the predictable Titanic. J B Priestley has done this to allow us to link the Birlings and the Titanic together making us see how the Birlings will lose their prosperity, and possibly fall form higher class to lower class. In addition, in the Titanic as there were more chance of survival in higher class, J B Priestly is possibly trying to show us the contrast of life expectancy in higher and working class and how diverse they are. This is an effective quote as it is in the last line the Inspector says. It is supposed to then let the audience and characters think about it, feeling guilty and puzzled. As the First World War as about to start in 1914, we would expect the Birlings and audience to learn about the class system, however the war broke out, suggesting no one learnt their lesson. It was written in 1945, to show that the feuds and problems of class system and people were not sorted out. Moreover, the atomic bomb that went off in 1945 suggests people will get hurt form the truth. Mainly, he was to show there would be serious consequence of ignoring prevention. J B Priestley shows his theme of collective responsibility also towards in the wake of two major world wars.
The story was also five years before the Russian Revolution (1917), which brought Communists into power. This is ironic, as the higher class believed in capitalism with working by themselves, however, communists believed in shared equality, and it shows us that things changed the opposite way, as we would not expect. Working class gained power over higher class, also there were more working class and this developed and brought more change and hope.
J B priestly makes the Inspector act threatening to the characters, ‘he speaks carefully, weightily and has disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’’. From this quote, we can guess the person speaking to the Inspector feels intimidated and threatened to look at the Inspector. This tells us that even though the Inspector has said nothing, yet he creates a sense of massiveness in the atmosphere making others feel uncomfortable, even though, they are higher class and prosperous with no purpose to feel that way. Event though, the Inspector is aware of the Birlings as wealthy, he ignores this and treats them no different of what would be expected. The Birlings feel intimidated as the Inspector ignores their annoyance with him, ‘that – I consider – is a trifle impertinent, Inspector’. From this quote, Mrs Birling feels the Inspector rude and does not expect him to talk to her in that manner, according to her class.
The plain dark suit that the Inspector wears looks a sort of sinister dress code with a hat that covers his face. The hat could hide his face to look suspicious and cover up through his journey to the Birlings, possibly. We feel connotations of danger and suspicion related with the Inspector dress code, manner and talking. It is significant that Inspector had interrupted Mr Birling’s speech with a sharp bell at the door. This, for the audience will show interruption by physical action through Birlings important speech about men looking after themselves. It is almost as if the Inspector is trying to tell Birling that he is wrong because the higher class should look after the lower class people to get out of poverty and hard life. The speech is unresolved as action makes a big impact. This influences the audience too. This is ironic, as it shows Inspector undermining or overpowering Birlings philosophy of life. This links in well with Eva Smiths death showing that the Birlings drove her to her death because they had the chance to help her but they refused. Furthermore, as the Inspector comes at a specific time at Gerald and Shelia’s engagement, it suggests he is trying to show the truth inside them before completing their engagement.
The Inspector affects the characters making them feel guiltier than others. For example, Shelia and Eric are the only characters that seem need to change after learning about Eva Smith’s death. J B Priestley possibly done this to show that younger generation are ones whom can change society, also they are seen as hope and change.
Light is a central theme of the play. When the Inspector arrives on stage, at the beginning the light gets darker and harder showing that the truth that he is about to seek and reveal is dark and hard meaning no hope left. Moreover, the audience will see the characters tend to leave the stage when feeling guilty. When the characters go, the light gets darker linking danger connotations. As the audience and characters, everyone is unaware whether the Inspector has actually shown all the same photos because he chooses when to show them to the characters at different times.
The Inspector tries his hardest to make Mrs Birling see her responsibility towards Eva Smith’s death, however, she does not understand. As a result, the Inspector explains in a heartlessly and harsh manner, ‘she lies with a burnt out inside on a slab’. Even though, she does not see the main consequence, he still wants her to know.
As a result of the truth revealed, Shelia and Gerald see their guilt and Shelia does not want to be engaged to Gerald. They act understandably, ‘you and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here’. Their attitudes change towards each other and create honesty.
There would be more of an effect on the audience at the time, as it would be a shock and guilt would surround the audience, however, as we do not have class systems, we do not see this as a serious way then the audience at the time would.
