How Atmosphere is Created and Maintained in An Inspector Calls

How Atmosphere is Created and Maintained in An Inspector Calls

J.B Priestly uses a lot of ideas to give the audience an idea of

suspense and mystery. At the start of the film and play production the

audience can hear music, this makes them wonder what is going on as

the family inside the house is happy and joyous, yet the music seems

eerie and almost scary. Minutes into the play a grand entrance is made

(that of the inspector) which creates a feeling of unease, as the

audience and the family wonder what he is doing there.

The entrances and exits are used in the best possible way, he makes

the entrance of a character leave a big impression, but the exit of a

character leave an even bigger one. The biggest entrance during the

play is that of the inspector during Birlings speech about "looking

after himself and his own family, yet when the inspector leaves he

makes a speech about not living alone but looking after everyone and

that we are responsible for one another." This creates another feeling

of unease as this is the complete opposite of what Birling said at the

start. This leaves a cliff-hanger which J.B. Priestly also uses to

great effect. The cliff-hanger which leaves the biggest impression on

the audiences mind is that at the end of act 1 between Gerald and the

inspector, it leaves the audience wondering what will happen as Gerald

has given his connection with Daisy Renton away and is trying to cover

it up. This leads to dramatic irony as the audience knows what is

going on, but still not all the characters know.

The best case of dramatic irony is between Eric, Mrs Birling and Eva

Smith towards the end of act 2, when Mrs Birling is going on about, "that

father of Eva Smith's baby needs to be taken in hand and dealt with

and he should accept his responsibility.” The audience know that the

father is Eric, but still Mrs Birling was making it worse as she was