J.B.Priestley's Use of Dramatic Ironys to Create Dramatic Tension in the Play An Inspector Calls
In this essay I am going to write about how J.B.Priestely used
dramatic irony and entrances and exits to create dramatic tension. I
will tell you what dramatic irony is and how it is used in the story
'An Inspector Calls'. In addition how Priestley uses entrances and
exits to create tension as well. The play is set in 1912 but actually
written in 1945, which created more dramatic irony because the
audience knew what had already happened in real life.
Priestley uses stage directions to create tension in the play and
suspense, this quote supports my point 'we hear a sharp ring of the
door bell. Birling stops to listen'. This creates tension because it
show's people thoughts and facial expressions are shown. The fact that
it is staged in one room creates more tension and it also makes
everything tight and tense. It is also really good that everyone comes
and goes out at really tense points.
Before the inspector arrives the family are celebrating the engagement
of Shelia Birling to Gerald Croft. There is a happy and jolly mood in
the house. Mr.Birling's Speeches have a lot of irony in them. Dramatic
Irony is when the audience know what is going on but the actors on
stage don't know. For example when Mr.Birling talks about the Titanic
being unsinkable 'New York in 5 days-and every luxury-and Unsinkable'
because Priestley wrote this in 1945 but set it in 1912 the audience
already know that the titanic sunk'.
When the door bell rang Mr. Birling stops to listen and then just
carries on what he was talking about. The doorbell rings at a really
calm moment not a lot has happened so far in the play. Birling has
given some dramatic speeches talking about war and how it will never
happen. The doorbell goes and the inspector doesn't come straight in
it takes a bit for him to come in; Priestley is creating more tension
here by slowing things down.
audience in his play. I will be analysing act one of the play to try
Dramatic Irony is when the irony that is in speeches or text is expressed through a workable structure. The audience knows what’s happening, but the character themselves do not know what’s happening or what’s going to happen. The character is unaware that this is happening, but the readers know how this story will lay out. In the story “The Bicycle” by Jillian Horton, Hannah is a young girl who loves to play piano. Hannah’s aunt, Tante Rose knows how to play so she says that she will teach Hannah how to play but she must obey her aunts rules. One of her aunts rules is that Hannah cannot ride a bike. Hannah has never ridden a bike and all of her friends have, and Hannah wants to ride a bike. The author uses dramatic irony because the readers know that Hannah will ride a bike at some point in her life. The author makes the dramatic irony important because if the author didn’t tell us that Hannah has never ridden a bike, we wouldn’t know why she would want to ride one so badly. This is dramatic irony instead or irony because irony is when the readers expect something to happen and it turns out the opposite way. In this story the reader knows that Hannah will ride the bike and Hannah ends up riding the bike at the end of the story. If Hannah didn’t ride the bike the story would not have ended like it did and then the author would have used ironically. In the short story “The Possibility Of Evil” by Shirley Jackson,
Dramatic irony is used through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s return. His death had brought her such great sorrow but upon his return she died. Her death then created sorrier bringing in the irony of the beginning of the story where it was said that Mrs. Mallard’s heart was bad and she was tried not to be stressed.
Examine Priestley's use of dramatic techniques to create tension in the play. Priestly was a socialist writer, and 'An Inspector Calls' is one of the plays in which he tried to display his socialist ideals in. The play was written in the 1940's, a little after the end of the Second World War, and it was first performed in 1946, in Russia, then later in England. Priestly had served in World War 1, and the terrible scenes he saw lead to him having socialist views. He was inspired by other writers whose views he shared, especially George Orwell and H.G.
Victorian rich life out to be less than what it seems. I think it was
Another interesting factor about this story is the irony and tone in this story and how it adds toward each character.
In conclusion, many examples are given throughout the novel that exemplifies all three types of irony: situational, verbal, and dramatic. There are many more examples, like Bernard wanting attention and John’s suicide. His suicide can be an example of irony, with the reader hoping that John (the revolutionist) might succeed, but John taking his own life. Irony plays a huge role in the book, pointing out that no society can be perfect and that some laws are broken by the creators themselves.
audience is left in suspense at the end of Act One, this is done so
There are so many examples of situational irony that is clear throughout these stories Mr. Mallard being dead, Mama finally realizes that Maggie deserves the quilts because she understands her heritage better than Dee, Mathilde finding out she worked her whole life for nothing, and when Mr. Graves tells Tessie that Eva draws with her husband's family, Tessie is angry. Dramatic irony is everywhere as well. Louise dies from the shock of seeing her husband who is supposed to be dead and when Dee never wanted anything to do with her heritage until somebody was impressed by it.
Priestley's Use of Characters to Send a Political and Social Message to the Audience in An Inspector Calls
JB Priestley uses dramatic devices to make An inspector calls a modern day morality play, to do this he uses dramatic devices, such as dramatic irony and tension in order to convey the message through the entire play. They are used accurately considering the time in which the play is set. Priestley also uses the characters as dramatic devices, they symbolise the dramatic devices, an example of this is Priestley makes us hate Mr. Birling because he symbolises capitalism, and in Priestley’s eyes capitalism is wrong. Throughout the pl...
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "dramatic irony (literature)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
member of the family to admit to the fact she did wrong and is willing
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story about two lovers who are from two disputing families, and their eventual suicides. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout the play to create tension for the audience and foreshadow the ending. Dramatic irony is when the words or actions of characters in a story have a different meaning to the reader than to the characters. This is because the reader knows something that the characters do not. Romeo and Juliet’s death could have been prevented if the characters in the story weren’t so ignorant of their situations, and often times the reader recognizes this.
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.