J.B Priestley’s Use of Language, Character, and Setting for Dramatic Effect in An Inspector Calls

J.B Priestley’s Use of Language, Character, and Setting for Dramatic Effect in An Inspector Calls

This essay shall examine the way in which J.B. Priestley creates

dramatic effect in his 1945 play – ‘An Inspector Calls’. The play is

centred on an Inspector who gatecrashes the Birling’s engagement party

to their daughter Sheila and her Fiancé Gerald croft, by announcing

that earlier in the day a girl called Eva Smith, also known as Daisy

Renton, committed suicide by drinking a bottle of disinfectant. The

Inspector slowly makes his way around each of the Birling’s and Gerald

and asks them a series of questions, which results in the characters

being convinced that they are to blame for her death.

In this essay I will analyse the period and context of when the play

was written, analyse the language used as well as the use of

characters, the setting and the genre of the play.

‘An Inspector Calls’ was written in 1945, but set one week before the

Titanic set sail in 1912 – the late Edwardian Era. I feel that this

was done deliberately because J.B. Priestley may have intended to

convey his optimism about World War One and how he thought a World War

wouldn’t begin. After World War Two, I feel it was appropriate to

release ‘An Inspector Calls’ as a simple morality play of which the

morals could be ‘not everything is what it seems’ and ‘you never know

what is going to happen’. I feel this is due to dramatic irony as

from the curtain opening there are many references towards disasters

throughout history like the Titanic sinking in the middle of the

Atlantic Ocean, after crashing into an Iceberg. Priestley conveys his

optimism here as Mr....

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...ll ask. Perhaps he meant to teach them a

lesson that they shouldn’t tell lies because eventually their lies

will just spiral out of control. I also feel that the Inspector is a

ghost because by the end of the play because he is pressed for time.

This is perhaps because he knows that the real police are going to

phone or arrive soon. Thus, I believe that the Inspector has been

created to help the Birling’s and Gerald Croft so they know to be

completely straight to the real Inspector, as Inspector Goole may be a

prediction to which the real Inspector will be.

I don’t feel that the play was created for a specific time period from

when it was written, and therefore I don’t feel that it will loose

it’s overall impact on the audience for many generations to come

because there will always be a problem with social class.