The Use of Dramatic Devices in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

The Use of Dramatic Devices in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

An Inspector Calls is a play with a moral. The writer’s main cause of

writing the play was to teach the people around him how he thinks the

world should act. He does this by using the inspector to express all

of his ideas and thoughts through the way in which he teaches the

Birlings their mistakes. His main concerns were the idea of

responsibility that everybody should look after everybody around and

not just concern about themselves.

Priestly wanted to show that you could change and learn from your past

mistakes. Through this play, he gave us the message that a society can

only function if everybody looks after each other.

The year 1912 & 1945 are important because Priestly wanted these times

to reflect on how people can change. He set it in the past before the

World War 1 in 1912 to show that the war had changed things can

finally forget the past where they may have been selfish. The year

1945 was also an important date because at that time the war had

subsided and had left a trail of learning & regret behind them. This

may suggest that the play was set in that year in which Priestly was

trying to preach a message to the converted rather than allow his play

to be judged with an audience. The play was set to show the audiences

of the sufferings before World War 1 in 1912 and gave the audience the

power of retrospection of knowing what would happen after the play.

Priestly wrote this, so he can affect those people would have not

listened in the past and make people move forward and not return to

the values of 1912.

Various dramatic devices are used to influen...

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...then gives us a different

point of view of them. It is discovered that every character in the

play (except for the inspector) has something to do with Eva Smith and

have their own dark secrets. ‘You don’t realize yet all yoou have

done.’ This is what Birling says angrily to Eric because of the

discovery of his despicable behaviour

So basically the playwright’s message is that we should care for

people around us and not always for ourselves, encourage people to

take responsibility for their actions, not to shift the blame on to

others and always learn from your past mistakes, this makes it

relevant so that you don’t repeat the same errors again in the future.

And I think that J.B.Priestly has succeeded in spreading the ideas he

thinks and what he wants the world to follow to make it a better place

to live.