Irony in “An Inspector Calls” - page 1
Keywords: An inspector calls, irony, dramatic devices, Act 1,
By abdul on 20/11/2006 17:27:23
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Irony in “An Inspector Calls”
In Act one of “An Inspector Calls” how does J.B. Priestley use dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to the members of the audience, as well as interest and involve them in his play?
“An Inspector Calls” was a play sat in 1912 in the North Midlands by J.B. Priestley, two years prior to the First World War breaking out. When the British society was extremely class dominated. It was used as a vehicle for commentary not only on World War 1 but also World War 2. It is a no-morality play and it is a play with many social and political messages as well as the mixture of the social commentary. The character of the Inspector Goole was used by Priestley to convey his own thoughts and opinions about social issues, he believed in and that many people needed to be more caring about their community. All of these factors as well as the brilliant dramatic devices that Priestley uses helped him to engage the audience and involve them.
As the curtain raises, the four characters, Gerald, Arthur, Eric and Sheila are seated at the table. All of them, apart from Gerald who is an aristocratic upper class man, are members of a wealthy middle class family. We can tell that Gerald and Birlings’ family are quite wealthy by having a party unlike the most people at that time. The whole play is constructed in the dinning room, of a fairly large suburban house belonging to a prosperous manufacturer, Arthur Birling, who is a businessman. Making money and getting power are his first and last priority, and he strongly believes that “a man has to make his own way”. His wife is called Sybil Birling and she is strongly concerned about manners and tells others what they should say and do. The only interest she has is to keep the family reputation clean and good. They have got two children who are Eric and Sheila. Eric is presented in Act one as the boy who behaves silly and does not care about anything, while Sheila is presented in the same act as a selfish and confident girl who is engaged to Gerald Croft, the rich, handsome man who seemed to be a capitalist. They were all celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft just before an inspector called Goole come in and commence to tell the
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