An Inspector Calls Essay

â€Å"How does the way Priestley creates dramatic tension in the play encourage the audience to sympathise with his views?† Priestley wrote â€Å"An Inspector Calls† straight after the Second World War. He sets the play in the period just before the First World War in 1912, both were periods of a lot of social change. Priestley sets out to entertain his audience with a dramatic play full of suspense. Priestley’s views in the play seem to be all about morals. That it is important to look after each other, and that all people should be treated equally and be able to dream of a better life. Priestley ensures that he gets across his strong socialist ideas. He offers the audience a rather foolish, self obsessed upper class family. By way of contrast he offers us inspector Goole as a very clever, classless hero of the play. During the play he develops most characters as immoral and with limited intellect. Priestly adds dramatic tension to the play by the theatre lighting. In the beginning the room starts of in soft lighting, but when the inspector arrives the lighting becomes brighter and harsher, almost like a spotlight shining, so everyone focuses only on him. He also highlights the contrast in the wealthy clothes of the Billings and the Crofts, also the lavish furnishings of the home compared with the inspector who looks relatively plain. Arthur Birling, who is the main character accused by the inspector, doesn’t care about anyone unless they make him richer or improves his social standing. He is a stupid man and says things in his speech which turned out to be untrue. â€Å"The Unsinkable Titanic† and that there would â€Å"never be a war with Germany†. He sacked Eva Smith because of his greed and the lack of understanding, he only want cheap labour (so more money for himself). He couldn’t understand that Eva Smith needed more to live on. He thinks that Gerald’s family is socially superior, so he wants to impress them by saying he is getting a knighthood. Priestley does not make his main character very attractive and give him all the characteristics that are not desirable or likeable, so getting the audience to sympathise with his socialist views. One of the moments of dramatic tensions occurs when Gerald confesses to Sheila about his affair with Eva, and that they must keep it from the Inspector because he has no part in her suicide â€Å"I’m sorry, Shelia. But it was all over and done with, last summer. I hadn’t set eyes on the girl for at least six months. I don’t come into this suicide business†. Sheila doesn’t agree just as the Inspector opens the door he says, â€Å"Well?† Priestley is showing the audience at this point, nobody in the family can see any connections with their actions and the fate of this young girl. The end of act three is also dramatic as it is the moment when Eric turns on his own parents and sister. He tells his mother she killed Eva. Along with his baby, â€Å"her grandchild† and tells her â€Å"she doesn’t understand anything†. Mrs Birling (very distressed now) counters by saying â€Å"I didn’t know/ I didn’t understand†. Eric responds to this by almost threatening her â€Å"You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried†. Another point of tension was when Gerald said that the inspector wasn’t a police officer. Mr Birling was very angry and repeated â€Å"He wasn’t an Inspector†, but excitedly â€Å"By jingo! A fake!†. Mrs Birling acts as though she knew he was a fake all along, â€Å"I felt it all the time. He never talked like one. He never talked like one. He never even looked like one†. She acts as though she knows it all. This confused the audience and made them think and made them want to know more. The most dramatic scene is at the end, when after convincing the audience that it was a hoax when Shelia first suspects him â€Å"was he really a police inspector?† and Gerald’s confirmation was after he came back from his breath of fresh air that there is no inspector Goole then the whole thing become shocking. Priestly makes his play dramatic by including a death with a huge twist at the end. The ending changes the play from a crime investigation into maybe something supernatural. Normally at the end of a play everything is sorted out, but not in this one. Priestly doesn’t give an explanation about who inspector Goole was. This increases the mystery surrounding him, which lifts the amount of tension in the play. Priestley’s play was very topical and relevant in his day when socialism was sweeping the world and people were living in restless times. He wasn’t particularly subtle about how he got his message across; he didn’t offer a balanced view. His main point’s concerning selfishness and greed are still as important today. Priestly survived the World War One trenches and this probably helped him form many of his views of the world. He taught us that you can have a huge effect by people’s lives on what you say and do, and that people can change e.g. Shelia and Eric changed from understanding what the inspector said so they change their views and feelings. We are all responsible for each other.