An Inspector Calls Coursework
Question
Explore the dramatic effectiveness of the beginning of act 1 up to the entrance of the inspector
Answer
An inspector calls by J.B priestly is a play that deals with social in justice. It's clever because it draws the audience in and makes them think how we should treat others. The play is about a young woman who has commented suicide and there’s an investigation into her death.
The main themes in the play are social justice, responsibility for others and rich Vs poor. The play was written in 1966 but was set in 1912 at the time of the play was set capitalism was becoming important, the rich was becoming richer and the poor was becoming poorer.
The Birling family is celebrating Sheila and Gerald engagement in there Birling mansion also they are a rich class. The people who are in the Birling mansion are Sheila, Gerald, Mr Birling, Ms Birling and Eric. The mood at the beginning of the play is happy, joyful and warm. We know this because the stage direction says 'the lighting should be pink and intimate'. This shows the mood because it uses the word pink and intimate. This creates a calm and cosy atmosphere. The writer drops clues to make the scene dramatically effective when Sheila says 'yes except for all last summer, when you never came near me'. This makes the audience interested in Sheila’s relationship with Gerald and makes the audience wonder if they have had problems in the past.
In the next scene Eric is behaving strangely we know this because Eric suddenly laughs out loud and says 'I don’t know really, suddenly I felt I just had to laugh'. This keeps the audience interested because they want to know what Eric is hiding also Eric is always drunk and he acts nervously. The writer uses dramatic irony in Birlings speech. A quotation what shows this is when birling says 'the Germans don’t want war'. We know this is dramatic irony because the Germans did want war and the Germans did start the Second World War. The affect this has on the audience is the impression that Birling is stupid as they have just finished the Second World War with Germany. Another example of dramatic effectiveness is when birling says 'so long we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal'. This is dramatic on the audience because birling has proved to be wrong so the audience thinks it might be a scandal.
Priestly wanted to stop birling talking because birling was saying opposite things what priestly thinks. Birling was saying ' but the way some of these cranks talk and write now you’d think everybody has look after everybody else'. Birling was interrupted when he was talking also Birling was saying 'a man has to mind he’s own business and look after he’s own' The lighting has changed from pink and intimate to brighter and harder when the inspector arrives. A quotation what shows us that the lighting has changed is when the stage director says 'the lighting should be pink and intimate until the inspector arrives and then it should be brighter and harder'
I think the lighting has changed because when the inspector arrives everyone in birlings house wonders why an inspector has come into birlings house and start asking questions. This description of the inspector is dramatically effective because it tells you everything about the inspector like what he is wearing, how old he is, how he speaks etc.
This would make the audience interested because the inspector is an interesting character in the play. So I think the audience would want to know more about the inspector, what I mean by the audience would want to know more about the inspector is that why he has turned up to Birling mansion and asking all these questions about the woman who died. It is ironic that an inspector has called because the inspector comes into the Birling mansion and start questioning people about the woman who died but all the people in the Birling mansion does not know that the inspector is not real what I mean by his not real is that his a ghost.
I think the beginning section of the play is interesting for the audience because all the people in the Birling family are sitting around the table in Birling mansion eating and celebrating the engagement of Sheila and Gerald.
