Dramatic Irony In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

In the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestly uses dramatic irony, specific stage directions and other key techniques, to develop the character’s responsibility to Eva Smiths death.
Priestly uses Birling’s capitalist behaviour to show his responsibility. For example, “yes, yes horrid business”. This suggests that because of class difference, Birling is unaffected by Eva’s death because he is supposedly inferior to her, because they are not an equal class. Furthermore, this suggests Priestly is using Birling as a weapon to represent the capitalist’s selfish ways, to direct people to socialism. When Birling in the play uses the expression “horrid business’. The audience gets the sense that Mr Birling is implying that he doesn’t care about Eva Smith because of her class, this makes the audience resent Birling because of his discriminative ways.
Whereas Sheila Birling takes responsibility for Eva’s death. For example, “(miserably) so I’m really responsible”. This suggests that Sheila knows she has done wrong and feels guilty about what has happened because of her selfish mistake. Furthermore, this suggests that due to Sheila’s youth, she is open to change and already adapting to …show more content…
Priestly uses conflict between the characters (mostly Sheila and Gerald) to make Gerald’s fault more severe. To do this he creates a distinctive, sexiest argument between the two. For example, “she’s had a long, exciting and tiring day”. This suggests Gerald is treating Sheila like a child by assuming she’s too delicate and unable to cope like the men during the investigation. Furthermore, we find out that Gerald is embarrassed about the investigation and doesn’t want Sheila to hear, due to his affair with Eva that we learn later on in the play, but also because he is still treating her as a child. This makes the audience resent Gerald, with Mr Birling, because even though he is in his youth, he follows Mr Birling and is un-easy to talk to and

Show More

Dramatic Irony In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Related Documents: Dramatic Irony In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls Unit Essay