Priestley's technique

Priestley’s technique- Dramatic devices:

A dramatic device is a method used by the author to heighten the interest of the audience.

Opening stage directions: Used to give us first impressions of each character and introduce the setting.

Mr Birling- “prosperous manufacturer” “a heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech”- Shows that Mr B owns and runs a factory and this is how he is rich- he is not born into the class as he speaks ‘commonly’ and is self-important (this is what portentous means).

Mrs Birling- “about fifty, a rather cold woman and her husband’s social superior”- Shows she is heartless and emotionless and doesn’t care about other people’s feelings. She married down into Mr Birling’s class.

Sheila Birling- “pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”- Shows she is happy about her engagement

Eric Birling- “early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive”- Shows he is quite awkward.

“good solid furniture of the period…substantial and heavily comfortable but not cosy and homelike”- Shows they are trying to make a good impression (links to Birling’s lower status) and creates of mood of awkwardness- suggests something bad is going to happen. Also shows they are well off and middle class.

The lighting- “pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives an then it should be bright and harder”- Suggests a friendly and personal atmosphere but then it becomes invasive (imagery of a bright light showing physical flaws- this light shows mental flaws etc.) – like an Inspector’s room. Links to Priestley’s subtlety and is a dramatic device in itself, it suggests something bad will happen

Dramatic irony:

Mr Birling – “nobody wants war” the Titanic is “absolutely, unsinkable” – Link to the context- the audience will have experienced both the sinking of the Titanic which many of them will have known victims of and two wars- through this Priestly shows the audience that “hard-headed business” men, i.e. capitalists, like Mr Birling are completely oblivious to the outside world and their opinion is not to be trusted.

Mr Birling- he will get his knighthood “so long as we behave ourselves. Don’t get into the police court or start a scandal – eh” He is overconfident and believes that this won’t happen but in fact it does- this is what the Inspector reveals. Gerald goes on to say “You seem to be a well-behaved family” and Birling replies “We think we are”. This ‘throwaway’ sentence hints to the audience that something bad is going to happen.

Sheila- “You’re squiffy”- suggests to the audience that Eric may have a drunk problem

Mrs Birling- “find this young man and then make sure he’s compelled to confess in public to his responsibility”- Mrs Birling just wants to shift the blame to someone else but in fact she is shifting it to her son. Through the use of “some drunken young idler” and the fact the Inspector wants…