Writer's Methods & Techniques

• Writer’s Methods and Techniques:

  ‘Methods’ is an umbrella term for anything the writer does on purpose to create meaning. Using the writer’s name in your response will help you to think about the test as a conscious construct and will keep reminding you that Priestley purposely put the play together.
• Dramatic Methods,

  There are a number of dramatic methods used in An Inspector Calls:

  • dramatic structure
  • stagecraft
  • dramatic speech and language
• Dramatic structure: (part 1)

  • An Inspector Calls follows a three-act structure which utilises many conventions of the detective genre, though some of these have been subverted:
  • The Inspector’s speech does not provide any further revelations but simply repeats the moral message of the play
• Dramatic structure: (part 2)

  • Priestley structures the play using some dramatic devices from Greek tragedy, specifically the Three Unities, to create intensity and add an element of realism to the play:
  • Unity of Place: the play is set in one location
  • Unity of Time: the events are enacted in real-time
  • Unity of Action: the play has only one plot 
• Dramatic structure: (part 3)

  • In the opening section of the play, Priestley has introduced the Birlings, established their social positions and gives some clues to the audience that this depiction of a happy family is not quite what it seems:
  • Priestley prepares the audience for the characters’ downfall
• Dramatic structure: (part 4)

  • Priestley has structured the play so that each act presents the audience with a number of gradual revelations, twists and surprises:
  • This is used to increase tension, create shock and/or and add an element of surprise
• Dramatic structure: (part 5)

  • The play employs a cyclical structure, meaning the play ends where it began with a call from a police inspector:
  • This structure may indicate the characters will be made to repeat the events of the evening, with another opportunity of redemption for those characters who had refused to do so 
  • It could also indicate that these characters are doomed to repeat the same mistakes as before and will fail to ‘learn their lesson’
• Dramatic structure: (part 6)

  • In order to create suspense and shock, Priestley subverts the denouement of the play, by ending the play on a cliff-hanger with an unexpected twist:
  • The pattern of ending each act on a cliff-hanger will have been anticipated by the audience
  • However, the revelation that a girl has just died and a police inspector is on his way will have created a thrilling end to the play
• Stagecraft: (part 1)

  The events of the play take place in the Birlings’ dining room:

  • The single location of the play may signify the Birlings’ relative isolation and detachment from the lower classes
  • It also adds an element of entrapment with the characters seeming unable to escape the Inspector’s interrogation 
• Stagecraft: (part 2)

  • The intimate location also creates a contrast between the private and public spheres of the family:
  • The revelations exposed are at this point a private family matter, yet the impending visit of the police inspector at the end of the play will threaten to bring events into the public sphere
  • The sharp sound effect of the doorbell when the Inspector arrives interrupts Arthur’s speech about the importance of looking after oneself:
  • This forewarns the audience that his attitude is about to be challenged by the Inspector
• Stagecraft: (part 3)

  • The lighting changes from ‘pink and ‘intimate’ to suggest that the Inspector will place the characters under great scrutiny:
  • It may also indicate that the characters will begin to see events with greater clarity and in a new light
• Stagecraft: (part 4)

  • Priestley uses cliff-hangers at the end of each act and begins each subsequent act where the previous one finished, which helps to maintain tension and pace
  • Dramatic entrances and exits are used to create further suspense:
  • Sheila dramatically exits the stage when she is shown a photograph of Eva, showing she is distraught
• Stagecraft: (part 5)

  • Priestley deliberately makes Eric a peripheral character for much of Acts I and II:
  • His repeated absences from the stage are used to delay Eric’s confession until the dramatic final act
  • Priestley deftly creates tension through a variety of methods:
  • The use of silence and pauses
  • Information about Eva and each of the character’s involvement with her is only gradually revealed to the audience
• Stagecraft: (part 6)

  • The use of photographs is used to great effect:
  • This assumes great importance at the end of the play when it is suspected he may have been showing a different photo to each character
  • There is a strong contrast in the first half of the act compared to the second half in terms of both character and mood:
  • The first half illustrates the prosperity and smugness of the Birlings
  • The second half enables the audience to observe its destruction
• Dramatic speech and language:

  It is important to consider the ways in which Priestley organises speech and language within the play. For example, the use of dialogue; the use of monologues and each character’s specific use of language.
• Dramatic Irony:

  • Priestley uses a great deal of dramatic irony throughout the first part of Act I
  • Priestley deliberately uses dramatic irony, in part, to portray Arthur Birling as foolish when the character smugly boasts about the Titanic ship and the future prospects of peace and prosperity:
  • Arthur’s optimism for the future is superficial and his predictions demonstrate his complacency
  • However, this suits him, for he has much to lose if things were to change
• Dramatic Irony:

  • Arthur Birling’s speech also serves several dramatic purposes:
  • It presents a picture of a world safe for Capitalism to thrive
  • The speech also shows a man confident in his own judgement and totally self-satisfied
  • However, the audience is clearly aware of the sinking of the ship and the war which followed two years after the play was set
  • His pronouncements display him as a self-opinionated materialist whose confidence in his own judgement is a sham
• • While understandably Arthur would not have been able to predict these future events, Priestley deliberately uses this device to further ridicule his character, by presenting Arthur as a character unworthy of sympathy
• Moralistic Language:

  • The Inspector is the most important voice within the play:
  • He speaks “carefully” and “weightily” and controls the events and dialogue
  • As he is used to developing the plot, much of his speech is filled with questions and imperatives (“And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. …This girl killed herself- and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.”)
• Moralistic Language:

  • He delivers many lengthy monologues 
  • The Inspector is also dramatic in his speech:
  • Ideas relating to social responsibility are repeatedly interwoven throughout his dialogue
  • He continually uses the pronoun ‘we’ to highlight his message of social responsibility
• Foreshadowing

  Priestley uses foreshadowing on many different occasions in the first act of the play to hint to the audience what is about to happen:

  • Sheila makes the comment to Gerald: “…except for all last summer when you never came near me, and I wondered what had happened to you”:
  • This alludes to Gerald’s affair with Eva/Daisy
• Foreshadowing:

  • Sheila comments to Eric: “You’re squiffy”, accusing Eric of being drunk:
  • This alludes to the audience that Eric’s drinking is a fairly constant feature of his behaviour
  • Birling’s comical remarks to the family: “we must behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal”:
  • This suggests a potential scandal is indeed about to be revealed