An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley :: Papers

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley I am going to explore how J.B Priestley expresses his ideas and concerns about society through the characters Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in "An Inspector Calls". Priestley's Ideas and concerns were similar to Dickens's in "A Christmas Carol", they both had concerns that the rich were not looking after the poor and that they were not taking responsibilities for their own effect on those less fortunate. They both stress the idea that the poor should be given a helping hand to get their own money, not just be punished for being poor because that doesn't help. J.B Priestley set the play in 1912 because so much had happen between the period he had set the play and written it (1945), which meant that the audience would be knowledgeable about the time and he could then use dramatic irony very effectively. Dramatic irony is where the audience has knowledge that gives additional meaning to a characters words, Priestley uses this technique with the character Mr Birling to show that he didn't have a clue about what he was talking about like other rich people of the time. Mr Birling says "the Titanicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable" the Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage. As the audience knew this fact, and as the audience will know they realized Mr Birling was wrong so this causes dramatic irony. He also talks about WW1 "just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, or a few German officers have too much to drink and begin to talk nonsense, you'll hear some people say that war is inevitable. And to that I say - fiddlesticks!" and of cause the war did happened, well two wars happened between 1912 and 1945. Birling also says the workers won't revolt and the labour party will never grow and again he is wrong. The effect of using dramatic irony to make Mr Birling look ignorant even though he is financially successful is to show that even thought some people maybe be rich doesn't mean they now more about