Dramatic Tension in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

How does J.B. Priestly create dramatic tension in An Inspector Calls?

In "An Inspector Calls," dramatic, tension is created in many ways.

First of all is Conflict. There is conflict within the family

initially. This is mainly in the generations; Mr Birling isn't

particularly proud of his son Eric and so he isn't as kind to him as

he is to other members of the family.

Just keep quiet Eric.

As you can see, he doesn't really respect him at all. This is what Mr.

Birling says to Eric after Eric asks if it was because of Mr. Birling

firing Eva that she committed suicide.

Rubbish! If you don't come down sharply on some of these people,

they'd soon be asking for the earth.

This is Mr. Birling's response after Eric tells him that he wouldn't

have fired Eva. Eric is implying here that Mr. Birling was

over-reacting in throwing her out, and that he should have kept her

working there. After this, Eric once again brings the topic up that

Mr. Birling shouldn't have fired Eva. Eric says this:

And I don't see why she should have been sacked just because she'd a

bit more spirit than the others.

This is how Mr. Birling replies to that comment:

(Rather angrily) Unless you brighten your ideas, you'll never be in a

position to let anyone stay or to tell anybody to go. It's about time

you learnt to face a few responsibilities.

Mr. Birling saying this shows that he has no faith in his son and he

feels that he will not amount to anything. Mr. Birling prefers Gerald

to his son. This is obvious as he is always flattering him and giving

him more respect than to Eric. This is probably another way to make

Eric feel bad, to maybe get him motivated. This is the sort of thing

Mr. Birling says to Eric:

I'm treating ...

... middle of paper ...

... to help with the baby.

All of the sequences connect well and very neatly which helps to give

the play more tension; because of what one person, the next thing can

happen, and because of what they did, the next thing can happen and so

on. This makes the play more exciting and helps it flow better, which

shows it is professional and well written.

In conclusion to the question, J. B. Priestly creates tension through

Conflict, Dramatic Irony, Interrogation Techniques, Relief, Creation

of Doubt, chain of consequences and Mystery, and Shock. These methods

of creating tension are very effective and ultimately there is a lot

of tension in the play. The play can get exciting in certain places

due to the tension of what will happen next; what effect will one

thing have on another? All in all, the play is Very well written and

the dramatic tension is excellent.