Dramatic Tension in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly Essay -- Engli

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 ... ... 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.