How Does Priestley Create Tension In Act 1 An Inspector Calls

In J.B Priestley's novel ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestley uses a range of techniques to highlight the divergence between the upper and richer classes compared to the working poor classes. Their attitudes are represented through the characterisation of its characters significantly Mr Birling and Sheila during their first encounter with Inspector Goole.

From the beginning Mr Birling is characterised as an embodiment of the social ideology capitalism and displayed all the negative consequences this belief has. In Act 1 he proudly reveals his narcissistic behaviours towards the audience and the inspector making his character intolerable to the majority. The first line of the entire text begins with Mr Birling offering Gerald the alcoholic drink

Sheila’s reaction can be seen as one of shock,acceptance and amendment. She shows genuine curiosity when meeting the inspector and instead of rushing for him to leave her house she wishes to know why he had arrived there. Her reaction differs from her fathers as she quickly takes responsibility for her actions. This is shown when Priestley uses the leading question ‘ (-- removed HTML --) so i’m really responsible?’. This rhetorical question indicates Sheila’s acknowledgment of her bitter and callous act of suggesting and pursuing Eva’s firing; yet she still requires confirmation from others to confirm her responsibility. Character development is at a rapid pace with Sheila as she quickly recognises her actions believing that ‘it was my[her] fault’ without much conviction. The 1st person pronouns demonstrate that Sheila has taken her social responsibility and unlike her father rather than verbally abusing, condescending, condemning and passing blame she apologises for her own actions. Stage directions of ‘miserably’ explicitly demonstrate that she had been overconsumed by guilt and is hoping to repent for her sins. Her structure in her wording highlights how Sheila is prepared to admit and make amends for her actions and is also remorseful for their consequences. Priestly used past tense when she confessed to being ‘my[her] own fault’. Although it is fundamental to acknowledge the past, Sheila learns that she cannot look nostalgically and change it as it is fixed. She is thus determined to ‘never’ let history repeat itself and ergo states that she will ‘never, never do it again to anybody’. The tense shift in her dialogue suggests that she is a quick learner since structurally it happens in rapid succession, you can't dwell on the past or you'll miss the future. Arguably more