"An Inspector Calls": Dramatic techniques Priestley used to make the Birlings look like criminals

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Argumentative Literary Essay‘After all, y’know, we’re respectable citizens and not criminals.’(Priestley, ) To what extent do you agree with Gerald's description of the Birlings? What dramatic techniques does Priestley use to make his audience challenge this statement?In JB Priestley’s script ‘An Inspector Calls’, there are two main themes, that of trust and that of taking responsibility for your own actions. People can think that they are respectable citizens when actually they are criminals without knowing it. All the guests at the party for the marriage of Gerald Croft and Sheila Birling are all contributors to the eventual suicide of Eva Smith. Without realising it they all closed ranks against someone who was not of their class. They all feel sorry for her death but don’t want to accept responsibility. Each and every character could be considered to be an innocent person who has done the right thing, but on the other hand they could all be accused of being legally or morally wrong, and therefore a ‘criminal’, at some point in the lead up to Eva Smith’s death.

Each character is eventually linked to Eva Smith, but it takes the whole script to understand how. The first person whom we know to have been associated with Eva was Arthur Birling, or Mr Birling. He likes to be thought of as a respectable man, as he owns his own company and he lives in a nice big house. He therefore he has control over his employees one of which was Eva Smith. One day Eva Smith asked for a pay rise clamming that she could not live off of what she earned. Arthur Birling didn’t like the fact that she had got some of the other workers to ask for pay rises as well. So he sacked her. Mr Birling,