Some of the dramatic techniques used in An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley include monologue, duologue, trilogue, stichomythia, foreshadowing, catharsis, dramatic irony, situational irony, situational irony, verbal irony, cliffhanger among many others. In this section, we shall examine these dramatic techniques used in An Inspector Calls.
Monologue
A monologue is a continuous, extended speech delivered by a single character to other characters who are present on stage. It is used to let a character outline their personal philosophy, persuade others, or deliver a significant thematic message. Mr. Birling delivers several pompous monologues in Act 1 to outline his capitalist ideology to the younger men. He lectures them on the impossibility of war and the rapid progress of technology, confidently and ironically declaring the new liner, the Titanic, to be “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.”
The most powerful monologue in the play is Inspector Goole’s final, prophetic speech in Act 3. Before leaving the Birlings, he delivers a sermon-like warning to them, stating that “One Eva Smith has gone—but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths” and warning that if men do not learn they are responsible for each other, they will be taught “in fire and blood and anguish”.
Duologue
A duologue is a sustained and focused conversation between exactly two characters on stage. Playwrights use this technique to build intimacy, reveal secrets, heighten interpersonal conflict, or allow characters to drop the social facades they wear in front of a larger group. A prime example of this occurs in Act 1 after Mrs. Birling, Sheila, and Eric leave the dining room, leaving Mr. Birling and Gerald Croft alone. In this intimate duologue, Birling drops his guard and confidentially admits to Gerald that he hopes to find his way into the next Honours List for a knighthood partly because he wants to overcome Lady Croft’s potential social objections to the marriage.
Another crucial duologue occurs at the end of Act 1 when the Inspector and Eric leave the room, isolating Sheila and Gerald. Stripped of the larger family audience, Sheila immediately interrogates Gerald about his affair with Daisy Renton.
Trilogue
A trilogue is an extended conversation involving exactly three characters. It is highly effective for establishing alliances (two characters against one), contrasting three different perspectives, or creating an exclusive dynamic before the rest of the cast enters. In Act 1, immediately following the duologue between Birling and Gerald, Eric enters to form a trilogue. This three-way conversation between the men of the family establishes the shared, self-congratulatory capitalist bond between the older Birling and Gerald, while highlighting Eric’s slight awkwardness and dissent. In this trilogue, Birling uses the opportunity to deliver his “good advice” that a man “has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own,” right before the inspector rings the doorbell to shatter their complacency.
Stichomythia
Originating in classical Greek drama, stichomythia is a technique that features a rapid, rhythmic, back-and-forth exchange of short, alternating lines (often single sentences or half-sentences) between characters. It is used to build intense dramatic tension, simulate the breathless pace of an argument, or demonstrate a fierce battle of wits during an interrogation. Priestley uses stichomythia brilliantly during the inspector’s interrogation of Mrs. Birling in Act 2 to highlight her stubborn defensiveness against his piercing, rapid-fire questions. For instance:
Inspector: You admit being prejudiced against her case?
Mrs. Birling: Yes.
Sheila: Mother, she’s just died a horrible death—don’t forget.
Mrs. Birling: I’m very sorry. But I think she had only herself to blame.
Inspector: Was it owing to your influence, as the most prominent member of the committee, that help was refused the girl?
Mrs. Birling: Possibly.
Inspector: Was it or was it not your influence?
Mrs. Birling: Yes, it was..
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a structural device where the playwright drops hints or clues about events that will happen later in the plot. Priestley uses foreshadowing to build a sense of inescapable doom around the Birling family. A prime example occurs early in Act 1 when Mr. Birling is boasting to Gerald about his impending knighthood. He smugly notes that he will get it “so long as we behave ourselves, don’t get into the police court or start a scandal—eh?” This directly foreshadows the arrival of the inspector and the massive public scandal that threatens to ruin them. Later, Sheila becomes a vehicle for foreshadowing. As the inspector interrogates the family, she warns her mother not to build “a kind of wall between us and that girl,” because “the inspector will just break it down”. She also desperately tries to stop her mother from demanding severe punishment for the father of Eva’s child, sensing before anyone else that the culprit is her brother, Eric.
Foreshadowing in the play creates immense tension and suspense. It gives the audience a subconscious sense of dread and highlights the sheer inevitability of the family’s moral exposure.
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger is a plot device where a scene or act ends at a moment of heightened tension. It leaves the characters in a precarious dilemma and the audience in suspense. An Inspector Calls is famously structured around brilliant cliffhangers.
At the end of Act 1, Sheila forces Gerald to admit he knew Daisy Renton. Gerald begs her not to tell the inspector. At that exact moment, the door slowly opens, the inspector appears, looks at them searchingly, and simply says, “Well?” before the curtain falls.
Similarly, at the end of Act 2, Mrs. Birling has just furiously demanded that the young man who got Eva pregnant be made a public example. The family suddenly realises the timeline implicates Eric. Just as they stare at each other in terrified, dumbfounded silence, Eric walks into the room, “extremely pale and distressed,” and the curtain falls quickly.
Finally, we have the ultimate cliffhanger at the end of the play. After the older Birlings celebrate that the inspector was a hoax and they are safe, the phone rings. Birling announces that a girl has just died from swallowing disinfectant, and a real police inspector is on his way over. The play ends on this unresolved shock.
Catharsis
Catharsis is the emotional release or purging of strong, repressed emotions. In tragedy, it is usually experienced by the audience, but in this play, it is vividly experienced by the younger characters. Sheila and Eric both undergo a profound emotional catharsis. Unlike their parents, who remain stubbornly guarded and defensive to protect their social status, the younger generation allows the inspector’s revelations to break them down completely. Sheila cries, admits that her actions were “cruel and vile”, and openly confesses, “I behaved badly too. I know I did. I’m ashamed of it”. Eric reaches a point of total breakdown when he realises his mother turned away the girl carrying his child. By the end of the play, he is purged of his previous spoiled complacency, furiously telling his parents, “The money’s not the important thing. It’s what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters”.
The catharsis of Sheila and Eric represents Priestley’s hope for the future. Their emotional breakdown signifies genuine repentance and moral awakening. Because they experience this painful emotional release, they learn the inspector’s socialist lesson about collective responsibility, separating themselves from the “rotten dead stuff” of the older generation’s callousness.
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience possesses knowledge that the characters on stage do not. This creates tension, humour, or a sense of tragic inevitability, while often exposing a character’s foolishness or blindness. It is visibly depicted through Mr. Birling’s historical blindness. The play is set in 1912 but was written and performed in 1945. Priestley gives Mr. Birling a series of highly confident but disastrously incorrect predictions to immediately discredit his capitalist, self-interested worldview. Birling claims that talk of inevitable conflict is “fiddlesticks!” and that “The Germans don’t want war”. Furthermore, he champions the new liner, the Titanic, as being “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”, and predicts a future of “peace and prosperity and rapid progress” by 1940. The audience, having lived through the sinking of the Titanic and two devastating World Wars, instantly recognises Birling’s arrogance and foolishness.
Dramatic irony is also evident in Mrs. Birling’s accusation. In Act 2, Mrs. Birling proudly insists that the young man who got Eva Smith pregnant is “entirely responsible” for the tragedy and demands that he “should be made an example of.” She insists he be compelled to make a “public confession of responsibility.” The audience (along with a horrified Sheila) realises through the timeline and dramatic clues that the guilty young man is her own son, Eric. This creates immense tension as Mrs. Birling blindly demands the ruin of her own child.
Situational Irony
Situational irony happens when the actual outcome of a situation is the exact opposite of what was intended or expected by the characters or the audience. The play opens as a triumphant celebration with an engagement party. Mr. Birling is thrilled about Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft; he sees it as a merger between two rival businesses “working together—for lower costs and higher prices”. However, the evening designed to solidify this union ends up entirely destroying it, with Sheila handing the engagement ring back to Gerald after uncovering his affair.
In addition, Mrs. Birling is the chair of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation, a group dedicated to helping “women in distress”. Ironically, when Eva Smith comes to her in the most desperate distress possible (friendless, penniless, and pregnant), Mrs. Birling uses her influence to slam the door in her face and deny her help simply because she was offended by the girl’s manner. The head of the charity behaves with the utmost cruelty.
Finally, at the end of Act 3, the Birlings excitedly deduce that Inspector Goole was a hoax, and Mr. Birling rejoices that they are safe from a “public scandal”. Just as they pour drinks and celebrate their escape, the phone rings to inform them that a girl has just died from swallowing disinfectant, and a real police inspector is on his way to question them. Their expected salvation instantly turns into a renewed nightmare.
Verbal Irony
Verbal irony is when a character says one thing but means the complete opposite. It is frequently used by characters as sarcasm to express bitterness, anger, or mockery. Sheila relies heavily on verbal irony as she becomes increasingly disgusted with her family and her fiancé. When Gerald is forced to confess that he met his mistress in a bar frequented by “women of the town”, he haughtily tells Sheila “I’m glad I amuse you”. Sheila replies with biting irony: “But you’re forgetting I’m supposed to be engaged to the hero of it”.
Later, when her parents are jovially celebrating the discovery that the inspector was a “fake”, Sheila remarks with bitter sarcasm: “I suppose we’re all nice people now.” She means the exact opposite—that the technical reality of the Inspector doesn’t change the vile way they all behaved.
The inspector also uses a dry form of verbal irony. When Gerald objects to his interrogation by stating “we’re respectable citizens and not criminals,” the Inspector replies ominously, “Sometimes there isn’t as much difference as you think”.
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