With close reference to the extract, show how J. B. Priestley creates mood and atmosphere for an audience here. Priestley, in ‘An inspector calls’, creates mood and atmosphere for an audience, in the extract, by using stage directions and writing how the character is talking. ‘(Bitterly)’ or ‘(with authority)’ shows that the character who is talking is talking with a certain tone in his/her voice and this makes the audience think that the person, who is talking, is trying to get the other person to ‘talk’.
This gives off a negative vibe from the character. At the start of an inspector calls, The Birling’s and Gerald are celebrating an engagement between Gerald and Sheila, which is when the inspector has entered the scene. Already it creates a mood and atmosphere by knowing that something bad is going to happen but not knowing what has happened and to whom, adds the tension. In the extract, the inspector had said, ‘I knew already. When and where did you first meet her? This creates some negative tension between Gerald and the inspector because Gerald, as everyone would be able to see, does not want to be involved ‘in this suicide business. ’ and he does not want to break his relationship with Sheila, even though he’s already cheated on her. It also gives creates a rejecting force around Sheila because she knows that Gerald wasn’t doing ‘work’ but he was having an affair with his ‘mistress’ when he’s supposed to be engaged to Sheila.
Mrs Birling creates more of a negative force around Sheila by saying, ‘It would be much better if Sheila didn’t listen to this story at all. ’ I say this because she is ‘supposed to be engaged to the hero of it. ’ The quote from Mrs Birling, that I have given, is followed from the quote by Sheila, which I have also provided. This shows that Sheila is being aggravated by the rest of the family as they are all suggesting she isn’t there to hear the rest of the conversation between the family, Gerald and the inspector.
Near the end of the extract, Gerald realises that the girl he slept with had died. ‘My God! ’ This composes a guilty atmosphere towards Gerald because he doesn’t realise that he could be involved in the ‘suicide business. ’ ‘I’ve suddenly realised […] that she’s dead –’. This builds the negative force field around them as right at the end, Sheila clears up that ‘probably between us, we killed her. ’ And this quote shows that it is possible that they helped out with a suicide, all in their own, individual, way.
