©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
11/11/2024 9:10AM
Form & Structure - An Inspector Calls Exam
Questions And Answers
Why is 'An Inspector Calls' a Play? - answers✔✔1. The audience is held captive and cannot gain
respite from the interrogation. This fulfils Priestley's
objective of forcing the audience to reflect on themselves as they gain that same intensity that the
characters on stage feel
2. Priestley wrote 'Theatre Outlook' shortly after An Inspector Calls in which he declares that "you on
your side cannot fully enjoy what is happening unless you....become part of the audience and indeed
part of the whole performance, sharing the collective response and experience." It joins the
audience collectively and breaks down the barriers of individualism, reflecting the key theme of £we
are members of one body." Therefore, we can argue that the form of the text actually helps to
create a glimpse of the collective society Priestley is calling for
The Well Made Play - answers✔✔Features of the Well Made Play:
1. Plot - there is one main story and most of it happens before the play begins. In 'An Inspector Calls',
the characters' interactions with Eva take place before the play begins
2. Entrances and Exits - the timings of these must develop tension and increase suspense. For
example, Sheila sees the photograph of Eva, and leaves the stage in distress. Priestley increases
tension by making the audience wait for her next entrance and her revelations
3. Revelations about identity - in the play, the 'chain of events', reveals that each character has
influenced the life of Eva smith who, it later transpires, is also Daisy Renton
4. Complications - clashes between The Inspector and the characters, clashes between the older and
younger generations, and clashes in attitude to class. These clashes have an important purpose: to
focus the attention of the audience on his socialist message, centred around the plot device of Eva
5. Exposition - at the beginning of the play, we are introduced to the characters and relationships
6. Climactic curtain - where an act or scene ends on an incredibly tense and dramatic moment. For
example, at the end of Act 1, when Sheila has confronted Gerald about his affair with Eva, the
Inspector enters and asks "Well?". Then the curtain falls, leaving the audience in suspense-they
question how he knows about Gerald's affair with Eva
7. Obligatory Scene - a scene essential to the play where a secret is revealed, which adds drama and
tension e.g. when The Inspector reveals Eva's suicide and that disinfectant had "burnt her inside
out". It is the reason why The Inspector calls on the Birlings and so is an obligatory scene
8. Denouement - a scene at the end that ties up loose ends. This intentionally does not feature in An
Inspector Calls to leave the audience on a note of ten
11/11/2024 9:10AM
Form & Structure - An Inspector Calls Exam
Questions And Answers
Why is 'An Inspector Calls' a Play? - answers✔✔1. The audience is held captive and cannot gain
respite from the interrogation. This fulfils Priestley's
objective of forcing the audience to reflect on themselves as they gain that same intensity that the
characters on stage feel
2. Priestley wrote 'Theatre Outlook' shortly after An Inspector Calls in which he declares that "you on
your side cannot fully enjoy what is happening unless you....become part of the audience and indeed
part of the whole performance, sharing the collective response and experience." It joins the
audience collectively and breaks down the barriers of individualism, reflecting the key theme of £we
are members of one body." Therefore, we can argue that the form of the text actually helps to
create a glimpse of the collective society Priestley is calling for
The Well Made Play - answers✔✔Features of the Well Made Play:
1. Plot - there is one main story and most of it happens before the play begins. In 'An Inspector Calls',
the characters' interactions with Eva take place before the play begins
2. Entrances and Exits - the timings of these must develop tension and increase suspense. For
example, Sheila sees the photograph of Eva, and leaves the stage in distress. Priestley increases
tension by making the audience wait for her next entrance and her revelations
3. Revelations about identity - in the play, the 'chain of events', reveals that each character has
influenced the life of Eva smith who, it later transpires, is also Daisy Renton
4. Complications - clashes between The Inspector and the characters, clashes between the older and
younger generations, and clashes in attitude to class. These clashes have an important purpose: to
focus the attention of the audience on his socialist message, centred around the plot device of Eva
5. Exposition - at the beginning of the play, we are introduced to the characters and relationships
6. Climactic curtain - where an act or scene ends on an incredibly tense and dramatic moment. For
example, at the end of Act 1, when Sheila has confronted Gerald about his affair with Eva, the
Inspector enters and asks "Well?". Then the curtain falls, leaving the audience in suspense-they
question how he knows about Gerald's affair with Eva
7. Obligatory Scene - a scene essential to the play where a secret is revealed, which adds drama and
tension e.g. when The Inspector reveals Eva's suicide and that disinfectant had "burnt her inside
out". It is the reason why The Inspector calls on the Birlings and so is an obligatory scene
8. Denouement - a scene at the end that ties up loose ends. This intentionally does not feature in An
Inspector Calls to leave the audience on a note of ten
