In this essay, I will explain why Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" is effective, focusing on the characterization, dramatic devices, and themes. Firstly, I would like to take a closer look at Mr. Birling's character. Shortly after the play begins, we know that Mr. Birling is a man of some importance and that he is respected when the text states that he is "a heavy-looking, rather imposing man, d 'around fifty years old, with fairly easy manners'. We also see that he is the one who speaks first in the room, this shows that he is a dominant character and because of the patriarchal society, he is the head of the house and the one who makes the decisions. Despite the facts, he also thinks that he is the one who knows everything, but in most cases he seems to be wrong. This is clear when he explains that "there is no chance of war" and that the Titanic, the luxury ship which at the time was about to sail the next week, is "absolutely unsinkable." Of course, we know that in fact the Titanic sank in 1912 and World War I began shortly after. Priestley knew this too and, therefore, by including these sentences in the play, he wanted to emphasize the fact that Mr. Birling is a selfish and irresponsible individual, who does not seem to care about the effect of his actions on the other members of the community. .Another character that Priestley used to make the play more effective is Eric. It is from the beginning of the play that we know that Eric is somehow different from the rest of his family members. We find that unlike the others, he does not speak often and is a listener rather than a speaker. Eric is one of the main characters who creates a feeling of unease throughout the play, especially when the conversation between Gerald and Mr. Birling takes place...... middle of paper...... how The fact that only Eric and Sheila understand that there needs to be change and feel guilty for Eva's death, even after finding out that there was no suicide, which could suggest that Priestley believes that young people can give us hope and make change for the future together. , Priestley has written an effective and profound play that is not only meant to be entertaining, but will also teach people that we must always take responsibility for our actions and think about how our actions affect other people around us. He used several methods to create community and characters that can reflect some of us in our world and showed us what the consequences can be. He not only wanted to warn people, but also encourage us to stick together not as individuals, but as "one body" and make sure we treat each other fairly.