In this essay I will discuss why Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" is effective, focusing on characterisation, dramatic devices and themes. First, I would like to take a closer look at the character of Mr.Birling. Soon after the play begins we know that Mr Birling is a man of some importance and is respected when the text states that he is a "heavy-looking, rather portentous man, in his fifties, with a fairly easy manner". We also find out that he is the one who speaks first in the play, this shows that he is a dominant character and due to the patriarchal society, he is the head of the house and the one who makes decisions. Despite the facts, he also thinks he is the one who knows everything, but in most cases he seems to be wrong. This is clear when he talks about how "there is no possibility of war" and how the Titanic, the luxury liner that was about to set sail at the time next week, is "absolutely unsinkable." Of course, we know that the Titanic actually sank in 1912, and World War I began not long after. Priestley knew this too, and so by including these lines in the play he wanted to highlight the fact that Mr Birling is a selfish and irresponsible individual, who does not seem to care about the effect of his actions on other members of the community. .Another character used by Priestley to make the comedy 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 discover 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 sense of unease throughout the play, especially when the conversation between Gerald and Mr Birling takes place in the middle of the sheet of paper, as the fact that only Eric and Sheila understand that a change and feel guilty about Eva's death, even after discovering that there was no suicide, could suggest that Priestley believes that young people can give us hope and together bring about change for the future. Overall, Priestley has written an effective and profound work that is not only intended to be entertaining, but will also teach people that we should always take responsibility for our actions and think about how our actions affect other people around us. He used different methods to create a community and characters that can reflect some of us in our world and showed us what the consequences of this can be. He didn't just want to warn people, but to encourage us to stick together not as individuals, but as "one body" and to make sure we treat each other fairly. Works Cited www.wikipedia.com