An Analysis Of Jb Priestley 's An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls is a three-act drama, which takes place on a single night in 1912, and focuses on the Birling family, who live in a wealthy but not particulary homely house in Brumley. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. The idea of the play, and particularly the role of the inspector, is to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. In Act Three, the Inspector tells the Birling family: “The girl killed herself and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.” But who was really the

Birlings' house. He is said to "need not be a big man but he creates

see that this is true by looking at his speech and at the manner in

Mr Birling is shaken by the investigation. He doesn’t learn any lessons during the course of the play. When it seems that the Inspector might have been an imposter he is overjoyed and mocks the others for having been 'tricked' by the investigation. Inspector Goole drives forward the drama, with his questions creating shocking moments and gripping cliff-hangers for the audience. By the

Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself.

The play "An Inspector Calls" was written by J.B Priestley in 1945, when the British people were recovering from over six years of constant warfare and danger. As a result of two world wars, class distinctions were greatly reduced and women had achieved a much higher place in society. It was due to this and a great desire for social change that Labour's Clement Attlee won a landslide victory over the conservative Winston Churchill. He nationalized the gas steel and electrical industries, established the NHS and introduced the Welfare State. The play was set in Brumley, a fictional industrial city, in 1912.The playwright believed passionately in the left wing perspective and his message is overtly political. He uses techniques such as

he a question he will now answer it, he will just ask a question back.

In the play 'An Inspector Calls', many contrasts and paradox's are present and at the centre of them all is the character known as Inspector Goole. However, the inspector is not any ordinary inspector. I believe that the inspector is used as a device by Priestley to explore the wider themes of the play and to depict other characters true personalities. This essay will explore some of the techniques Priestley presents the inspector in An Inspector Calls.

Throughout Priestley’s play, ‘An inspector calls’, a main theme runs about responsibility and differentiation between classes. Each character is accountable of doing something that brought about the death of Eva smith. All the characters contribute to her death in one way or the other, and all of them are at fault for the death of

command at the end of Act I and the start of Act 2, and the end of Act

A number of other issues that were around at the time the play was set

‘What do you think is the importance of inspector Goole and how does Priestley present him?’

As if to build up to the change in writing styles, Washburn begins the story of the crime scene with a briefly detailed overview of the weather conditions and the time of year the murder occurs. They are described as being “a slow moving storm…bringing several inches of snow” and “the Saturday night after New Year’s Eve” respectively (163). So the story goes, Sheriff Parker leaves the police station to make his final rounds on Sunday morning just before he is to be relieved from his shift and, in the process, comes upon the frozen body of Elsie where upon which the writing style takes an immediate shift. As if recounting the obsessive detail of a scene within one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of the great Sherlock Holmes, Washburn begins the scene’s analysis through the emptiness of the scene,

For instance, it is as if he is waiting for everyone to confess to his

this is his role in the events of the play. This, and the fact that