Inspector Goole In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

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

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

you turn in, you might have to turn out again soon." This is giving a

Throughout the study of JB Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, it is easy to identify that there are many points in which this text both conforms and subverts to the conventions of the mystery genre. The author explores the archetypal mystery genre through firstly, the dead body and murder of Eva Smith, as well as the clues and motives that are revealed throughout the investigation. This is further followed by the series of intertwining characters, and the inquiry of their involvement in the death. However, this typical mystery text can be contradicted by the fact that this death was not a murder, but a suicide case, changing the expectations to instead of who killed her, but what were the lead up in events to result in Eva killing herself.

The arrival of Inspector Goole in JB Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ creates a feeling of uneasiness and completely changes the course of the play. The inspector represents an almost ominous and mysterious being that suggests a manifestation of each of the character’s guilt and certainly calls to the fact that each of the Billings had a role in Eva Smith’s tragic death.

Priestley has craftily created a dominant and forceful character in order to clash with the Birling family and drive the conflict in play- socialism & capitalism

has now been removed. To him, now that she is no longer a threat to

“A friend of mine went over this new liner last week the Titanic ,she sails next week forty six thousand eight hundred tons, forty six thousand eight hundred tones New York in five days and every luxury and unsinkable absolutely unsinkable.” Just as the titanic was destine to sink, so too was Mr Birlings political thinking, under the inspectors interrogation. This also suggests, if Mr Birling is wrong about the Titanic, and world war one, what else is he wrong about? The inspector, Ghoole himself is a dramatic device, his name Ghoole means Ghost, which really gets you thinking if he really is an inspector. Especially when Mr Birling phoned up, and asks about the inspector and they find out that there isn’t anyone with that name. In 1912 they were many strong distinctions between upper class and lower class, however in 1945 class distinctions where non-existent, I believe priestly was trying to prevent this from happening again. Priestly uses Eva smith as a tool, Her name alone, Smith- was a very common name, Eva supposedly being the first women. Priestly wanted to convey to the audience that she was a working-class woman, she stands for all we meet in our everyday lives, Priestly uses her tragedy to portray his views and

Priestly wants the Inspector to be in this position. By surrounding the Inspector with power and mystery, it makes the Inspector a plethora of ambiguity, adding to the intrigue of the play. This can be found in the Inspector’s name: Goole. It may be a pun on the word “ghoul”, which is a spirit, which is said to take fresh life from corpses. Otherwise, in a metaphorical context, a person who is obsessed, or has a morbid interest, with death. This is important, as it can be the reason why the Inspector is haunting the Birlings and Gerald with what they have done to Eva. It seems that he is intent in teaching the Birlings a lesson, a sort of moral juggernaut. One may argue that the Inspector’s presence is because of the girl’s death.

J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls I think that an "Inspector Calls" is about the discriminations between different classes and sexes, it conveys a lot of messages about these topics and uses An Inspector - a mysterious, curt individual who makes an unexpected call on an upper middle class, very opinionated family named the Birlings. The inspector seems to invade their own little world - upsetting a celebration of theirs, forcing them to realise the truth - they all contributed to the death of a young, working class girl with what should have been years ahead of her, instead these were snatched away by a greedy, insensitive and selfish chain of events, all down to the Birlings. The girls name was

Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young

The inspector radiates the impression of authority and confidence. Upon his entrance, he creates “…at once an impression of massiveness, solidity, and purposefulness.” The inspector draws attention to the tragicness of Eva Smith’s death and remains sturdy and composed while the people around him crumble and fall to pieces. Birling’s way of thinking is the concept of “Every man for himself”, Priestley’s views are best illustrated in the inspector’s final speech, where he quotes, “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other…” . Moreover, the inspector accentuates and brings emphasis to how each of the members of the Birling family has used Eva Smith; inspector Goole shows that each character has victimised her and that each of them has a part to play and are partially responsible for her death. Then, the inspector shows us that she is a victim and describes her as “A pretty, lively sort of girl, who never did anybody any

When the inspector arrives, the lights should get much more "brighter and stronger" to show that the inspector is here to expose the Birling's soon or later. Another quote used in the play for the inspector is" A police inspector. He says his name is inspector Goole" Priestley is showing that the word "inspector" is used twice in the quote, which clearly shows, when the inspector comes in Priestley wants to show the audience that, the Birling family has been involved in something that they really shouldn't be involved in. This creates a tension for the audience that is more serious than a normal inspector, who won't just come there just like that, but with purposefulness and reasons. J.B Priestley has chosen the inspector's name "Goole" as Priestly also made the inspector seem as a ghost or a ghoul, as the name Goole mostly refers to a ghost. A ghoul, which also is a fishing lake, meaning that he is fishing for answers or maybe he already knows everything and he just wants the Birling family to admit what they did was really wrong. Priestly is using these characters as an example to the audience that the Birling's who are up class need to stay in their limits and recognize the importance of

Apart from Mrs. Birling, Priestley in his play ‘An Inspector Calls,conveys women as very weak and inferior characters; as the play was set in 1912, we can see how women were stereotypically made to be obedient and loyal to their husbands. Through the character of Eva Smith the theme of vulnerability is portrayed, and through the character of Sheila we can see how women are shown as materialistic and incompetent. Throughout the play Priestley exhibits the character of Eva Smith as an impuissant character; she is mentioned very frequently as she highlights the faults of society in 1912 due to the ill-excused way she was treated, being inferior to males of her own class as well as those much wealthier than her. Yet she never makes an appearance in the play. When she is first mentioned she is portrayed as weak when the

on a dress and everyone had said it wouldn't suit her and when she had