The Role Of The Inspector In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

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

By constructing the Inspector as just and omniscient, Priestley encourages the audience to view left-wing values as morally virtuous. Through the Inspector's authority, commanding presence and stature Priestley makes a direct jab at the audience with the Inspector's last

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

'An Inspector Calls' is a morality play - a form of play developed in the late middle ages in which a Christian moral lesson was brought out through the struggle between the forces of good and evil - set in 1912, and revolves around the questioning of a family by Inspector Goole about the suicide of a young woman (Eva Smith) that the family knew.The author, J.B. Priestley is trying to show us what some people's arrogance and selfishness can cause without them even noticing. Priestley was a socialist, therefore

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

‘An Inspector Calls is a moralistic play set in 1912 and written in 1945 in which both: the audience and the characters learn something. One of the way Priestley presents strong attitudes is through the characters in the play. The majority of them are given strong opinions. Although, the author himself may disagree with them he has used dichotomy to differentiate between the different classes: lower and upper and the different people: capitalist and socialist J.B Priestley has some of his own strong beliefs; he wanted the current day society to learn from history and avoid repeating all the mistakes from WWI in WWII. From the play we can infer that he used the character

An Inspector Calls is a definitive play written by J.B Priestley. Published in 1946, however set in the early years before The First World War, this play explores the many aspects of society that were diminishing during Priestley’s life. It stages, the Birling Family – high class and respected within their society, however frankly their false façade, was slowly stripped away revealing, their inner, hidden, corrupt morals. Whilst having a riveting and uncanny twist, the play does indeed, explore many themes, in which subsequently foreshadowed, Society at that day and age. Priestley portrays a message that still echoes in the world today – everyone should live as a loving community, and all should always take responsibility for the less fortunate. The theme of responsibility plays an important part in the message Priestley preached. Priestley wanted to show us that we have responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation. Our actions do affect others. This is the whole concept of collective responsibility. To show responsibility changes the person in many ways, like it transformed the lives of Eric and Sheila Birling. They had realised, and grew to be more aware of their social responsibilities unlike their impertinent parents. So in this essay, I will be exploring, how the theme of responsibility, plays a major role in lives of the characters, yet the lives of the audience and further generations as well.

Dramatic Tension in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls An Inspector Calls was written in 1946, many decades after the end of World War One and just after World War Two. However the actual play is back in 1912; before World War one and just before the start of voyage of The Titanic. Furthermore at the time of spring 1912, most people did not fear of German resistance, as there seemed to be no possibility that Britain would intervene; and they had all justified that the Titanic was unsinkable.

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

BIRLING I thought you must be. I was an alderman for years - and lord

JB Priestly (1894-1984) wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ after the First World War (it was first performed in 1945); like much of his work, the play contains controversial, politically charged messages. Priestly was a resolute socialist and had very socialist views. This essay will explore some of the techniques Priestly uses to present the Inspector. The Inspector as soon as he is introduced has authority and is commanding of the situation.

In his final speech to the Birlings, the Inspector explicitly tells the both the family and the audience that “we are all responsible for each other”. Responsibility is a theme that has come up again and again in the play, with most if not all of the characters talk about it at some point or another. From his entrance, Priestley has made it clear that the Inspector is to serve as more of a device or a mouthpiece of the socialist viewpoint, than as a developed character, so as we near the end of the play, it is very clear to the audience that Priestley’s socialist message is that we all have a responsibility to each other and to the world we live in, and if we neglect it, we will bring suffering onto ourselves and those around us. Indeed, as the speech progresses, the Inspector talks to the consequences being “fire and blood and anguish”. This could be