‘What Do You Think Is the Importance of Inspector Goole and How Does Priestley Present Him?’

Towards the end of act 3 the inspector says “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” He also talks about collective responsibility as he wanted each member of the family to share the responsibility of Eva’s death. He does this by showing that everyone in society is linked in the same way that the characters are linked to Eva Smith. Zooming in on the phrase “one body” it is clear that the Inspector sees society as more important than their individual interests; this shows the inspector to be a mouthpiece for Priestley’s socialist views.

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

Social responsibility is one of the main themes in ‘An Inspector Calls’ play. J.B. Priestly wrote the play in 1945, but set it in 1912, at the time when there was a strong class division within the society which affected attitudes towards social responsibility. Priestly portrayed this in his play through different characters and differences between lower and upper classes as well as the younger and the older generation in the play. Priestley and the character from the play, Inspector, were in favour of socialism while in contrast, Mr Birling represents capitalism which affects his sense of responsibility.

The inspector is presented as unusual by his personality, conduct and expressed views. Throughout the act, Priestley makes the Inspector say and do things that an audience would not expect of a conventional policeman.

What is Priestley's main aim in `An inspector calls`? How successfully does he achieve it.

One of the ways Priestley presents the inspector is through his physical appearance. In the play, we are given a very detailed description of what the inspector should look like and act on stage. Priestley says "the inspector need not be a big man but he creates at once creates at once an

In his play, An Inspector Calls, JB Priestley explores numerous ideas of responsibility. Priestley utilizes the setting of the play (1912) when socio-economic disparity between the upper and working class was high, and juxtaposes it with the social context of when the play was performed (1945), when aspects of socialism were growing rapidly in Britain. This creates dramatic irony and reflects the view of audiences first attending the play. He achieves this by using the mysterious nature of Inspector Goole, who pressures the upper-class Birling family to admit responsibility for the death of Eva Smith (a working class woman), to embody socialist Britain; exploiting the affluent and pompous Mr Birling to represent the unwillingness of Capitalism

This is evident in “We are responsible for each other.” The inspector implies that everyone is responsible for one another, utterly contradicting Mr. Birling’s speech before he came in. The inspector is the most conflicting character in the entire play as he stands cool and hard before the Birlings and the audience and unveils the consequences of their actions on those below them. The dramatic irony reinforces that the inspector is in fact voicing Priestley’s message out, therefore emphasizing the effect. Furthermore, the inspector is presented as the figure of authority in the play. This is reinforced in "massively taking charge as dispute erupts between them." He is the only character that calms down the household when an argument breaks. He also expresses no interest towards Mr. birling’s authoritative friends and disregards his threats. The stage directions reinforce that when capitalism destroys everything, socialism is the only answer. Both contemporary and modern audience is left in a conflicting situation as he creates conflict in the play between other

You feel that the Inspector knows everything already, and that by telling him, you are not giving information, but confessing to what you have done- which he already knows. This makes Sheila and Eric in particular give a lot more information than is necessary to the questions that the Inspector asks. The Inspector sets up a scene, and then inserts snippets of information that two parties will both be able to individually interpret, and will reveal more than necessary. The Inspector makes the information he gives ambiguous in order to draw the largest reaction. In this way, he is able to play off their response and extract more information from them. In some aspects, Inspector's character seems to be ahead of his time. The manner in which he conducts his questioning seems to be more advanced than the way in which they are received. Also the way in which he conducts himself gives the impression of being ahead of the family that he is questioning. He also has the sensibility of someone who lived during the 1945/46, after the wars. The Inspector does not ‘fit' in with the way in which things where done during the time of this play. Priestley makes the Inspector seem ahead of his

Throughout the play ‘An Inspector Calls’, J.B. Priestley attempts to present his views on Britain’s society in 1945. Priestley creates the character the Inspector Goole to display his own criticism on the society and show how people should deal with their social responsibility. The Inspector is a distinct and discrete character. He can act in such blunt and direct manner regardless of his social position, because his identity is unknown. Additionally, unlike any other characters, the Inspector is not directly linked with the death of Eva Smith. This means he is not required to take any responsibility, but allowed to denounce others without feeling ashamed of himself. Priestley has not created any specific characteristic for the Inspector Goole

'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

“An Inspector Calls” is originally a play by J B Priestley in 1945, and has been represented in a variety of diverse ways, as a book, a play and many films.

The Dramatic Methods Used by Priestley to Convey the Social and Moral Message of An Inspector Calls

not only asks them to tell him what they did but also guilt trips them

The Inspector’s real power lies in his knowledge, he can move the discussion on to a different topic as and when he chooses, after he first enters the room and explains who he is; he starts off the investigation by giving a summary of the event’s leading up to Eva Smith’s death that