Who is the Inspector in JB Priestley's Essay?

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

John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on September 13th 1984. The play “An Inspector Calls” was written by him in 1945, and came onstage in 1914. An Inspector calls, is a play that revolves around the apparent suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith. In the play, the unsuspecting Birling family are visited by the mysterious Inspector Goole. Priestley uses a variety of different techniques, especially language and quotations, to contrast and elicit differing responses to Mr Birling and Inspector Goole.

An Inspector Calls is a play written in 1945 by J.B Priestly. It was set in 1912 where there were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes. Therefore, to convey the socialist message, Priestly portrays characters from the upper class in an exposed manner. He definitely doesn’t hide any of their flaws. Gerald Croft is one of the main characters in the play that Priestly has done a great job at showing the thoughts of the upper class.

Although there are some clear aspects of the inspector that show presents the inspector in different lights, but there are also slightly more subtle points Priestley made to present the inspector differently. One of these ways is through the identity of Inspector Goole. The fact that the inspectors name is 'Goole', gets the audience questioning his existence. This is because, although some people will argue that ghosts and such exist and others will argue against that, there is always a slight hint of doubt due to the fact that it cannot be proven. By naming the inspector 'Inspector Goole', the audience start to question the reality of what is happening in the story, later to realize that his name foreshadows what is too come. The audience also,, respond to the inspector in a slightly negative way as, stereotypically, ghosts and gooles are not usually viewed as a good thing, but as something supernatural and out of place. This also makes the audience become slightly sceptical of the inspector's intentions of questioning the Birling family and Gerald. For a different way of looking at how Priestley presents the inspector, you can relate the inspectors' name to the two main theories of time. The theory that I believe most relates to the inspector is

The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is set in the North Midlands, the industrial city of Brumley in 1912. The play revolves around the death of a young girl named Eva Smith and the wealthy, middle class Birling family. The Birling family consists of four main members. In addition, there is Gerald Croft who is engaged to the daughter of the family, Sheila Birling, and the maid Edna who plays a small role in the play.

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

Tension is frequently current between the Inspector and Mr Birling due to their contrasting ideas. They are both extremely powerful figures clashing for dominance and status in the household. A major point hidden by Priestley is their political views, Birling represents a capitalists view point whereas the Inspector is a shadow figure of Priestley's ideas and represents a socialist. They are symbols of the global struggle between Capitalism and Socialism in the 40s. The Inspector is prominent to show his power when Birling attemps to interrogate him by warning him that the 'Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts' is 'an old friend of mine' and that they 'play golf together sometimes up at the West Brumley'. In response to this, the Inspector 'dryly'

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.

“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

The inspector right from the moment he is introduced is commanding of the situation and already has that authority he displays later on in the play. “at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness”. As the play progresses the inspector continues to make this impression on the family by his interrogations and speeches. The inspector does this by keeping composed

If he is not a real Inspector, what is he? A clever impostor (but nonetheless human)? The personification of the social conscience the characters all lack or suppress? A supernatural, God-like being (for he certainly

Inspector Goole in - An Inspector Calls – is a very important character in the play as he acts as the voice of Priestley’s views and ideas, that we are all responsible for each other albeit not necessarily explicitly. By the way that Priestley uses the Inspector as an embodiment of a collective conscience the audience is able to clearly understand J.B. Priestley’s socialist idealisms. Prior to the entry of the Inspector, in the first set of stage directions, Priestley is able to foreshadow the profound effect the Inspector will have on the family, as well as us, the audience. ‘The lighting should be pink and intimate until the INSPECTOR arrives, then it should be brighter and harder.’

The context is an important item in the play. “An inspector calls” was written in 1945 but is set in 1912. Put historically, it was written just after the Second World War and set just before the First World War. Priestley deliberately set his play in 1912 because the date represented a period when all was very different from the time he was writing. In 1912, rigid class seemed to ensure that nothing would change; there were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes as is it showed: “Girls of that class”, Mrs. Birling to the Inspector (Act 2).

to set an example to the rest of his workers; she was used as an