How does why does Priestly present ‘Inspector Goole’ In ‘An Inspector Calls’
the Inspector is rst mentioned in an Inspector calls in the stage directions when the lighting
changes from ‘ pink and intimate’ to ‘brighter and harder’ following the Inspector’s arrival. The use
of the word ‘intimate’ presents how detached the Birling family re from the wider community.
However, after the Inspectors arrival the use of ‘brighter’ may suggest that its a more clinical or
interrogation setting, or could imply that the Inspector is going to shine some light on the truth.
Additionally the adverb ‘harder’ literally mean rm, strong or hard to break and this suggest that
he is not going to feel threatened or intimidated by Mr Birling’s power. This presents Mr Birling as
someone of hugh status and a powerful character that is going to give the Birlings a rude
awakening.
The Inspector is also a proxy of Priestly’s views. Priestly was a socialist and through the character
of the Inspector wanted the audience to support the audience to support these socialist views.
Personally, I believe this is why Priestly presented the Inspector as an important character to
emphasise that his values and opinions were also important. The play was performed in 1945,
when an election was about to take place. Therefore, the role of the Inspector and his teachings
were political as well as moral. Priestly wanted the audience to vote for a socialist government
and uses many characters through the Inspector to achieve this and his attempt to get the
audience to agree with his views. in the Inspector’s nal speech ‘we are all member of one body’
this quote has religious connotations and mirrors what would be said during a church service.
This relates to the audience as the majority were Christians and securing church goers and would
immediately make this direct link. Therefore, through the Inspector Priestly is trying to encourage
the audience to support his socialist viewers, and make the audience feel automatically more
biased towards these views because of their religious connotations.
Priestly presents the inspector as a vague character with not a lot of character traits that can help
him develop as a character. The audience are immediately attracted to this mysterious presence
and some believe that The Inspector could even be a supernatural spirit.Firstly, his emotionless
throughout and ‘blunt’ way of delivering bad news. Additionally when the whole family is blatantly
distressed ‘quietly crying’ he shows no signs of sympathy or comfort towards them, which could
also support the point he is a supernatural spirit. Additionally, his name Inspector Goole could
relate to the word ‘ghoul’ which links to the supernatural, ghosts and spirits. However, this could
also be a literacy allusion, and may be aimed at a more educated audience. Furthermore, calling
the Inspector Goole could relates to Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ‘Ghost of Christmas yet
to come.’ Priestly emphasises this by using the same dramatic device as Dickens. Scrooge is
given a glimpse of tragic future for Bob and his family, just as the Birlings are given a tragic future
for Eva and her baby. However, in Act 1 Mr Birlings speech he repeats three times the idea of ‘a
man has to look after himself’ which could insinuate that he is in fact calling on the Inspector in a
supernatural way as the Inspector arrives mid way through this speech. On the other hand,
Priestly could be making the Inspector arrive half way through Mr Birlings speech to highlight that
he is wrong and needs help from the Inspector to have the right thoughts and values summonsed
upon him.
To conclude, the Inspector could also be viewed as a teacher of morality ‘we are all responsible
for everything that happened to everyone.’ However, some may feel as all though Priestly’s views
were said through the Inspector in his nal speech he was preaching to the audience, telling them
what to think instead of letting them think for themselves about socialism and capitalism, Priestly
could have potentially done this for political reasons, regardless some may believe he was too
open about his socialist views. However, the Inspector is also presented as a teacher as he states
‘its better to ask for the Earth then to take it’ this is a metaphor implying that capitalists are in fact
guilty of theft. Priestly tries to present through the Inspector that all capitalists are theirs ‘you stole
the money.’ Eric refuses to accept this reasonability ‘not really’ which symbolises that all
capitalists are criminals. Lastly, this is blatantly obvious with his nal speech that the Inspector
wants to teach ‘they will learn through re blood and anguish’ as well as nding the facts of
what’s happened to Eva Smith ‘its my duty.’ Overall, this may present the Inspector as a teacher
to the audience, and may a ect their political and moral values and opinions.
fi ff fifi fi fi fi fi
the Inspector is rst mentioned in an Inspector calls in the stage directions when the lighting
changes from ‘ pink and intimate’ to ‘brighter and harder’ following the Inspector’s arrival. The use
of the word ‘intimate’ presents how detached the Birling family re from the wider community.
However, after the Inspectors arrival the use of ‘brighter’ may suggest that its a more clinical or
interrogation setting, or could imply that the Inspector is going to shine some light on the truth.
Additionally the adverb ‘harder’ literally mean rm, strong or hard to break and this suggest that
he is not going to feel threatened or intimidated by Mr Birling’s power. This presents Mr Birling as
someone of hugh status and a powerful character that is going to give the Birlings a rude
awakening.
The Inspector is also a proxy of Priestly’s views. Priestly was a socialist and through the character
of the Inspector wanted the audience to support the audience to support these socialist views.
Personally, I believe this is why Priestly presented the Inspector as an important character to
emphasise that his values and opinions were also important. The play was performed in 1945,
when an election was about to take place. Therefore, the role of the Inspector and his teachings
were political as well as moral. Priestly wanted the audience to vote for a socialist government
and uses many characters through the Inspector to achieve this and his attempt to get the
audience to agree with his views. in the Inspector’s nal speech ‘we are all member of one body’
this quote has religious connotations and mirrors what would be said during a church service.
This relates to the audience as the majority were Christians and securing church goers and would
immediately make this direct link. Therefore, through the Inspector Priestly is trying to encourage
the audience to support his socialist viewers, and make the audience feel automatically more
biased towards these views because of their religious connotations.
Priestly presents the inspector as a vague character with not a lot of character traits that can help
him develop as a character. The audience are immediately attracted to this mysterious presence
and some believe that The Inspector could even be a supernatural spirit.Firstly, his emotionless
throughout and ‘blunt’ way of delivering bad news. Additionally when the whole family is blatantly
distressed ‘quietly crying’ he shows no signs of sympathy or comfort towards them, which could
also support the point he is a supernatural spirit. Additionally, his name Inspector Goole could
relate to the word ‘ghoul’ which links to the supernatural, ghosts and spirits. However, this could
also be a literacy allusion, and may be aimed at a more educated audience. Furthermore, calling
the Inspector Goole could relates to Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ‘Ghost of Christmas yet
to come.’ Priestly emphasises this by using the same dramatic device as Dickens. Scrooge is
given a glimpse of tragic future for Bob and his family, just as the Birlings are given a tragic future
for Eva and her baby. However, in Act 1 Mr Birlings speech he repeats three times the idea of ‘a
man has to look after himself’ which could insinuate that he is in fact calling on the Inspector in a
supernatural way as the Inspector arrives mid way through this speech. On the other hand,
Priestly could be making the Inspector arrive half way through Mr Birlings speech to highlight that
he is wrong and needs help from the Inspector to have the right thoughts and values summonsed
upon him.
To conclude, the Inspector could also be viewed as a teacher of morality ‘we are all responsible
for everything that happened to everyone.’ However, some may feel as all though Priestly’s views
were said through the Inspector in his nal speech he was preaching to the audience, telling them
what to think instead of letting them think for themselves about socialism and capitalism, Priestly
could have potentially done this for political reasons, regardless some may believe he was too
open about his socialist views. However, the Inspector is also presented as a teacher as he states
‘its better to ask for the Earth then to take it’ this is a metaphor implying that capitalists are in fact
guilty of theft. Priestly tries to present through the Inspector that all capitalists are theirs ‘you stole
the money.’ Eric refuses to accept this reasonability ‘not really’ which symbolises that all
capitalists are criminals. Lastly, this is blatantly obvious with his nal speech that the Inspector
wants to teach ‘they will learn through re blood and anguish’ as well as nding the facts of
what’s happened to Eva Smith ‘its my duty.’ Overall, this may present the Inspector as a teacher
to the audience, and may a ect their political and moral values and opinions.
fi ff fifi fi fi fi fi
