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Assess The Role Of The Inspector In An Inspector Calls

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An inspector calls

In the intriguing play ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J. B. Priestley, there is a character who plays a key role - Inspector Goole. The play is set in 1912 in England, a time of a gender inequality issues. The drama begins with a family gathering to celebrate Sheila Birling's engagement with the rich Gerald Croft. Their evening is interrupted by inspector Goole, who interrogates each of them about their role in Eva Smith's death. Priestley effectively portrays Inspector
Goole as a key character by showing how much the inspector can change in one family in one day.

Priestly uses the inspector to bring important themes of social responsibility into the play.
He interrogates Arthur Birling, a man who shows little to no sympathy for his workers, about …show more content…

Arthur Birling found that offensive and fired her with no care.
“Rubbish! Do you know what happened to this girl after she left my works?”
This shows Arthur Birlings' lack of social responsibility as he can’t see why him firing Eva was a bad thing even though he previously admitted that she was a good worker and he had no real reason to fire her. Further in the play, he continues to try and find other reasons for her death that doesn’t involve him because he recognises nothing as his fault. This never would have been brought up if the inspector hadn’t come and questioned Birling about his involvement and he wouldn’t be as aware of his own actions.

They portrayed the inspector to have a key role in the play, as he effectively makes the other characters and the reader think with his speech towards the end of the play.
“'But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone–but there are millions and millions of Eva
Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, with what we think and say and do. We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for

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An Inspector Calls is a morality play, filled with controversial political viewpoints attempting to persuade the audience that socialism is the way forward. Such views are voiced by The inspector, Priestley's mouthpiece. The play is set in 1912, A year followed by world war 1, the miners' strike and the sinking of the Titanic, therefore, supplying the writer with the opportunities to use dramatic irony, which Priestley does, to further influence his audience in act 2 to reconsider accepting a capitalist society. Sybil Birling is one of Priestley's characters that lack development in their attitudes towards society, particularly the lower class.

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Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls" is a complex one, and opinions differ on whether or not he is a hypocrite. Some argue that he is inconsistent in his behavior and actions, while others believe that his actions are justified by his overarching mission to expose the hypocrisy of the Birling family. In this essay, we will explore the evidence for and against the idea that Inspector Goole is a hypocrite. On the one hand, there are several instances in the play where Inspector Goole's actions could be seen as hypocritical.

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In the inspector calls the inspector shown as a all knowing main charcter. His purpose within the play is to make the Birling family take responsibility for there foul actions they took towards eve smith/daisy renton Priestly uses the quote "each of you helped kill her"this imply that the inspector wanted them to accept there and share there responsibility for each action the Birlings faimily did. Alternatively it also shows that due to the class of Birlings it took the inspectors appearance for them to realise there Responsibility as before they were very adimate that they would not take responsibility"i cant take any responsibility"In summery it shows how much the inspector wants them to see the wrong they have done and accept it. Looking specifically

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Priestly depicts gender stereotypes to emphasise gender in a capitalistic, misogynistic and patriarchal society, in his play 'An Inspector Calls'. Priestly portrays women as emotional, commodified, materialistic and irresponsible to highlight the way that a misogynistic capitalist society operates. In a similar manner, Priestly presents men as arrogant, ambitious, dominant, and strong. By doing this Priestly aims to critique capitalism and the underlying implications and undercurrent of problems which capitalism brings to provoke a reaction in the audience to promote socialism. Priestly presents women as weak, emotional and irresponsible throughout the entire play by using Sheila to show the 'pink and intimate' safety bubble and facade which her family lives in.

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From this quote, it is evident that priestly wants people to change their attitude towards each other, especially those of a lower social class. At the beginning of the quote the Inspector claims there are “millions and millions and millions” of people like Eva Smith. In this short quotation, Priestly has used repetition to emphasise the word millions. From the use of repetition, we, the audience in 2017, can infer that Priestly wanted whoever was to play Inspector Goole, no matter when the play was being performed, to emphasise the point that there are so many people like Eva Smith.

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The power of gender in “An Inspector Calls” is evident throughout the play, and shows how women were often mistreated and marginalised. In 1912, women still had few rights, and were expected to be obedient and subservient to men. The play shows how women like Eva Smith were vulnerable to exploitation and abuse due to their lack of legal and social power. It also highlights the limited opportunities available to women, particularly those from lower social classes, and the pressure to conform to societal expectations. The male characters, especially Mr. Birling and Gerald Croft, use their power and privileges to control and dominate the female characters.

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The point in the play, in which the Inspector comes into play, is when he enters the room where all the Birlings and Gerald are seated. He is described as quite harsh and frightening upon appearing. In fact, his appearance suddenly changes the entire mood of the Birling family. In the play at this point, there are stage directions saying: “The Inspector need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.” Here, I believe the term ‘massiveness’ is not meant in the literal sense, since it says the Inspector doesn’t have to be tall.

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