ipl-logo

How Does Priestley Present The Inspector In An Inspector Calls

1316 Words6 Pages

An Inspector Calls Explore how Priestley presents the character of the Inspector in this text. Priestley presents the Inspector as working class through the Inspector’s use of language. This can be seen on page 184 (Act One), where the Inspector says, ‘...never did anybody no harm.’ The Inspector’s use of a double negative implies he had a bad quality of education, something which was common among working class families in the early 20th century. Presenting the Inspector as working class causes the working class portion of a 1946 audience to empathise more with him as they most likely had at some point faced financial troubles because of the great depression. Alternatively, an upper class 1946 audience would instead look down upon the Inspector …show more content…

This can be seen on page (Act 3) where the Inspector says, ’And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish’. The usage of strong nouns such as ‘blood’ and ’anguish’ give the audience the impression that the Inspector already knows about World War One. This would cause both a modern and 1946 audience to believe that the Inspector is prescient as that is the only way in which he could know that World War One will happen. Further proof of the Inspector being omniscient can be found in how he somehow knows what the Birling family and Gerald have done to Eva Smith, despite not being at the scene of any of the incidents. This can be witnessed on page 174 (Act One), where the Inspector says ‘No, wait a minute, Miss Birling.’ This shows that he already knows that Sheila is involved. This would cause both a 1946 and modern audience of any background to wonder how the Inspector would be able to know that Sheila (Miss Birling) is involved and eventually come to the conclusion that the Inspector is omniscient. However, some members of both 1946 and modern audience may not come to the same conclusion- they may instead think he is a ghost. Proof of this can be found in how the Inspector’s name, Goole, is a homonym for ghoul, a type of evil spirit. This would cause those members of the audience to think that the Inspector is a ghost, as the things he does would also be possible for a

Open Document