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Discuss The Role Of The Inspector In An Inspector Calls

778 Words4 Pages
In the famous play ‘An Inspector Calls’, by J.B. Priestley, the Inspector known as ‘Inspector Goole’ seems to have quite a large and interesting role. The themes of the play are: Tragedy, drama and partly mystery as well, because the identity and character of the Inspector aren’t quite clear. He could indeed be a police inspector, he could be a hoaxer, or he might even be something else. This leaves the question: Who is inspector Goole and what is his role in the playAn Inspector Calls’?
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. I think it’s supposed to be massiveness as in important, serious, solid, having a large impact and being sure & certain about what you are doing. I suppose in this case an ‘impression of massiveness’ could also be thought of as an impression of being powerful. These definitions of the term ‘massiveness’ would support the idea of him being harsh and frightening when he enters. Most likely, this is in order to make
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