Discus the role of Inspector Goole, considering a verity of different interpretations and using textual evidence to support your response

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Discus the role of Inspector Goole, considering a verity of different interpretations and using textual evidence to support your response

The play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ gives the audience a great insight into the early 1900s. Two of the key political viewpoints that are expressed in the play are socialist and capitalist.

       During the 1900s the gulf between the upper and lower classes was at an all time high. The play explores many political viewpoints, many of which are Priestley’s own. Priestley is a strong socialist, he uses the character Mr Birling to express his dislike for capitalists.

        The play was written in 1945 but was set in 1912. This was a useful strategy to help create dramatic irony, and make the birlings look foolish, for example, Mr Birling says “I say there isn’t a chance of war.” Yet as we know there was a war, Priestley also knew this so by having Mr Birling say this, Priestley has made him look stupid because he was wrong and therefore putting his views across to the audience about his opinions on capitalists.

         This play is full of different interpretations of Inspector Goole. One of the common interpretations is that Goole is used as a tool or a vehicle for Priestleys political views. It is made clear to the audience that Goole’s viewpoints are in complete contrast with the Birling’s. In the play Goole is a strong socialist, as is Priestley. Goole dislikes capitalists and sees them as selfish and greedy, as does Priestley. The fact that the character of Goole and Priestley share these views is the first indication that Goole is a mouthpiece for Priestley’s views in the play.

          Priestley is keen for people to have a socialist attitude, he has a strong aim to achieve social justice and make people see errors of their ways. He shows this in his play through representing Goole as the moral conscience. The audience knows this when Goole is speaking about seeing Eva in the hospital and he says ‘A nice little promising life there and a nasty mess somebody’s made of it.’ He says this to make the Birlings feel guilty and try to make them see errors of their ways. In contrast to this, the Birlings refuse to take any responsibility for Eva's death, they believe in looking after themselves, the individual.

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          A further interpretation is that Goole can be seen to represent a ghost symbolising, for example, the ghost of repression. He makes the Birlings realise that the working classes are treated poorly and have many less rights than the upper classes. He also shows the Birlings how by treating Eva like a working class girl, badly, could have been one in a chain of events that lead Eva to commit suicide. Goole says ‘What happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards, may have driven ...

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