An Inspector calls

Mr Birling and Mrs Birling are the only two characters not to be changed emotionally by the Inspector. The younger adults of the family: Sheila Birling, Eric Birling and Gerald Croft started of in a happy, joyful mood celebrating Sheila and Gerald engagement to each other but by the end of the play they were all left torn apart by the Inspector. The Inspector manages to place blame for Eva Smith's death on each of the younger characters.

The main problem that eludes the audience is who the Inspector is. He walks into the family and ruins their relationship with each other. The audience are not told his real name, he is simply known as 'Inspector'. He is described as "an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. He is a man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit. He speaks carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking." He is seen as a clever yet sly character. He never shows two people the photo at the same time, so the audience isn't sure if the same photo is shown to all the family. He also says "I'm waiting...to do my duty". Eva Smith died that day and he already knows the whole story about how the family were involved. He also doesn't do any interviews like a normal police officer but interrogates them in a more threatening manor.

The writer J.B Priestley uses the character of the Inspector as a puppet, to put across his views and opinions. He based it in a time when there was a strong split between social classes. The poor and the rich were distinguishable, for example the characters of Gerald and Eva when we find out have been dating, could never have worked out as Gerald was upper class and Eva was working class. A time where women were seen as second class citizens compared to the men, for instance, the family try to hide Sheila when the Inspector comes because believe she should be protected from unpleasant things. Although Sheila is a grown up woman she is treated like a child. J.B Priestly set his play in this time because he was alive in the time where it happened and had first hand knowledge of this kind of prejudice. He was arrested for his views.

The Inspector is a device used by Priestley to put across a moral: to be responsible for your actions because you don't know how it will affect people. The speech at the end is aimed at not just the characters in the play but it is aimed at the audience watching the play "One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and 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, and what we think and say and do." It is much more than just a play, it is trying to teach people to think about their actions, it is trying to teach people a moral.

The mysterious character called the Inspector is a mysterious character that rips up the Birling family. He manages to split the family apart. He also leaves us with a few questions is he actually an inspector? What is his actual name? And why did he tear apart the family? The play does not answer any of these questions which makes the character of the Inspector even more suspicious, and makes him seem a lot more untrustworthy.

An Inspector Calls Coursework