Examine the role of the Inspector in J. B. Priestley's 'An Inspector calls'.

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Jo Denyer 10D1

Examine the role of the Inspector in J. B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector calls’

By definition, the word Inspector is ‘1. An official appointed to inspect. 2. A police officer ranking between a sergeant and chief Inspector.’

Whilst a normal Inspector is there to find the perpetrator of a crime, the Inspector in this play appears to be there for very different reasons.

        The Birlings, Arthur, Sybil, Sheila, Eric and Gerald Croft, are celebrating Sheila and Gerald’s engagement, everyone is in a happy and joyful mood. Arthur is lecturing them all on how everything will be all right.        

Birling - page 7

  • You’ll be living in a world that would have forgotten all these capital versus Labour agitations and all these silly little war scares.

He also says that there will not be a war, the Titanic is unsinkable and that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own. This is dramatic irony as the audiences of this play have probably lived through these events.  

Suddenly the doorbell rings and the Inspector enters. This happens at such a crucial point, almost to save Arthur Birling from embarrassing himself in front of the cast and post-war audience of 1945.

At first, the Inspector appears to be like any ordinary Inspector of that time,

Stage directions – page 11

  • A man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period.

He blends in with the Birlings, and does not look unusual. He comes with news of a young girl called Eva Smith, who committed suicide due to swallowing disinfectant. So at first sight, the play appears to be a ‘whodunit’ genre, in which traditionally the identity of the criminal would be revealed. Here however, each character is shown as an accomplice to murder, though not one of them has done anything to Eva Smith which a court of law would describe a crime. We know Eva Smith has committed suicide, so why is the Inspector questioning the Birlings if there is no criminal? What is he trying to prove? If he’s not an Inspector, what is he?

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There appears to be links between the Inspector and the supernatural, he appears to have some supernatural connotations, his very name suggests this:

Inspector – page 16

  • Goole. G. Double O-L-E

The fact that this will sound to the audience like ‘ghoul’ (meaning ghostly specter) means that they immediately wonder about his origins; the characters on stage may not necessarily pick up on this, especially as he clearly spelt his name out for them, to avoid confusion perhaps. The obvious pun on Inspector Goole’s name could portray him as some kind of spirit, sent on behalf of the ...

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