How Does Priestley Present the Inspector as an Unusual Policeman in Act One?
The inspector is presented as unusual by his personality, conduct and expressed views. Throughout the act, Priestley makes the Inspector say and do things that an audience would not expect of a conventional policeman.
A conventional policeman would be polite and professional. We would expect an Inspector to be discrete in his work as to avoid causing problems or drawing undue attention at the case and wrongdoings of the Birlings. He should be sensitive so he doesn’t offend anyone. A normal inspector would take suspects to the station and follow more conventional policing methods.
The Inspector is not like the one described above. His personality is judgemental
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The example of making Eric exclaim, for instance, is not a normal course of action. A normal police officer would tone it down – at least to begin with – but this Inspector wants the suspects to understand the pain they caused Eva so he can make them feel emotions as a consequence of their actions.
The Inspector is not afraid to question Mr Birling, despite being in his house and knowing he is a contender for a knighthood, about the way in which he runs his business. This isn’t normal police protocol and Priestley makes him do so to contradict Mr Birling’s earlier speeches. The Inspector also interrupts people with force, “you heard what I said before Mr Croft” is an example in which the Inspector stamps his authority on Gerald, using intimidation that one wouldn’t expect from a police officer. There is a dramatic example of this interruption which is the Inspector ringing the doorbell and making a noise which cuts Mr Birling off mid-speech.
Priestley lets on that the Inspector is not a normal policeman through Mr Birling who says that he is a man-about-town and friend of the Chief Constable so he knows the Brumley Police Force, yet makes it clear that he does not know the inspector either by face or name. Birling “warn(s)” the Inspector that he is a friend of the Constable, a warming that may be a threat to the Inspector that he could get Goole fired. However, unlike a normal policeman, the possibility of losing his job does not
An Inspector Calls is a play written in 1945 by J.B Priestly. It was set in 1912 where there were strong distinctions between the upper and lower classes. Therefore, to convey the socialist message, Priestly portrays characters from the upper class in an exposed manner. He definitely doesn’t hide any of their flaws. Gerald Croft is one of the main characters in the play that Priestly has done a great job at showing the thoughts of the upper class.
This is evident in “We are responsible for each other.” The inspector implies that everyone is responsible for one another, utterly contradicting Mr. Birling’s speech before he came in. The inspector is the most conflicting character in the entire play as he stands cool and hard before the Birlings and the audience and unveils the consequences of their actions on those below them. The dramatic irony reinforces that the inspector is in fact voicing Priestley’s message out, therefore emphasizing the effect. Furthermore, the inspector is presented as the figure of authority in the play. This is reinforced in "massively taking charge as dispute erupts between them." He is the only character that calms down the household when an argument breaks. He also expresses no interest towards Mr. birling’s authoritative friends and disregards his threats. The stage directions reinforce that when capitalism destroys everything, socialism is the only answer. Both contemporary and modern audience is left in a conflicting situation as he creates conflict in the play between other
he a question he will now answer it, he will just ask a question back.
Priestley in ‘An Inspector Calls’, explores the differences between the older and younger generation through the use of the characters Sheila, Gerald, and Mrs Birling. The differences in opinions between Sheila and the other characters represent the problems with the older generations' mentality. Priestley uses the character of sheila as a construct to criticise the mentality of the older generation. In Act 1 of ‘An Inspector Calls’, Shella is described as being ‘very pleased with life and rather excited’.
Throughout Priestley’s play, ‘An inspector calls’, a main theme runs about responsibility and differentiation between classes. Each character is accountable of doing something that brought about the death of Eva smith. All the characters contribute to her death in one way or the other, and all of them are at fault for the death of
How does JB Priestly explore and present the theme of gender in the play ‘An Inspector Calls”?
What is Priestley's main aim in `An inspector calls`? How successfully does he achieve it.
An Inspector Calls is a three-act drama, which takes place on a single night in 1912, and focuses on the Birling family, who live in a wealthy but not particulary homely house in Brumley. The story begins when the mysterious Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family. The idea of the play, and particularly the role of the inspector, is to try to bring the Birling family to understand that they have a moral responsibility for the death of Eva Smith, if not a legal one. In Act Three, the Inspector tells the Birling family: “The girl killed herself and died a horrible death. But each of you helped to kill her. Remember that. Never forget it.” But who was really the
Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself.
Throughout the play An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley, it is clear that Priestley strongly believes in the importance of a caring society and the consequences of our actions. He presents these views on inequalities through the presentation of Sheila Birling. This is done in various different ways using numerous techniques.
John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on September 13th 1984. The play “An Inspector Calls” was written by him in 1945, and came onstage in 1914. An Inspector calls, is a play that revolves around the apparent suicide of a young woman called Eva Smith. In the play, the unsuspecting Birling family are visited by the mysterious Inspector Goole. Priestley uses a variety of different techniques, especially language and quotations, to contrast and elicit differing responses to Mr Birling and Inspector Goole.
How does JB Priestley present the older and younger generations differently throughout the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ (45 mins)
By constructing the Inspector as just and omniscient, Priestley encourages the audience to view left-wing values as morally virtuous. Through the Inspector's authority, commanding presence and stature Priestley makes a direct jab at the audience with the Inspector's last
Although there are some clear aspects of the inspector that show presents the inspector in different lights, but there are also slightly more subtle points Priestley made to present the inspector differently. One of these ways is through the identity of Inspector Goole. The fact that the inspectors name is 'Goole', gets the audience questioning his existence. This is because, although some people will argue that ghosts and such exist and others will argue against that, there is always a slight hint of doubt due to the fact that it cannot be proven. By naming the inspector 'Inspector Goole', the audience start to question the reality of what is happening in the story, later to realize that his name foreshadows what is too come. The audience also,, respond to the inspector in a slightly negative way as, stereotypically, ghosts and gooles are not usually viewed as a good thing, but as something supernatural and out of place. This also makes the audience become slightly sceptical of the inspector's intentions of questioning the Birling family and Gerald. For a different way of looking at how Priestley presents the inspector, you can relate the inspectors' name to the two main theories of time. The theory that I believe most relates to the inspector is
‘What do you think is the importance of inspector Goole and how does Priestley present him?’