The Role of the Inspector in 'An Inspector Calls.'

An Inspector Calls is a play with many social and political messages. J. B. Priestley believed a great deal in socialism and he used several of his plays to try and influence people to be Socialist as well. It was written in a time when Britain was ruled by a Labour government and socialist policies were seen as the way forward. It was a popular way of thinking at that time so Priestley's aim for the play was probably to teach the unconvinced.

The Inspector in J. B. Priestley's 'An Inspector Calls' is one of the most thought-provoking and mysterious characters that modern day literature has yet produced. It is this mysterious element that contributes greatly to making him a very interesting character and one that may be perceived in many ways. The audience does not find a great deal out about the Inspector and nothing is explicitly told to us; we are given hints and clues from the way he acts and what he says and are forced to piece these together to form our own ideas about his identity and his intentions. In this way, Priestley has asked his audience to act as a judge and to r

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The Inspector leaves the family and the audience feeling awkward because he uses a lot of emotive language such as . This indeed does happen and all of the problems that have been hinted at previously are brought out, plus some others. The Inspector does get justice for Eva in a way because he makes the family feel worse than any real Inspector could.

We expect all of the characters to admit to their faults and to learn from what the Inspector teaches them because we have been conditioned to look for the well-worn formula whereby bad characters convert to good characters because a third character has helped them to recognise their flaws. As the Inspector said, children are 'more impressionable. In terms of how he is used in the basic structure of the play, he is there to move the play along in that he encourages the characters to tell their stories. In regards to the whole of society, he voiced Priestley's opinions that we cannot make any progress if we do not work together. The champagne shows that family are joined to celebrate. Surprisingly, this is not the case in An Inspector Calls. after swallowing some disinfectant' and a real Inspector will question the family. You'll have to get used to that, just as I had.

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Approximate Word count = 4749
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page double spaced)

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