An Inspector Calls: the Inspector

Question 1

inspector as voice of priestley (point)
(3 quotes)
(context)

Answer 1

In An Inspector Calls (1945) Priestley uses the character of the Inspector as a vehicle through which he can present his own socialist views, and critique Edwardian society’s lack of compassion.
OR
In An Inspector Calls (1945) the Inspector is a mouthpiece for Priestley’s own socialist views, and the character through which he conveys his moral message. The dialogue between the Inspector and Birling reflects the conflict between their ideological positions, with the Inspector advocating a more socialist view.

Quotes:
“they will be asking for the earth next”-Birling
“But after all its better to ask for the earth than to take it”-Inspector
“we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.”-Inspectors monologue
“public men,Mr birling ,have responsibilities as well as privileges”
context
-1942 commonwealth party which merged with…..
-1945 labour landslide-brought a welfare state with nhs,basic economic security(reduced prostitution)
- political zeitgeist shifting towards left wing socialism.

Question 2

Inspector as supernatural
(point)
(3 quotes)
(context)

Answer 2

In fact, through the structure of the play, Priestley presents the Inspector as a ghost-like avenging angel; Priestley’s morality play follows the conventions of Eugene Scribe’s “well made play”, until the final scene in which he departs dramatically from this structure, and reveals the Inspector’s mysterious supernatural nature.

(quotes)
play ends with a tableau of the family staring “guilty and dumbfounded “ as it is revealed that inspector is “on his way”
“if mankind will not learn … they will pay the price in fire blood and anguish”
“goole”-ghoul homophone
circular structure denies the birlings toc return to being “pleased with themsleves”-didnt want to advocate for a return to edwardian free market capatilist values without a welfare state or sense of responsibilty

(context)
Well-made Play -Eugene scribe(19th century french dramatist)
-conventions: a three act play which has a problem, Release of information from the past via secrets being revealed, a resolution which meant a return to the status quo and a happy ending.

Ouspenskys theory of eternal reoccurrence(1933)
cyclical nature of time.- each person was repeating their life over again and again ,improving their mortality each tume until they reached salvation”
- the birlings are all trapped in the eternal time loop until they change their actions.Sheilas internalisation of the Inspectors message suggests hope for the character which represents a progressive middle class

Question 3

inspector staging and foil to mr birling
(point)
(3 quotes)
(context)

Answer 3

Through the staging of the play, Priestley presents the Inspector as a powerful antithesis to Arthur Birling’s complacent bourgeois capitalism, and acts as a moral voice within the play, extracting the confessions of the Birlings.
OR
Priestley does not merely use the Inspector as a mouthpiece for his own views but he also stages him in aggressive conflict with the bourgeois patriarch, Arthur Birling, in order to show the conflict between socialism and capitalist thought

Quotes:
lighting”should be pink and intimate, until the inspector arrives when it will become brighter and harder”
“a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”// we hear the sharp ring of a doorbell .Birling stops to listen//(socialist values interupt capitalist ideology)
“he creates at once an impression of massivness,solidity and purposefulness”
“each one of you helped kill her.Remember that.Never forget it”