inspector goole Flashcards
stage directions
‘impression of massiveness, solidarity, and purposefulness…he speaks carefully, weightily’
triplet: ‘massiveness, solidarity….’
↳ prompts a great atmospheric shift in the play,
‘carefully’
↳ inspector is thoughtful and caring
↳ every move he makes is well judged and fair
‘weightily’
↳ refers to a theme of size, goole’s words have deep meaning and evoke thought, weigh on your mind and burden the listener (presented by eric & sheila)
‘massiveness’
↳ he emits great power from his presence
‘solidarity’
↳ reflects how the inspector is the embodiment of socialism
‘purposefulness’
↳ there is intent within all of the inspectors actions
‘disinfectant’ [ACT 1]
‘disinfectant’
↳ symbolises how the poor were seen as a germ or plague to the high classes in society, and as though they had to be eradicated
‘there are millions and millions and millions of eva smiths and john smiths…intertwined with our lives’ [ACT 3]
repetition: ‘millions’
↳ emphasises the huge scale of poverty and suffering in the country
allegory: ‘eva smiths’
↳ shows that she is representative of all vulnerable, exploited working-class
women
↳ use of common names highlights how universal their struggle is
verb: ‘intertwined’
↳ connotates to a link between all in society
‘we are members of one body. we are responsible for each other’ [ACT 3]
collective pronoun: ‘we’
↳ shows how the inspector/priestley wants people to think of themselves collectively and care for one another
↳ if one part of a body gets hurt then the whole body is affected
↳ this is the complete opposite of capitalism
religious reference: ‘one body’
↳ could be priestley trying to advocate to christians as they were a majority (eucharist & last supper)
‘if men will not learn that lesson, they will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish. good night’ [ACT 3]
semantic field of war: ‘fire’, ‘blood’, ‘anguish’
↳ refers to WW2, WW2 is what led to the UK becoming more socialist in its views, it led to the establishment of the NHS and the labour party
↳ this shows how society has to suffer greatly to finally understand how society functions best
semantic field of hell: ‘fire’, ‘blood’, ‘anguish’
↳ the inspector could be the human representation of God, telling them if they didn’t fix their errors, they would be put towards the fire
↳ priestley wanted to advocate to christian’s so that they would understand his message
(clearly an important message as it is the inspectors last speech)
‘i haven’t much time’ [ACT 3]
wants to show how actions against capitalism must be taken quickly
inspector goole’s key traits:
-supernatural nature
-homophone of goole is ghoul
-omniscient (all-knowing), moral force for good
-encourages the younger generation to break away from the older, traditional and individualistic generation
-priestley demonstrates the inspector’s conviction that everyone is equally important within society
-the inspector’s morality is due to his awareness of social responsibility and the impact of an individuals’ actions upon all of society
-because he rejects capitalism, he rejects immorality as priestley presents the two as synonymous
-the Inspector dresses modestly in a ‘plain darkish suit’
-perhaps, priestley is suggesting that the inspector has no interest in attracting interest to himself
-his purpose is to promote socialist values and denounce the commercialism and superficiality of capitalism
words to describe inspector goole with:
omniscient, assertive, raisonneur, prophetic, dramatic catalyst