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What Role Does Priestly Give the Inspector in the Play?

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What Role Does Priestly Give the Inspector in the Play?
What role does Priestly give the Inspector in the play?

An Inspector Calls is a play with lots of political messages as well as social messages. J.B. Priestley believed in socialism and he used large amounts of his plays to try and convince people to his way of thinking.

The Inspector is commanding and authoritative. In his entrance towards the play, he creates at once an impression of solidity and purposefulness. In Page 11, he continues to create this impression as he progresses through his speeches and through his interrogation of the family. The Inspector remains confident, sturdy and composed, while the people around him crumble and falls into pieces. His ‘solidity’ is proven that he remains on task despite the numerous attempts from Birling to turn aside the points he is making. The Inspector is told to appear ‘purposeful.’ This shows where he explains to the Birlings and their ways of thinking.

The Inspector transfers Priestley’s views and he shows the difference in social classes at the time. A gap, which he wants to diminish. He illustrates the reason for this in the play through the role of the Inspector, where he outlines the ways of each of the Birlings have influenced someone from a completely different background and social class.

The Inspector is the one and only person who makes things happen and keeps his and the entire story moving. Without the Inspector, it is virtually assured that none of the secrets that were exposed would ever have come to light without the gentle nudges from the Inspector, which knotted the storyline together. However, the Inspector never explicitly accused anyone of this event, instead it is the characters whom, themselves fill in the missing gaps of the Inspector’s story. For example this is illustrated when (page 55), the Inspector and Eric discuss who it was who killed Eva Smith. Eric assumes that he killed her because of the situations with the baby, but it is suggested by the Inspector that it was in fact

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