Analysis "An Inspector Calls" by J. B. Priestley

Therefore, he initially seems to be an ordinary Brumley police inspector yet he is eventually something more ominous, perhaps even supernatural. JB Priestly writes that The Inspector “need not be a big man, but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness”. Despite this description, the precise nature of his character is left ambiguous by Priestly, and it can be interpreted in various ways.

Furthermore, Inspector Goole questions every Birling member, from the older generation of Mr Birling to the youngest character of Sheila Birling, as well as Gerald Croft.

Throughout these interrogations, Priestley describes the Inspector as speaking “carefully (and) weightily” with “a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before he speaks”.

With Sheila, the Inspector knows that she feels guilty, he leaves her admit herself that she cannot bare to be responsible for the girl’s death. She is struck by the truth of what the Inspector says, showing that he is a powerful, manipulative and interesting character.

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Now that we have understood his character, we will be able to better understand the context of his key quotes. Before we can fully understand these quotes, we must briefly analyse his character development and find how Priestley develops his character.