Inspector Goole

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Can a simple inspection turn people’s minds around? Well, Inspector Goole certainly turned the Birling’s mind around, by inspecting them one by one. During his inspection we see the effect he has on the play. He represents Priestley’s central themes, and sends a message to the audience, stating that everything we do or say can affect other people’s lives. And by his mysterious appearance we are able to see that he plays an important role in the play.

The Inspector helps moves the story forward. He pressures the characters, to answer quickly to his questions, he hurries them up by telling them that he has no time to waste, “And my trouble is- that I haven’t much time.” always looking at his watch, as if he is in a hurry, because something is going to happen, and he must finish all his inquiries before that mysterious event happens. This heightens the tension in the play. He is always telling each character to wait for their turn, because he must make one inquiry at time. He says in Act 1, “One person and one inquiry at a time.” by this he is making each character confess their guilt one by one, and by making one inquiry at a time, he links each character’s action to the suicide, so that in this way, they all feel guilty for Eva’s death, and they can’t blame the other characters; it also makes it easy for the audience to realize how each person is guilty in a different way.

The play is speeded by techniques used by the Inspector, which make the pace of the play fast and in some cases slow. The Inspector asks straightforward questions, with short answered questions. We can see he throws three short answered questions at the same time, “where?.. What?…Was?..”. These three short answered questions are continuous, and because they are continuous, the inspection is made quicker and the pace of the play is increased. He also interrupts each character a lot, when they are about to discuss between them or give a speech, this also helps the pace of the play move faster as the inquiries take place, he does this by saying in Act 2 “Don’t start on that. I want to get on…”. The inspector also questions one family member per time, he says in Act 1 “One person and one inquiry at a time”.

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