Analyse Priestleys manipulation of the audiences response by his use of one of his characters, namely Inspector Goole. Essay

Year 10 Course Work.                                                                           “An Inspector Calls”

Analyse Priestley’s manipulation of the audience’s response by his use of one of his characters, namely Inspector Goole.

An Inspector Calls was written in 1945, a time when people were still startled by the effects of the Second World War. It was in these years after the war that people may have began to think about the consequences of their actions, or at least, world leaders. The play is set in 1912, perhaps to show how Human decency could have prevented world war one, and the affects, leading to the Second World War. It takes place in Brumley, an industrial city in the North Midlands. The Inspector’s key roles are to change the way the Birling’s, and the audience think. Priestley also uses the Inspector to present his socialist views, in this, the Inspector can be seen to represent the voice of conscience. Priestley has used the Inspector to create a strong willed character that most will respect, in his actions, and speech. This affect seems to make Priestley’s views seem to be that of wisdom and righteous thinking.

Priestley was born in the “ultra respectable” suburb of Bradford. When he left school, Priestley had ambitions to become a writer, but was later called to serve in the First World War, where he was injured by mortar fire in 1916. By the time he was thirty he had built up a reputation as a critic and humorous writer. Priestley’s first success as a writer came with his book, ‘The Good Companions’. He had soon turned to being a dramatist. In his more dramatic plays, people had begun to see political aspects to his works, including those of ‘An Inspector Calls’. Most of these views being that of a socialist content. In 1942 he co-founded the Common Wealth Party, but after the war, in 1945 he gave the Labour Party a great deal of help in the general elections. John Boynton Priestley died at the age of eighty-nine on August 14th...