Priestley's Character Analysis: The Inspector And The Inspector

Priestley presents the Inspector as an enigmatic authority figure who dominates the scenes with ease. He represents a medium for Priestley to channel his views through, spreading his ideas on the importance of socialism, responsibility, and his outlook on society. Commanding the attention of the audience every time he speaks, the points Priestley makes with the Inspector is something for both the characters and the audience to contemplate. The mystery surrounding him and his careful choice of words makes him an ideal character for delivering morals, keeping the audience wondering, and moving the play forward with his interrogation. The Inspector interrupts Birling’s capitalist speech about how ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own-’, commanding his attention and making Birling ‘stop to listen’ before he even makes an appearance. Priestley does this to give the audience an idea of what kind of character the Inspector is and the imminent tension between the two clashing personalities. Priestley presents Birling and the Inspector as the personifications of capitalism and socialism respectively, and the difference in ideas are bound to generate friction, keeping the audience captivated. Priestley makes the audience detest Birling due to his naivety and ignorance. Dramatic irony is …show more content…
The Inspector tries to urge the Birlings to repent their sins by making them realise the effect of their actions. He could also be the embodiment of collective conscience, which would parallel the Birlings representing capitalism and Eva representing the working class as shown when the Inspector states ‘One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with