English Literature Exam Revision

 An impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness.  A man in his fifties, dressed in a plain darkish suit.  He speaks carefully, weightily and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking’.

• He works in a systematic way, ‘one person and one line of enquiry at a time’.  He confronts the suspect with information which prompts them to talk, ‘he’s giving us the rope - so that we’ll hang ourselves’.  He is authoritative; he is firm and takes charge when arguments begin.
• He seems to be very quick and clever; he knows everything that has happened in Eva/Daisy’s life and their involvement only two hours after her suicide.  He seems to know more than he lets on, and seems to be able to foresee events happening, ‘I haven’t much time’.
• The Inspector is a medium used by Priestley to voice his socialist views, ‘We are responsible for each other’, and warns the characters (and the audience) of the ‘fire and blood and anguish’ that will come if things do not change.
• The Inspector may not be real.  He could be a ghost, Inspector ‘Goole’, which is similar to ‘Ghoul’.