World War One Essays

World War One Essays World War One Essay World War One Essay The Inspectors mannerisms including the way he speaks are different to Birlings to create the most impression on the family and audience. The unfamiliarity of the Inspector could also prove intimidating for Birling, and coupled with the solidarity and purposefulness of the Inspectors persona it is not surprising that he manages to take control of the situation from the beginning. Described as creating an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness, the Inspector grows as the stories of each character are revealed. He remains solid and unbroken as each of them breaks down, and nothing the others can do or say distracts them from this purpose. He arrives at the Birlings home just after Mr Birling has been setting his view of life: that every man must only look out for himself. The Inspectors role is to show that this is not the case. Throughout the play he demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others and his views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech. It is the Inspector who makes things happen. Without him none of the secrets would otherwise come out into the open. The Inspector leads the characters to confront their own weaknesses, which makes them feel shocked and guilty. He is a catalyst for the evenings events. In the Inspectors last speech, he says:   But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone but there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and their chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We dont live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish. Good night The Inspector performs a very important speech that covers all the main themes of the play, and allows Priestly to get his message across. The speech is very dramatic and is quite similar to a political speech. It is so powerful as he uses words like us and we and memorable phrases like fire, blood and anguish. A part of what Priestley is trying to get across here is we need to use collective responsibility in order to maintain peace in the world. If we dont, then it could result in war, because of personal suffering or as in this case, someone committing suicide. There are no directions or indication as to how the Inspector would have performed this speech. Therefore, I think the speech would have been performed very seriously with a commanding tone, spoken slowly and carefully so the audience would get the full dramatic effect. This way Priestleys aim would come across in a good way. I think the Inspectors speech would have provoked much discussion in the audience because of the powerful language used and because he left the scene directly after making the speech. The audience may discuss amongst themselves whether they agree with the Inspectors speech. If they do, theyd probably feel pleased and if not, theyd feel guilt and shame. I think that this play would have made a strong impact on the audience, as the message was very poignant considering the country had just suffered a Second World War. The Inspectors name Goole, is significant. It is a homonym. Ghoul, another form of the word has exactly the same sound but its meaning has a bearing on the play. A ghoul is an evil spirit. To Birling, and his upper class peers; this is an accurate interpretation of the Inspector. Priestley wants the Inspector to waken the audience; at the time the book was conceived World War II has scarred society. The atrocity of World War I had been relived again; classes were ripped apart, socialism was trying hard to reshape society. The metaphysical aspect of the Inspector is ever evident, no more so when he prophesises World War One:   Fire, blood and anguish  This heightens the enigma surrounding the Inspector. In 1912, when the play was set, it was virtually only rich men who could vote. The poor peoples opinions were virtually unheard as if they were invalid or irrelevant. This was apart of the social system that made Priestley very angry; it was as if the poor didnt really matter. Priestley was very much against this; he was somewhat a revolutionary and fought for equal rights and unity between all people. As it stood the rich would always stay rich and the poor would definitely stay poor, as they had no say in what happened to their country. The rich rarely considered this at all, and never thought something should be done about it. Priestleys play shows this as the Inspector makes everybody responsible for the girls death, this makes them at least think about how their actions can effect others, and makes them realise that no-one should have to go through pain like that just because of their social standing. An Inspector Calls delivers an important message to society. It is a message of mutual responsibility and shows how everyone has a role to play in society, and that we should do as much as we can to help others, because we know what effects our actions will have on their lives. Priestley hoped this play would create unity-making people prevent something before it happened.  The socialist message is delivered through the mouth of the Inspector, who takes on the role of teacher to the Birling family. He hopes to teach them moral values and respect for everyone, no matter how poor.