Priestly’s Presentation of the Inspector as an Unusual Police Man in Act 1 Priestly presents the Inspector as an unusual police man in many ways in Act 1. The name that Priestly had chosen for the Inspector is also very strange. The name Goole sounds very much like ‘ghoul’ and also Inspector sounds like the word ‘spectrum’.
Therefore suggesting that the inspector is rather ghost like and not real. Also ‘An Inspector Calls’ creates a mysterious air about the play. In the beginning of Act 1 the stage directions already give an ideal about the Inspector and the Birlings. ‘The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not comfortable’ This giving an impression that the Birlings are very concerned about their personal appearance and what other people think of them and their social status. At first whilst the Birlings have their dinner party ‘The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives and then it should be hard and intimate.’ This suggests the dramatic change and gives the Inspector a more eerie feel. During the dinner party before the Inspector arrives Priestly gives many hints about the characters, later to be discovered.
For example ‘Finchley told me it’s exactly the same port your father gets from him.’ Birling here is trying to show off and also trying to be in the social class as Lord Croft, Gerald’s father. Shelia also says things that the Inspector also manages to bring up. ‘Yes- except for all last summer, when you never came near me, and I wondered what happened to you.’ At the end of Act 1 the Inspector interrogates Gerald about Daisy Renton and when Eric said ‘She’s got a nasty temper sometimes.’ Another hint to what happened when the Inspector interrogated Shelia about what happened between her and Eva Smith. It is strange how the inspector and Eva Smith should commit suicide when the Birlings and Gerald are all together and mentioning each other faults.
