Inspector Goole quotes w analysis

• 'fire and blood and anguish'

  Metaphor. Refers to Hell and eternal punishment. Religious imagery and damnation of Hell. Makes audience fear effects of what happens if they don't accept social responsibility. Polysyndetic list that continues with conjunction 'and'. Birlings (microcosm for upper class) will suffer if they don't accept the socialist message. Priestly's calling for social revolution. Inspector investigates cause of immortality in society.
• 'fire and blood and anguish'

  Could alternatively refer to war. An Inspector calls is an anti-war play. War is an economic consequence of capitalism. War was especially bad for the upper classes as their sons would be front-line officers and therefore die first and the most. Foreshadows world wars. People didn't learn their lessons from the first world war, thus the second occurred - this is shown through Eva's two deaths.
• 'we are all members of one body'

  Religious imagery. Allusion to book of genesis recited during holy communication. Lots of similarities and links between inspector and God. Echoing God's words and speaking on his behalf. Semantic field of morality and religion. By accepting socialism, society becomes peaceful. Pronoun 'we' anaphora with repetition, emphasise need to care for one another and exaggerates the socialism message. 80% of 1945 audience would be Christian and understand the obvious allusion. The only moral Christian society MUST be socialist.

  Socialism = Christianity
• 'burnt her inside out'

  His use of emotive language emphasises the impact the Birlings had on Eva. Deliberately used detailed and grotesque imagery to shock the audience. Nonchalant idiom, juxtaposition to emphasise the grave nature of it and evoke the audience's pity. Shocking persuasive imagery.
• 'friendless, penniless, desperate'

  Relies on rhetorical devises, e.g. triplets to evoke audience's pity and sympathy.
• 'no thank you ... I'm on duty'

  Alcohol connotes immortal behaviour. Symbolic of how the inspector is refusing to act immortally. Capitalism and immortality are presented as synonymous. Priestley could be trying to show how capitalism is immortal. Inspector's resistant to immortality and corruption of society. Goole takes on the role of an omniscient moral force for good, a spiritual avenging angel. The play is a didactic morality play disguised as a murder mystery.
• 'Yes, but you can't. It's too late. She's dead'

  Short sentences. Convey impactful message. Need for radical change.
• 'remember'

  Repetitive. Imperative verb. Shows Birlings and upper class are likely to forget and won't learn from their actions.
• 'we are all responsible for each other'

  powerful main message the Priestley is trying to convey. Eva's second death could have been prevented had the entire family learned their lesson. Priestley exhibits his beliefs through the inspector, wanted a social and political shift to occur. Inspector serves as a moral subconscious and teacher.
• 'I haven't much time'

  Goole serves as a catalyst to structure the play. Forces them all to confess. Each revelation moves the play one step forward. Entrances and exits create maximum tension. Perhaps this is an attempt to quickly prevent Eva's second death. Similarly society must QUICKLY change to avoid disastrous consequences.
• (stage directions) 'pink and intimate' to 'lighter and harder'

  Birlings were wearing rose tinted glasses,metaphorically caught up in own selfish bubble. Inspector will shine a light to expose their sins. Light links to omnipotent God. Inspector has a godlike presence and will try to change the moral and political views of both characters and audience. 'shine a light' on their terrible actions and expose them.
• 'if you're easy with me, I'm easy with you'

  Use of parallelism. Shows equality, allowing further portrayal of the socialist message. Symbolic of Priestley's message: treat others how you want to be treated.
• 'need not to be a large man but give an impression of massiveness'

  Lexical field of size. Physical appearance doesn't matter, it's the strength of your values and morals. Inspector has ability to burden the readers and listeners, e.g. Sheila and Eric, displays his power.
• 'I don't play golf' 'I never take offence'

  His description is vague and lacks depth. Mainly talks about what he's not rather than what he is. Majority of his speech is dominated with questions and he structures the play. Possibly links to the supernatural. Priestley wants us to focus on the message the inspector is trying to convey. Contrasts Mr Birling.
• 'public men ... have responsibility as well as privileges' 'if men will not learn their lesson'

  A person's class is irrelevant to their degree of responsibility. The play is a feminist play to empower women and for Priestley to show support of the suffragette movement. Audience of 1945 would agree with this socialist message after two devastating world wars. Majority of 1945 audience would be female as men were still abroad, would have appealed to message of plural noun 'men'. The idea that MEN caused war. Inspector's views are progressive and align with 1945 audience's.