1. To revise and consolidate our knowledge of ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Learning Objective
To revise and consolidate our knowledge of ‘An Inspector Calls’.
How can we use this knowledge to write an effective essay question for the exam?

2. Revision for ‘An Inspector Calls
What will you need to know about the following in the play?:
Dramatic Devices
The Inspector
The way language is used
Write these down in your books trying to add as much detail as possible to each point from memory.

3. Assessment Objectives
Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations
A02
Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.
A04
Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts: explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and other readers in different contexts and at different times.

4. Section A= An Inspector Calls
This tests:
A01= 10%
A02= 10%
Section B= Purple Hibiscus
This Tests:
A01=5%
A02=5%
A04=10%

5. Structure All the action takes place on one night in real time
However, Priestley uses the time release
mechanism which allows the characters to
relive the events. Why?
What is the Inspector’s role in the structure
of the play?
How is An Inspector Calls different from a
typical detective thriller?

6. Entrances and Exits
Who is present when Mrs Birling is interrogated? And more importantly – who is not? Why?
How does the lighting change when the Inspector arrives? Why?
Why are Gerald and Sheila left alone at the end of Act 1?
Why does Gerald leave then come back – dramatically?
How is the Inspector’s exit made effective?

7. Language and style
The realism of the play, its realistic sets and incidents is reinforced by realistic language – of 1912
Language reinforces the Inspector’s authority – How?
Look at his style and sentence lengths…
Correct manner – Mrs Birling
Provincial, bullying – Mr Birling
Gerald – correct, euphemisms
Sheila and Eric - slang, less restrained
How does language link Sheila and the Inspector?

8. Big Questions
Which of the characters is most affected by the events of the evening?
Examine the evidence to decide whether Eva Smith and Daisy Renton are the same person
How does the play show up the contrast between the philosophies of Mr Birling and Inspector Goole?
What aspects of British society does the play criticise?

9. How does Priestley show that tension is at the heart of the family
How does Priestley show that tension is at the heart of the family? (30 marks)
This is the question that some of you would of answered in your mock exams last month.
We are going to work in pairs to come up with an answer to this question. Look at your assessment objectives and what you need to include!
Remember you only have 45mins to answer this question so your plan should be quick.

10. Plenary
You are now going to look at a version that has already been written. Comment on...
How many of your points does it include?
What did you miss out from your plan?
How is it written and what sort of vocabulary does it use?

11. Who is the Inspector and why has he come to the Birlings’ house?
It could be argued that Priestley deliberately constructs the Inspector as an omniscient character who is already aware of the Birlings’ social wrongdoings in the community and is there to interrogate and inspect them until they reveal the truth and change their higher class, socially superior Capitalist ways. As such, he is presented as a Socialist moral crusader, possibly the mouthpiece of the playwright, designed to show the erroneous actions occurring on a daily basis in the Edwardian Britain of 1912 – when the play is set – but also in the 1945 of post-World War Two Britain, where the issues of the play were still relevant to the audience of the time.
Furthermore, the Inspector’s name of Goole could indicate that…

12. Exam questions
Examine the role of the Inspector – former coursework question
How does Priestley present Eric in An Inspector Calls?
Write about the differences between Sheila and Sybil Birling in the play An Inspector Calls
How is Eva Smith presented in An Inspector Calls?
How does Priestley present ideas about how we should treat other people in An Inspector Calls?
‘Inspector Goole merely functions as a mouthpiece for Priestley’s ideas.’ What do you think is the Inspector’s function in the play and how does Priestley present him?
How does Priestley show the differences in attitudes between the generations in An Inspector Calls?