This introduction covers The Inspector Who Cannot Be Found within Inspector Goole (character) for GCSE English Literature. Revise Inspector Goole (character) in An Inspector Calls for GCSE English Literature with 12 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 1 of 17 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

📖 The Inspector Who Cannot Be Found

After the Inspector leaves, Gerald telephones the police. There is no Inspector Goole on the force. The Birlings check the infirmary — no dead girl has been admitted. The champagne is re-poured. But the phone rings.

Priestley never resolves who Goole is. He does not need to. The Inspector's function — to make the Birlings face what they did — has already been completed, regardless of whether he is real.

Practice questions for Inspector Goole (character)

What does Inspector Goole's name suggest to the audience?

A. That he is a senior officer with many years of experience
B. That he is connected to the supernatural, as 'Goole' sounds like 'ghoul'
C. That he comes from a working-class background
D. That he is a fictional character invented by the Birlings

1 markfoundation

Explain one technique Priestley uses to make the Inspector a powerful moral and dramatic force in An Inspector Calls. [2 marks]

2 marksstandard

Quick recall flashcards

Mnemonic for Inspector Goole's three functions?

MORAL VOICE → METHOD → MYSTERY. Moral Voice: his speeches deliver Priestley's thesis — 'one body', 'responsibilities as well as privileges', 'fire and blood and anguish'. Method: prior knowledge, forces confrontation rather than discovering facts, stages revelations strategically, targets the young. Mystery: no police record, name = ghoul, identity deliberately unresolved — to keep focus on moral question not detective question. All three functions make the same argument: Goole is Priestley's device for moral reckoning.

What are Inspector Goole's three functions in the play?

MORAL VOICE → METHOD → MYSTERY. Moral Voice: his speeches deliver Priestley's thesis directly — 'one body', 'fire and blood and anguish'. Method: he already knows the answers; his interrogation is designed to force confrontation, not discover facts; he controls who hears what and when. Mystery: his identity is never resolved — no police record, his name sounds like 'ghoul', he may be supernatural. All three functions point the same way: Goole is a dramatic device for moral reckoning, not a realistic character.

Function 1: THE MORAL VOICE — What Goole Says Is the Play's Argument

The Inspector Who Cannot Be Found