Explore the ways in which Priestley makes the Inspector’s first appearance and following conversation significant and dramatic.

Priestley makes the Inspector’s first appearance and following conversation significant and dramatic and so should therefore be explored further.
The conversation between Mr Birling, Eric Birling, Gerald Croft and the Inspector initially hints to traits in their personalities. As the Inspector enters he instantly makes an impression. Following this the Inspector tries to find any information out about the suicide that he was investigating. Due to the circumstances of the case the Inspector speaks to Mr Birling first, telling him that due to his actions of firing the young girl, it acted like a domino effect, therefore resulting in her death.
When the Inspector enters the room the lighting is changed from pink and intimate to hard and bright. The use of light creates drama as it implies that the Inspector will shed some light onto the family and reveal some truths. Also it symbolises change, which foreshadows the family’s relationships, as throughout the play they change from being soft, loving and family-like to a hard, unloving family, which eventually crumbles down around them as their cracks are displayed by the bright light of the Inspector. The stage directions at the beginning of the conversation instantaneously give an impression of the Inspector before he speaks. The Inspector is described as a ‘big man’, ‘in his fifties’ and ‘dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period’. Along with this he is described as creating an impression of ‘massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’, which suggests already that he will clash with Mr Birling, who is hungry for more authority and a higher status. So due to the Inspector’s authority, he will create quite an impact which would therefore unsettle Mr Birling, causing a clash of