As the inspector continues to be rude towards Mr Birling Mr Birling try's to threaten the inspector with his title and his high stature in society and tells the inspector that he is a good friend of the chief constable. I believe that a real officer would already know this and would go towards interrogating Mr Birling in a more profound manner as they would already be aware of his superiority. This shows that the inspector is not from the area and could be an impostor but he quickly sorts this out by saying that he is new to the area as he had just recently transferred.
A reason for the lack of respect could be that the inspector might be the ghost of Eva Smith and has come to haunt them and scare them. This may be quite farfetched but this theory would explain how the inspector knows everything and as I said before no theory is incorrect. The lack of respect maybe to show them the amount of respect that was given to her by them when she was alive.
Before the inspector leaves he says the following “ But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone-but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.”
The play “An Inspector Calls” is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Edwardian society at that time (1912) was strictly divided into social classes and over two-thirds of the nation’s wealth was in the hands of less than 1% of the population. Below the very rich were the middle classes (doctors and merchants, shop workers and clerks), after that came the craftsmen and skilled workers. At the very bottom of the social ladder was the largest class of all - the ordinary workers and the poor, many of whom lived below the poverty level. The men of industry treated the workers very badly and they were paid extremely little.
This is what the inspector speaks of in the play of how the rich treat the poor aswell as nobody cares for anybody else and he says that it will end up in chaos and he is correct. “they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.” He is speaking of world war 1 which started in 1914-18. So the inspector maybe from the future telling the family to change their ways. This isn't the first time we have seen this. In the classic story by Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” Scrooge was told to change his ways by three ghost’s one from the past another from the present and one from the future.
When the inspector leaves the Birling family & Gerald they all want to believe that it was a hoax so they throw everything together after having enough information Mr Birling phones his friend the police chief constable and asks for inspector Goole. After finding out that he does not exist they all seem to celebrate at the fact that it was just a hoax and the inspector was not real. While celebrating they receive a phone call about a suicide from the police and that there will be an inspector arriving shortly.
I believe that this phone call may be another hoax to scare the family, but it may not and if not it links into my theory of the inspector being from the future to warn the family.
In conclusion I think that the Inspector is as real as every one else in the play but I think that he represents justice or truth and is a form of a supernatural being from the future. you really have to look closely at it before you fully understand it. I am sure that there will always be a sense of mystery about this play; who was the inspector? What was the Inspector? Will we ever know?
